Operation Sell Out

[docabel]

Rice climbed 12,000 average attendance per game last year.

Four Division I teams enjoyed increased crowds of more than 10,000 fans per game from last year. Leading the way was Louisville, which benefitted from a newly expanded Cardinal Stadium. Louisville enjoyed an 18,198-person increase per game from 2009 to 2010. The Cardinals were followed by Northwestern (12,259), Rice (12,019) and Eastern Michigan (10,869).

http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/2011- ... dance-mark

I would attribute a major piece of that to having home games against Texas and Houston. We do not have a TCU, Texas, Tech or other home draw like that this year to help single game ticket sales. It will decline significantly without programs like this.

That was 110% the UT game. Even the uh game only drew 26K for them (they even drew around 23K for the Baylor game) Their other home games maxed out at around 12-15K. The Texas game was 70K+ in attendance. This year Rice will have one of the top 4 decreases in attendance, since the TX game is in Austin.

[2ndandlong]

Rice climbed 12,000 average attendance per game last year.

Four Division I teams enjoyed increased crowds of more than 10,000 fans per game from last year. Leading the way was Louisville, which benefitted from a newly expanded Cardinal Stadium. Louisville enjoyed an 18,198-person increase per game from 2009 to 2010. The Cardinals were followed by Northwestern (12,259), Rice (12,019) and Eastern Michigan (10,869).

http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/2011- ... dance-mark

I would attribute a major piece of that to having home games against Texas and Houston. We do not have a TCU, Texas, Tech or other home draw like that this year to help single game ticket sales. It will decline significantly without programs like this.

That was 110% the UT game. Even the uh game only drew 26K for them (they even drew around 23K for the Baylor game) Their other home games maxed out at around 12-15K. The Texas game was 70K+ in attendance. This year Rice will have one of the top 4 decreases in attendance, since the TX game is in Austin.

What team is going to pad our numbers this year? Navy? While TCU wasn't 70k, it was a full house, and we don't get many of those, especially without the operation sellout padding.

[NickSMU17]

Navy during veterans weekend will prob be closest thing to sell-out....

[2ndandlong]

won't hold my breath.

[Pony_Law]

It comes down to how we preform on the field. If we beat A&M I'd expect the UTEP game to be close to a sell out if not sold out because 1) we will get a lot of local and national press about it 2) it's the home opener and disinterested students/ other members of the SMU community will probably jump on the bandwagon for at least that 1 game, 3) shocked aggies will want another look at the team that beat them to convince themselves they either did or did not choke, 4) big 12-2 fans In dallas might take an interest in a team that just altered the big 12 land scape (aggie stock falling rapidly)

[2ndandlong]

Interesting Harvard review from earlier this year on what drives ticket sales for NCAA Football games.
http://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/what-factors-contribute-to-attendance-in-college-football/

[2ndandlong]

No surprises in the article. It's harder for private schools, easier for BCS schools, winning helps, school size doesn't matter, etc.

[ponyboy]

No surprises, but good to see assumptions backed up by some data. SMU is mentioned by the way...

[docabel]

Great article, but I disagree with 2ndandlong in that school size does matter...

3. Undergraduate population does matter. During the 2008 to 2010 seasons, schools with between 30,000 and 40,000 undergrads averaged attendance of 54,000 (NCAA average: 44,000) which was 84% of their capacity (NCAA average: 80%) even with an average winning percentage hovering at just 50.6%. Schools with more than 40,000 undergrads - admittedly, a select few - had 69,000 fans at their games accounting for 91% of capacity. These bigger schools were also, generally, located in bigger metropolitan areas, and both had a citizen to student ratio of roughly 35 (NCAA average: 56.6). Smaller schools did considerably worse; schools with between 10,000 and 20,000 undergrads filled their stadiums to 73.2% capacity while those with less than 10,000 yielded 77% capacity returns, despite winning 57% of their games. These small schools (bellow 10,000) also were generally in large metropolitan areas and had a citizen: student ratio of 326.

Also the next two points
4. Large City population and the presence of pro teams hurt attendance.

5. Private schools have a harder time drawing.

All that being said, we cannot control any of the above. The only thing within our control is winning which will bring more fans, but even that will take time (ask tcu).

[2ndandlong]

I was more referencing major exceptions that buck that trend. The "school size doesn't matter" comment was thinking of USC and Miami which are similarly sized private schools with dramatically different attendance to SMU.

I don't disagree with your comments. Just acknowledging some of the major exceptions.

[Canadian Mustang]

Nice cause 2nd and long. Still need help?

[2ndandlong]

Nice cause 2nd and long. Still need help?

Yes. Please pm me and I'll send you the info.

We have a long way to go.

[mrydel]

Be careful, he could be a spy. Should have been "Still need some help, eh?" if he is our Canadian Mustang.

[2ndandlong]

I know what you're talking aboot, but he's making a donation. Spy money works just fine.

[2ndandlong]

Bump. We need a lot of help and have a long way to go before we sell out UTEP which is now only 12 days away.