At College Football Games, Student Sections Likely to Have Empty Seats

[Goothrey]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/at-c...ections-likely-to-have-empty-seats-1409188244

Nothing really new or ground breaking here (and it is a week old article). Would be interesting to be able to track the numbers this season.


But reasons I've found why watching live is worse than watching on TV:

- Can't eat or drink what you want (got to pay a lot if you want to do either)
- TV timeouts are the worst
- time in stadium is ~4 hours (more if you are a student and want decent seats, of course upper or lower deck is subjective) with about a dozen minutes of actual football action
- bench seats are wildly uncomfortable
- ISU football is not very competitive
- I miss the majority of other games going on that day
- Halftimes last 20 minutes...they are boring
- Have to get up at an ungodly hour for morning games (as a student, weekends were the time I got to catch up on sleep)

 

[SoapyCy]

I was watching the Twins game last night and a new relief pitcher came in and threw two pitches in the time it takes other pitchers to throw one. I thought "they need everyone to pitch at this speed". I think that directly relates to football as well.

There is so much time standing around and waiting for TV timeouts. Speed up the play clock and maybe allow the clock to keep running in some situations. The problem is these would change the game, not just the game day experience.

 

[NickTheGreat]

TV timeouts are awful. I understand the need, but they suck.

 

[FarminCy]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/at-c...ections-likely-to-have-empty-seats-1409188244

Nothing really new or ground breaking here (and it is a week old article). Would be interesting to be able to track the numbers this season.


But reasons I've found why watching live is worse than watching on TV:

- Can't eat or drink what you want (got to pay a lot if you want to do either)
- TV timeouts are the worst
- time in stadium is ~4 hours (more if you are a student and want decent seats, of course upper or lower deck is subjective) with about a dozen minutes of actual football action
- bench seats are wildly uncomfortable
- ISU football is not very competitive
- I miss the majority of other games going on that day
- Halftimes last 20 minutes...they are boring
- Have to get up at an ungodly hour for morning games (as a student, weekends were the time I got to catch up on sleep)

I just wish they would do what happens with soccer. Instead of having constant commercial breaks etc just run a steady dose of ads during the game. Put them on the side of the screen, who cares. Just cut down on the amount of game stoppages.

I played D2 football and every time I go back to watch a game I am constantly reminded of how much more I enjoy the actual game at that level.. The game has a natural flow to it that is not changed by advertising. As more and more lower levels utilize online channels there are some stoppages but not even 10% of what a FBS game has in it.

 

[capitalcityguy]

Generational ADD?

 

[roundball]

Good article, thanks for sharing.

In addition to the things you've noted, I think a lot of this is a consequence of realignment and the overall transformation of college football into a "made for TV" event. The "Power 5" conference membership has changed every year since 2011, and the great rivalries that were lost have been replaced with detritus like Kansas vs. West Virginia and Nebraska vs. Rutgers. I imagine it's hard to gin up attendance for games like these, especially when they're displacing things like the Border War and the Backyard Brawl.

Beyond the schedule changes, I also wonder if a lot of students have just become disillusioned with college football. Realignment exposed college leadership as money-grubbing opportunists kowtowing to TV networks like nothing before it. There's been an open revolt against the NCAA by the Power 5 conferences. The NCAA itself is increasingly viewed as a sham organization that pimps players and issues wildly inconsistent penalties. Salaries and expenditures have ballooned while the nation's slogged through recovering from the Great Recession. College football's taken a lot of lumps from going through PR disaster after PR disaster.

Couple all this with the slowing down of the game and all of the other factors that have been pointed out, and college football's just not nearly as fun as it used to be.

 

[DFWClone]

I agree with everything there.

I was at the game on Saturday and not only did I have to sit through that beat down, I got sun burnt to a crisp. Terrible overall Saturday and it ruined my weekend.

 

[IcSyU]

Beyond the schedule changes, I also wonder if a lot of students have just become disillusioned with college football. Realignment exposed college leadership as money-grubbing opportunists kowtowing to TV networks like nothing before it.

To respond to the above: No, most students don't care. Maybe at a place like Michigan but I'm betting Kansas didn't lose a bunch of season tickets because they don't play Missouri any more. The arms race has priced more people out of student tickets than any other reason if I had to take a guess.

To add another layer of why students nationwide don't attend as often: No access to the outside. Even sending a text to your buddy watching TV is difficult and sometimes impossible, let alone posting to Twitter or Facebook. That's enough to keep some people away.

 

[roundball]

To respond to the above: No, students don't care.

To add another layer of why students nationwide don't attend as often: No access to the outside. Even sending a text to your buddy watching TV is difficult and sometimes impossible, let alone posting to Twitter or Facebook. That's enough to keep some people away.

Oh, kids...when they're older and have to deal with non-stop work emails and phone calls from the boss, they'll realize how nice it is to have a four-hour refuge from the outside world.

 

[IcSyU]

Oh, kids...when they're older and have to deal with non-stop work emails and phone calls from the boss, they'll realize how nice it is to have a four-hour refuge from the outside world.

I think Wisconsin just dropped a bunch of money (millions) on making the stadium WiFi-accessible everywhere to aid in the gameday experience with students in mind and I think the Big 10 has made it a priority as a conference. I thought I read that in an article but I could be completely off base. That's why things like tweets are always being displayed on video boards.

 

[Wesley]

I think Wisconsin just dropped a bunch of money (millions) on making the stadium WiFi-accessible everywhere to aid in the gameday experience with students in mind and I think the Big 10 has made it a priority as a conference. I thought I read that in an article but I could be completely off base. That's why things like tweets are always being displayed on video boards.

Nebby just spent $15M for wi-fi and other communications. Bring your ipad stadium.

 

[DFWClone]

It really is pathetic that the connection in the stadium is so terrible or that there isn't wifi.

 

[IcSyU]

It really is pathetic that the connection in the stadium is so terrible or that there isn't wifi.

60,000 devices in about 2 acres is a LOT of bandwidth to support.

 

[FarminCy]

60,000 devices in about 2 acres is a LOT of bandwidth to support.

Not to mention very expensive to build that type of network.

I for one enjoy disconnecting from my phone during the game.

 

[DFWClone]

In that case, here's to Rhoads doing the right thing and giving up some of his contract so we can have service/wifi while we suffer through his poorly coached games.