I think that for most schools outside of the "big boys", attendance has been steadily dropping for a while.
This article says that overall college football attendance has dropped the last 5 years (although it looks like the drop might be slowing somewhat):
http://www.cbssports.com/college-footba ... ower-rate/
Now, obviously the ticket price issue isn't actually an issue here (since students get in free anyway), but I think there's probably two primary issues that cause us to have pretty low attendance:
- It seems like a lot of students just don't know much about the football team...what division we're in (is in...we are actually DI)...when the games are, etc.
- There's a lot more distractions now for students.
For example, if you wanted to spend your Saturday afternoon watching a college football game, back in the time-frame when we were setting our attendance records, what were the options you had besides going to the game at Hanson Field? You'd have...what...2 games, maybe 3, being broadcast that you could tune into? This coming Saturday, for example, if you only have the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) plus the ESPN family of channels, you can choose from 30 different FBS games going on, and that doesn't even include games on the BTN (6 games), SEC Network (6 games), CBS Sports Network (4 games), etc. since I don't know how many of those they would get (just checked, and in the dorms, students get all the previously mentioned channels except the SEC Network...and pretty much all are in HD...so that's about 40 games at just the FBS level).
Back then, what were the other options for entertainment? You want to watch a movie...gotta go to a movie theatre. You want to watch a tv show...gotta wait for it to be on broadcast tv. Now, in addition to the other 100+ channels that students get in their dorm rooms, they also have near-infinite entertainment options online. Because of all of this, the football games aren't the place to hang out and spend some time with your friends anymore. Die-hard fans will be there...longtime supporters...the band...that's about it.
Unfortunately, very few FCS schools have the money and ability to present a gameday atmosphere that is exciting to many outside of the hardcore fans. Ohio State...Michigan...Nebraska...Alabama...LSU...those guys do...giant video boards, fireworks, packed stadiums full of loud fans. It's just much harder to do something like that in the FCS. A few schools can, either because they are the "big boys" in their states/regions (North Dakota State and Montana), because they have an exceptional gameday atmosphere that they've built (Jacksonville State and James Madison) or just because of their history (Yale and Harvard). A lot of that either costs money or relies on a situation that is outside of our ability to influence.
Still, there are things we can do to make the best of our situation (and yes, I realize that for the majority of these, I'm "preachin' to the choir").
- Tell friends and family about Leatherneck Football, share info on Facebook and Twitter, etc.
- When you go to games, bring people with you. Bribe them with beer if you have to, but get them out to Hanson Field, ideally for a nice-weather, well-attended game like Family Weekend or Homecoming (our two highest attended games last year)
- Donate, if you can, to the Leatherneck Club fund
- If you live in Illinois, contact your local representatives and let them know how important it is for them to fund higher education in Illinois (it's obviously not going to fix everything, but having a more stable long-term budget allows all areas of the university...like Athletics...to work towards more long-term/larger projects...like the new west side of the stadium, for example).
So, some things we can't control, but maybe some things we can. I know I'll be doing my part to help bring in new Leatherneck fans by bringing my kids to their first Leatherneck Football game this Saturday.
jc