Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
Rupert Patrick wrote:
College Football does quite well with non-student attendance filling up over 100 stadiums every Saturday, just as the NFL does in 16 stadiums every Sunday. I know the owners will argue their slice of the pie will get smaller but they are overlooking the fact that the pie is also getting larger at the same time.
But how many attendees are alumni of the schools that are playing. I would think more than 50% of college football attendees
are either current students, faculty or alumni. And outside of some of the major colleges, most college football games
are not sold out. I've been going to college games for the past 30 years and usually get tickets the day of the game.
Rupert Patrick wrote:
College Football does quite well with non-student attendance filling up over 100 stadiums every Saturday, just as the NFL does in 16 stadiums every Sunday. I know the owners will argue their slice of the pie will get smaller but they are overlooking the fact that the pie is also getting larger at the same time.
But how many attendees are alumni of the schools that are playing. I would think more than 50% of college football attendees
are either current students, faculty or alumni. And outside of some of the major colleges, most college football games
are not sold out. I've been going to college games for the past 30 years and usually get tickets the day of the game.
The Power 5 conferences (unless you are a school like KU or something) all do extremely well with attendance and the atmosphere's are in general far more exciting than an NFL game is. Some of the non BCS schools tend not to draw as well but then again some of the non BCS schools still draw well.
As far as the alumni goes that is probably true but I also think that is one of the things that often makes a college gameday experience so much more exciting than an NFL gameday experience. THe people in the stands often have closer ties to the school and the team than fans in the stands at an NFL game do. Often times the only connection that fans at an NFL game have to the home team is they live in the same city that the team plays. And with how much people move around these days that often really doesn't mean a whole lot.
Rupert Patrick wrote:
College Football does quite well with non-student attendance filling up over 100 stadiums every Saturday, just as the NFL does in 16 stadiums every Sunday. I know the owners will argue their slice of the pie will get smaller but they are overlooking the fact that the pie is also getting larger at the same time.
But how many attendees are alumni of the schools that are playing. I would think more than 50% of college football attendees
are either current students, faculty or alumni. And outside of some of the major colleges, most college football games
are not sold out. I've been going to college games for the past 30 years and usually get tickets the day of the game.
The Power 5 conferences (unless you are a school like KU or something) all do extremely well with attendance and the atmosphere's are in general far more exciting than an NFL game is. Some of the non BCS schools tend not to draw as well but then again some of the non BCS schools still draw well.
As far as the alumni goes that is probably true but I also think that is one of the things that often makes a college gameday experience so much more exciting than an NFL gameday experience. THe people in the stands often have closer ties to the school and the team than fans in the stands at an NFL game do. Often times the only connection that fans at an NFL game have to the home team is they live in the same city that the team plays. And with how much people move around these days that often really doesn't mean a whole lot.
But college football attendance has been going down. Last season, average Pac-12 attendance was the lowest it's been since 1982; the Big 10 was the lowest since 1993; the SEC and Big were both the lowest since 2003; the Sun Belt was the lowest since 2007; and Conference USA and the Mountain West were the lowest ever.
The main reason seems to be television. And it seems that a lot of college football fans, like most pro football fans, prefer to watch the games at home.
74_75_78_79_ wrote:Then again, you got Halifax and Mississauga with populations of 400,000+ and 700,000+ respectively and they very likely will never get a CFL franchise. Same with London or Waterloo Ontario at 500,000+ apiece.
How large is the population of Quebec City? They have one of the top Canadian college football teams in Laval and the PEPS Stadium could be expanded to host an CFL team.
74_75_78_79_ wrote:Then again, you got Halifax and Mississauga with populations of 400,000+ and 700,000+ respectively and they very likely will never get a CFL franchise. Same with London or Waterloo Ontario at 500,000+ apiece.
How large is the population of Quebec City? They have one of the top Canadian college football teams in Laval and the PEPS Stadium could be expanded to host an CFL team.
The metro area has 800,000 people and the city was once an NHL town with the Quebec Nordiques. As much as I'd like to see a team in Atlantic Canada, I'd think Quebec City would be a more logical choice for CFL expansion.