College Football Attendance drops for fourth consecutive year.

Bamabuzzard

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It seemed to me like the University had more trouble selling those single-game tickets for the cupcake games this year than in the past. Seemed like they were doing more promotional packages and email blasts and such to try to move them than in the past. Upper corners of the endzones at $85 a ticket to see the starters maybe play the first half against a cupcake does make the recliner and HDTV look appealing.
Well, there goes my idea of taking my family to a "cupcake" game this season. I can go watch a major league baseball game that is a hecka of lot closer to home for those prices. Rangers vs Astros, HERE WE COME!!!!
 
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RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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It seemed to me like the University had more trouble selling those single-game tickets for the cupcake games this year than in the past. Seemed like they were doing more promotional packages and email blasts and such to try to move them than in the past. Upper corners of the endzones at $85 a ticket to see the starters maybe play the first half against a cupcake does make the recliner and HDTV look appealing.
That's not true. Ticket prices here
OOC games were either $45 or $50.
 

uafan4life

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Mar 30, 2001
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We have season tickets and only go to the big games. It's a hassle to get there and get out. Too many late games. 9PM EST games are rough when you can't get a hotel. The in stadium experience sucks. There are a million commercial breaks. They still haven't fixed ATT reception issues. The ticker boards are an hour behind on all the other scores. God forbid they give up advertising on 50' of ribbon board and make someone be in charge of updating it continuously.

Sometimes it is just better to sit at home and watch in HD so you can catch football from noon until the late west coast game is over.
Get a better carrier; I've not had a single cell reception issue at the stadium over the past few seasons.

Now, the hotel issue - or lack of decent ones with availability - is a very real issue.
 

ReturnToGlory

All-American
Nov 22, 2006
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Yep. Can't find a hotel and if you do, you have to overpay. I've been driving 9 hours roundtrip about 3-4 games per year. Probably won't make it but maybe to 1-2 this year.
 

selmaborntidefan

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The last two years, I've bought the season package (when some lucky soul sells it for less than face value) and flown four trips and driven one, and gave the tickets away to Charleston Southern and Mercer. (I'm not traveling 1200 miles round trip from Dallas for THAT, okay?)

I won't be doing it again this year, the lesser games being the least problem.

1) The commitment to Alabama football means I MISS ALL the other games played that day.

Pretty much. I stay with friends (for free) in Columbus, MS. Let me give you a typical trip. I fly out on Friday (Sat morning for LSU since I
know it's a night game) to Memphis - might be 6 am if I took off work or might be 4 pm. The flight is about 90 minutes or so. I then get
off the plane and have to walk halfway across Shelby County to get a rental car. I then have to drive 3 hours and crash, so it's maybe
10 pm when I get there.

God help me if we have the 11 am kickoff like Miss St 2016. I leave the house at 730 to get to T-Town by 930 and in my seat for the game.
That means I miss ALL the other 11 am games. I stay until the end (the exception was Fresno last year - I'm susceptible to heat stroke so
I left at the half because it was Goshawful humidity). Then I need some food and you're out of your mind if you think I'm spending THAT
much at BDS. So I stop to eat on the way home. Getting out is......maybe.....So I arrive back in Columbus at maybe 6 pm, meaning I've
now missed the SECOND set of games. Plus....I'm now tired and sometimes my flight back leaves Memphis at 7am, meaning I have to get
up at 3 am so I head to bed.

In other words, YES, I go to Tide games but it means I MISS all the other games.

I missed Pitt and Syracuse both beating Clemson (though I was on TideFans at the Waffle House in Olive Branch, MS for the latter).
I missed Penn St beating Ohio State.
I missed Iowa beating Ohio State
I missed UGA beating Auburn.

I was in my seat at BDS with my brother on the phone when Arkansas completed that insane 4th and 25.

After awhile, you realize full seasons are going by and you've only seen a few games.

2) Once you've done the stadium experience, I mean, there's not much else to it. It's certainly worth it but oh well.
That's part of why I took to videoing much of the game on my home movie camera. (Nobody has ever said anything to me even
though my ticket spells out that I can't do it). I get close in with the visual and can see things I don't notice otherwise.
I'll miss THAT part of it - it's why I knew we were vulnerable to Auburn as I saw what LSU was doing in the lines.

3) Even with cheap flights it adds up.

I put pen to paper last year. Figure that I fly on Southwest and book early so my flights range from $92 (LSU) to $157 (Vols). I rent
a car plus drive around 400 miles. I eat out. I figured it cost me over $500 total to see FRESNO and CSU.

I'm sorry, but THAT is just not worth it.

4) I now have a kid attending an expensive conservatory.

Oh let's not go there, his mother is ruining his life. But I do stuff on occasion for him, too.

So it's cost prohibitive plus you just have to hang around a lot of people. You're not making a three-hour or so commitment; even if you
live in Northport, you're making a minimum six-hour commitment.
 

4Q Basket Case

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The price of the tickets themselves is the least of it. Add food and drink for the day. Multiply that sum by the number of home games.

Then add the Tide Pride fee. Multiply that by the number of seats you have. Add the donation to the Crimson Tide Foundation needed to keep access to post-season tickets.

Add post season tickets -- $350 to $450 a couple for the SECCG. $550 a couple for the Sugar Bowl. $1,300 a couple for the NCG.

Add transportation and lodging in the post-season.

Kind of like buying a new car (as opposed to a used one), there's no way to justify that with dollars and cents logic.

Mrs. Basket Case and I have discussed it, and we do it because we know first hand how temporary this run is. We were in school in the late 70s, and persevered through the 25 years of wilderness (1990-94 Stallings oasis acknowledged) that followed Bryant's retirement.

It won't always be this way, and we don't want to miss a minute of it while it lasts.
 

Lovthablues

BamaNation Citizen
Jan 18, 2018
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I was a season ticket holder through 2008 ... I went to almost every home game from the last couple of years under Stallings through the first two years under Saban ... Bypass surgery and my age forced me to give up my tickets! We still go to a game occasionally but the long drive, hassle and physical/mental exertion makes staying home and watching it on TV much more enjoyable!
 

Padreruf

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When someone decided this was entertainment and not sport -- thus raising the prices, etc., -- then they ruined it for me. Sitting around people I don't know and probably wouldn't want to, plus spending all the time and money -- no, it's not worth it. Not when I can watch on HD TV in my living room with the people who can stand me...namely my spouse of 42+ years!!!

Could it be that most schools have overbuilt their stadiums?

BTW, if you think CFB is in trouble...look at the NFL...big attendance/viewership troubles.
 

Padreruf

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The price of the tickets themselves is the least of it. Add food and drink for the day. Multiply that sum by the number of home games.

Then add the Tide Pride fee. Multiply that by the number of seats you have. Add the donation to the Crimson Tide Foundation needed to keep access to post-season tickets.

Add post season tickets -- $350 to $450 a couple for the SECCG. $550 a couple for the Sugar Bowl. $1,300 a couple for the NCG.

Add transportation and lodging in the post-season.

Kind of like buying a new car (as opposed to a used one), there's no way to justify that with dollars and cents logic.

Mrs. Basket Case and I have discussed it, and we do it because we know first hand how temporary this run is. We were in school in the late 70s, and persevered through the 25 years of wilderness (1990-94 Stallings oasis acknowledged) that followed Bryant's retirement.

It won't always be this way, and we don't want to miss a minute of it while it lasts.
I'm glad for you...sounds like a good priority for you. I would love to see you put some figures to all this...tell us roughly what it cost for a couple to attend a season of UA football...that will may my cable costs much more reasonable!
 

Bamabuzzard

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The price of the tickets themselves is the least of it. Add food and drink for the day. Multiply that sum by the number of home games.

Then add the Tide Pride fee. Multiply that by the number of seats you have. Add the donation to the Crimson Tide Foundation needed to keep access to post-season tickets.

Add post season tickets -- $350 to $450 a couple for the SECCG. $550 a couple for the Sugar Bowl. $1,300 a couple for the NCG.

Add transportation and lodging in the post-season.

Kind of like buying a new car (as opposed to a used one), there's no way to justify that with dollars and cents logic.

Mrs. Basket Case and I have discussed it, and we do it because we know first hand how temporary this run is. We were in school in the late 70s, and persevered through the 25 years of wilderness (1990-94 Stallings oasis acknowledged) that followed Bryant's retirement.

It won't always be this way, and we don't want to miss a minute of it while it lasts.
This sounds like the description of getting a "Free" puppy.
 

4Q Basket Case

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I'm glad for you...sounds like a good priority for you. I would love to see you put some figures to all this...tell us roughly what it cost for a couple to attend a season of UA football...that will may my cable costs much more reasonable!

Well, I'm cussing you right now because for the first time, I put pen to paper and totaled it up.

Lots of leeway in how you count various expenses, but regular season is a lot. Most of that is Tide Pride and CTF.

Non-regular-season and road game outlay is a function of a lot of different things. Could range from $0 to $5K or more, depending, depending, depending. This last year, we went to FSU in Atlanta, two nights in Nashville for Vandy, both playoff games, had a three-night minimum in NO, with associated restaurant and drink bills. Stayed with friends for both games in Atlanta, so other than tickets (which were substantial), the marginal outlay there was minimal.

Total tab, again depending on exactly how you account for various items, left $10K in the dust.

But I gotta tell you, if there's a drug that could duplicate the effects of seeing that last play live -- watching the OL form a perfect pocket, seeing the ball arc up, then head down, realizing that the receiver is open, then that he caught it, and the game is over, and we're national champs again -- it would sell for several times that.
 

teamplayer

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Jul 31, 2001
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81usaf92

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Apr 26, 2008
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The issue is that it is hard to fill up a 100k stadium, and most season ticket holders are mostly renewing for points to get face value seats in the postseason. But I just don’t buy the “ it’s way too expensive” argument entirely unless it’s a long travel or the person is afraid to deal with scalpers. The truth is that it is way more affordable to buy a ticket than it has been since games were played at Legion Field. 10-20 minutes before game time for the past 4 years I’ve only seen one game be at or above face value at BDS and that was the 2014 Auburn game.
 
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JTH

1st Team
Sep 23, 2006
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In 2011 an LSU ticket face value was $70. Last season LSU face value was $125. Quite a jump in ticket prices over the last few years.
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
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The issue is that it is hard to fill up a 100k stadium, and most season ticket holders are mostly renewing for points to get face value seats in the postseason. But I just don’t buy the “ it’s way too expensive” argument entirely unless it’s a long travel or the person is afraid to deal with scalpers. The truth is that it is way more affordable to buy a ticket than it has been since games were played at Legion Field. 10-20 minutes before game time for the past 4 years I’ve only seen one game be at or above face value at BDS and that was the 2014 Auburn game.
Conversely, most fans don't want to drive an hour or more to Tuscaloosa to wait 10 minutes before kickoff in hopes of finding a cheap ticket.
 

Padreruf

Hall of Fame
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Well, I'm cussing you right now because for the first time, I put pen to paper and totaled it up.

Lots of leeway in how you count various expenses, but regular season is a lot. Most of that is Tide Pride and CTF.

Non-regular-season and road game outlay is a function of a lot of different things. Could range from $0 to $5K or more, depending, depending, depending. This last year, we went to FSU in Atlanta, two nights in Nashville for Vandy, both playoff games, had a three-night minimum in NO, with associated restaurant and drink bills. Stayed with friends for both games in Atlanta, so other than tickets (which were substantial), the marginal outlay there was minimal.

Total tab, again depending on exactly how you account for various items, left $10K in the dust.

But I gotta tell you, if there's a drug that could duplicate the effects of seeing that last play live -- watching the OL form a perfect pocket, seeing the ball arc up, then head down, realizing that the receiver is open, then that he caught it, and the game is over, and we're national champs again -- it would sell for several times that.
My wife wants to total up what I spend on golf...it's still cheaper than having a boat! Thanks...
 

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