Link: Per ESPN-Bowl Ratings up, attendance down in first year of playoff.

Yeah, one game a year is enough for me. As the quality of the set goes even higher I don't think I'd attend another.


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i pretty much try to see them play when it is in atlanta. other than that, its too much hassle and money for me.

and i just heard yesterday that espn will be available through a new streaming service starting this year.

Honestly, If they would stop expanding the stadium, bring ticket prices down... then we'll see more people at the game.

Look, I know why people aren't attending. I've had season tix for a few years now. My son has gotten old enough that his football games are a direct conflict with Bama games at any point in the day unless it's an 8PM kick. I sold my entire package this year. I absolutely did not miss it. The over half a day that was spent in order to get down and get a spot to park so you weren't literal miles away from the stadium, watch the game, and sit in traffic for hours afterwards, plus all the extra money you spent on food and drink during that time. My wife will kill me for saying this but its going to be hard to get me to go back. You just miss so much of...life...while away at a game. At home you do what you want up till kick, watch the game, do what you want when its over. It's like I gained 6 hours back every Saturday this past fall.

Bamabuzzard said:

I wonder if there is a ceiling and ultimate bubble to the rising cost to attend games? We went to see the Michigan/Bama game in 2012 and paid a pretty penny that stung the pocket book pretty hard.

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that game was the breaking point for me (and i had a free place to stay and a skymiles reward ticket to help offset the costs). besides being insanely overpriced, "jerry world" rubbed me the wrong way

AlistarWills said:

Look, I know why people aren't attending. I've had season tix for a few years now. My son has gotten old enough that his football games are a direct conflict with Bama games at any point in the day unless it's an 8PM kick. I sold my entire package this year. I absolutely did not miss it. The over half a day that was spent in order to get down and get a spot to park so you weren't literal miles away from the stadium, watch the game, and sit in traffic for hours afterwards, plus all the extra money you spent on food and drink during that time. My wife will kill me for saying this but its going to be hard to get me to go back. You just miss so much of...life...while away at a game. At home you do what you want up till kick, watch the game, do what you want when its over. It's like I gained 6 hours back every Saturday this past fall.

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Couldn't agree more.....add in the HUNH style of quick-snap play, & I rarely get excited to watch too many CFB games any more.... Plus, as I get older, it occurs to me, that probably, no one has ever laid on their "death-bed" and wished they'd spent more time watching CFB.... Sometimes I wonder why I ever cared so much about the accomplishments of other men to begin with....

The money to pay these inflated coaching salaries has got to come from somewhere. It looks like they've about maxed out the money they can generate from ticket sales to the point we are seeing less people going to games. I expect the next development will be to substantially bump the cost of watching the events live on tv or on the internet.

I'm kind of the opposite of most based on the posts above. I absolutely love the game atmosphere and everything that goes with it. If I lived within 2-3 hours of campus I would be at just about every home game. Have always been lucky on the ticket part and never paid an insane price even for good seats. The 7+ hour drive isn't so bad and we found a pretty good method of getting to and out of the stadium by walking about 3 blocks and taking motel shuttle back to the motel using the back roads.
If there is a downside, to me it is the cost to stay at the motel. The way they jack up their prices for gameday weekends hurts the old pocket book.

I can't disagree with you about the atmosphere. I'm glad I was at the LSU game where the stadium started rocking. That atmosphere was great. The Penn State game was great. Spending time with my preteen kids...I can't get that back. There'll be other games.

alwayshavebeen said:

I'm kind of the opposite of most based on the posts above. I absolutely love the game atmosphere and everything that goes with it. If I lived within 2-3 hours of campus I would be at just about every home game. Have always been lucky on the ticket part and never paid an insane price even for good seats. The 7+ hour drive isn't so bad and we found a pretty good method of getting to and out of the stadium by walking about 3 blocks and taking motel shuttle back to the motel using the back roads.
If there is a downside, to me it is the cost to stay at the motel. The way they jack up their prices for gameday weekends hurts the old pocket book.

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I have been attending Alabama football games for over 50 years and while I absolutely love attending the game I must admit the cost and hassle make me rethink the benefit ever year when my renewal comes due. Along with the issues mentioned in prior post I hate the uncertainty of game times until a week prior to the game. I also hate playing the three cupcakes each year. For those of us that have to travel 3 plus hours, I hope the person who came up with 11:00 AM or 7:30-8:00 PM games knows how much inconvience and potential danger (probably killed some people) he has caused the average fan.

38 games are too many bowl games. There should be no more then 25 games. With 25, you would see better match-ups and most all of the 7-5 teams and all of the 6-6 teams would stay at home. With better match-ups, the games would be better and better attended.

alwayshavebeen said:

I'm kind of the opposite of most based on the posts above. I absolutely love the game atmosphere and everything that goes with it. If I lived within 2-3 hours of campus I would be at just about every home game. Have always been lucky on the ticket part and never paid an insane price even for good seats. The 7+ hour drive isn't so bad and we found a pretty good method of getting to and out of the stadium by walking about 3 blocks and taking motel shuttle back to the motel using the back roads.
If there is a downside, to me it is the cost to stay at the motel. The way they jack up their prices for gameday weekends hurts the old pocket book.

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This is how I feel. For us it is an event. We don't go to every game but when we go we normally book at the Ross Bridge Road Marriott. Real nice place. We usually stay 2 nights. It is really expensive but like I said we make it a big event and we don't attend every game. Max 2 a year.

With the CFP format, if your team is in the final 4, you have to choose - go to the first game, or the second? Who could afford to go to both? Of course, the people putting these things on make their money off TV, so they couldn't care less about empty seats. We ordered NC tickets (no other bowl games) from Tide Pride. If Bama had beat OSU, we were locked into the University for two NC tickets - at $450 EACH, which is about double what they charged for the 2009 BCSNC tickets. I don't plan to order post-season tickets again - we can't afford it any more.

The off-site regular season games make a dent, too. IIRC, they charged us $175 each for the WVA game in Atlanta. Can't remember how much the Michigan/Dallas tickets were, but they weren't that much.

All that said, I've never had a better time at a football game in my life than the 2014 Mississippi State game. It was magical beyond description. I love going to see our team play. I just think in the future, we'll have to limit ourselves to the one best place to see them - BDS.