Great article on college football fan apathy

[divits]

Just replace "Michigan" with "Florida". This article hits the nail on the head better than any I've read so far.

"If the people running college football see their universities as just a brand, and the athletic departments merely a business, they will turn off the very people who've been coming to their temples for decades. Athletic directors need to remember the people in the stands are not customers. They're believers. Break faith with your flock, and you will not get them back with fancier wine. If you treat your fans like customers long enough, eventually they'll start behaving that way, reducing their irrational love for their team to a cool-headed, dollars-and-cents decision to buy tickets or not, with no more emotional investment than deciding whether to go to the movies or buy new tires.
After a friend of mine took his kids to a game, he told me, "Michigan athletics used to feel like something we shared. Now it's something they hoard. Anything of value they put a price tag on. Anything that appeals to anyone is kept locked away -- literally, in some cases -- and only brought out if you pay for it. And what's been permanently banished is any sense of generosity."

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/roa...um-students-business-tv-ncaa-michigan-tickets

 

[WobbleGator]

Great article divits, thanks for posting it.

 

[Gator Fever]

That has something to do with it but I still think the HDTV and the changing habits of young people are the biggest culprits for people not going to games like they used to. Heck its hard to get the actual students to fill their areas out now. The bad economy doesn't help either.

 

[GatorJB]

That article was spot on. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ppinesgator]

Couldn't agree more! To me, what's really taking the luster off CFB as a whole and my passion for the Gators is the now overwhelming power of money. Yeah, I know it has always been important but it's become such a high stakes, commericialized enterprise now that its less fun. And more expensive to watch live.

Wanna really see what I mean? Go to a good high school game and you'll feel the difference.

 

[cover2]

Thanks for posting Divits. The article encapsulates what I think many of us have been seeing building up for the last few years. The two seats I've held for 25+ years now cost about $1000 annually. The trip down takes about 2-1/2 hours and $50-$75 for the gas round trip. Then you've got food, including what you consume at the game. So, the cost makes coming to all the home games difficult to justify for me. I don't worry as much about the opponent as I do the $$$ required. This is only one of the issues that the article highlights.


Early kickoff times to satisfy TV coverage stinks, especially early in the season. Adding to this is the fact that I am paying the aforementioned greater price for the tickets now and the TV revenue is much greater than ever before. The word "greed" was used and it is hurtful to think that as an alum my usefulness to the university, at least athletically, is defined specifically by how much money can be scraped off of my hide. At least that how it seems. Also, one bad season doesn't upset me as much as some, but it obviously exacerbates the situation. I can't speak for the students, as I don't sit with them, but there seems to be at least equal if not greater interest in what's going on in the social media during games than the happenings on the field. Bottom line, even though my income may be quite average, I am in the demographic that supposedly has more disposable money for events like this, but staying at home and watching from the recliner is looking more like the most sensible option (and I never thought that I'd ever say this!).

 

[GMDGator]

I think this encapsulates the entire article:
Everything the ticket holders spend hundreds of dollars to wait for and pay for, they can get at home for next to nothing – including the ads -- plus better replays. They can only get the marching band at the Big House.

Survey after survey points the finger for lower attendance not at cell phone service or HDTV, but squarely at the decisions of athletic departments nationwide. Fans are fed up paying steakhouse prices for junk food opponents, while enduring endless promotions. The more college football indulges the TV audience, the more fans paying to sit in those seats feel like suckers. "

Furthermore, this could be said for more than college football, but sports teams in general... Sometime in the mid 90's it was figured out that we could be gouged as fans and after 20 years of such have stopped tolerating it...

 

[-THE DUDE-]

 

[GMDGator]

Couldn't agree more! To me, what's really taking the luster off CFB as a whole and my passion for the Gators is the now overwhelming power of money. Yeah, I know it has always been important but it's become such a high stakes, commericialized enterprise now that its less fun. And more expensive to watch live.
Wanna really see what I mean? Go to a good high school game and you'll feel the difference.

And just wait until they start paying players.... GREED... killing this pristine sport...

 

[TallyGator]

That has something to do with it but I still think the HDTV and the changing habits of young people are the biggest culprits for people not going to games like they used to. Heck its hard to get the actual students to fill their areas out now. The bad economy doesn't help either.

You are right. Put both scenarios together and the picture is pretty clear.

 

[TallyGator]

I think this encapsulates the entire article:
Everything the ticket holders spend hundreds of dollars to wait for and pay for, they can get at home for next to nothing – including the ads -- plus better replays. They can only get the marching band at the Big House.

Survey after survey points the finger for lower attendance not at cell phone service or HDTV, but squarely at the decisions of athletic departments nationwide. Fans are fed up paying steakhouse prices for junk food opponents, while enduring endless promotions. The more college football indulges the TV audience, the more fans paying to sit in those seats feel like suckers. "

Furthermore, this could be said for more than college football, but sports teams in general... Sometime in the mid 90's it was figured out that we could be gouged as fans and after 20 years of such have stopped tolerating it...

Not disputing the survey...but for me, watching in HD is factor, as is easy access to eat, drink, pee, cuss, and drink some more. No lines either...really hate lines.

 

[rogdochar]

The biggest erode comes from the personality change in modernity humans. I can't tell you the number of events I've avoided because
other people would be there.

 

[deuce]

Who cares?

 

[I Have No Friends :(]

The biggest difference I've noticed from watching games live at The Swamp during the 90's and today is the amount of downtime due to commercials; it's out of control. The rules committee, whom I suspect was paid off in part by TV, due to the changes of the clock rules have shortened the actual game by (I think I read somewhere, can't find it atm) over 20 plays per game. However, the amount of time it takes to play the actual game hasn't changed all that much.

The result? We get to sit in the stands in the wonderful Florida heat with nothing to do for longer periods of time. For me it just kills the flow of the game and, coupled with the anemic excuse of an offense we've been trotting out for the past few years, really makes me question if the couple trips I make each year to watch a game in person is worth it. I love the atmosphere and spending time with other Gators, but sitting in the noon sun waiting for the 5-6 minute commercial breaks after anything even remotely resembling a possible stoppage of play on the field is pushing my patience to the brink.

The worst offender is CBS, but lately it feels like the others are following their lead.

 

[EuroGator]

Great article. Thanks for posting Divits. I think it's spot on, as are most of the comments in this thread.

 

[Turk182]

Some key points mentioned: greed/money, HD TV, comfort, competition for time, lack of compelling rivalries, disappointment, watered down competition, GSMB and Liberal Agenda.

:banana:

 

[MJMGator]

Some key points mentioned: greed/money, HD TV, comfort, competition for time, lack of compelling rivalries, disappointment, watered down competition, GSMB and Liberal Agenda. :banana:

I don't dispute anyone's reasons for not going to the games. That's said, if Michigan or Florida was playing quality football week in and week out and challenging for conference crowns, then the stadiums would be filled...no matter all the reasons given above. It's a really simple formula...win and fill the stadium.

 

[Gatorphan]

I pretty much go no matter what the deal is. I prefer we win big, but don't mind the extra space when we're not contenders. It's so much fun to me and our family to tailgate, and scream for the Gators together.

The apathy in the student section is alarming though. Not a money issue here, but a changing culture.

 

[Swamp Queen]

I pretty much go no matter what the deal is. I prefer we win big, but don't mind the extra space when we're not contenders. It's so much fun to me and our family to tailgate, and scream for the Gators together.

The apathy in the student section is alarming though. Not a money issue here, but a changing culture.

Agreed. It's financially tough for our family to go, but so far I've convinced everyone to keep the tickets because for me it means so much. It's such a huge part of my life from the time I was little. I can't imagine not being there almost every Saturday, tailgating with our friends, cheering with our "family" in our section, it's just the whole experience that I love way too much to let go of.

 

[t-gator]

Pretty soon ticket prices and teams will be more accessible. They're going to be begging fans to come out.I think it will get better