Attendance Issues

[The Professor]

It seems to me that streaming the football games live may be a big culprit in empty seats. Heck, on Friday I thought about driving the next county over and watching the Breathitt County vs Walton-Verona game until I was told it would be live streamed. I stayed in the comfort of my home and watched it that way.

 

Maybe instead of live streams they could simply video the games and show them on a delayed basis.

[rjs4470]

Thanks for your insight.

 

I’m sure my opinion may be an unpopular one, but I’d rather cut smaller sports than charge students to get in games. Every school doesn’t need to offer every sport. As I alluded to earlier, I don’t thinks schools are making that much off students anyway, but I could be wrong.

 

Cutting sports is bad. I've coached and been involved in a minor sport for almost 10 years (wrestling), and I've seen far too many kids get opportunities they might not have gotten without being involved in "smaller" sports. My own son got an opportunity to go to a top level university that would have been out of reach if he hadn't played that sport. Extra curricular activities play such a big role in student life and success, that cutting sports should be the absolute last option. Kids are getting more out of participating in activities than attending football or basketball games for free. Taking an opportunity from a smaller sport participant so you can get an extra couple hundred students into a football game is a terrible idea. Is football attendance really more important than providing activities and opportunities to students?

Edited November 24, 2019 by rjs4470

[Mr.Network]

The public is fickle and society is changing quickly. Attendance at all spectator sports is down while tv viewing is up.

 

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should and schools need to think twice about live video streaming unless they monetize it and, even then, is that a good trade off for the lack of community fellowship that is generated in a packed gym or football stadium.

[rjs4470]

The public is fickle and society is changing quickly. Attendance at all spectator sports is down while tv viewing is up.

 

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should and schools need to think twice about live video streaming unless they monetize it and, even then, is that a good trade off for the lack of community fellowship that is generated in a packed gym or football stadium.

 

While live streams may affect attendance, I'm fairly certain that cutting them or attempting to monetize them will bring people back to the stadiums. There's so much more to declining attendance than people staying away simply because they can stream games. One big issue that isn't mentioned is how transient society has become. Not as many people are living in the areas they were born/grew up in. That alone, makes the connection to local sports teams weaker, and many people now don't follow the "home" team if they don't have kids on it. I know in my case, even though I've lived and coached football here for nearly 20 years, I'd be more likely to attend a random high school game in my home town than here in KY.

[barrel]

How much revenue does streaming bring in? I’m sure some programs make a decent amount of money from the advertising. More than what is made from selling stadium ads and program ads.

 

If the program makes money off of concessions then letting students in for free might make them more money. Letting in your youth/lower level programs in for free with a paying adult. Recognizing different groups at halftime is another way to help boost attendance. All of those work better if you get your concession money.

[tcjkbt]

Football is a tremendously expensive sport when you consider the number of kids on the school's teams and the cost of equipment to outfit them and provide insurance. If the school receives very little monetary return from the games, that's bad news for the future of football.

[Jim Schue]

It is a short distance. 36 miles. Mercer & DeSales, district opponents, 75 miles apart.

 

Schools in our 3A district were spoiled this year, and I was along with it. Longest trip is about 25mis.

[ChiefSmoke]

Schools in our 3A district were spoiled this year, and I was along with it. Longest trip is about 25mis.

 

Originally, our district was to stretch between DeSales & Garrard Co. 99 miles. Garrard got moved east. We submitted a proposal that would have saved miles across the board for most if not all schools, but it was rejected.

 

I walked into the GLFCA meeting a couple weeks ago. Knew a bunch of those guys. Super nice. They all asked me.. .WHY ARE YOU HERE??? When I told them we were in a district with Louisville teams, they laughed then shook their heads.

 

Although it is very tough to beat CAL & DeSales, I like Coach Cantwell and Coach Davis. Really good guys and football coaches.

[Roundsteak]

Look at the attendance figures for the Trinity - STX game. The numbers have been declining for the last few years. There was a time when the attendance was ~30,000; now it’s about half that and even less if they meet in the playoffs. Granted there are a lot of kids there who treat this as a social event and don’t have a clue as to what is happening on the field. So the lack of attendance has an effect on the bigger schools and not just the smaller schools. I’ve been to some games where you could actually count the people in the stands. Other options on Friday night do exist as the local Friday night football game is losing its luster as “must see”.

[swamprat]

It's down everywhere. In football mad Florida, the FHSAA has moved this year's state championship football games to smaller stadiums. The 1A-3A Championships will be in Tallahassee in Gene Cox Stadium which seats 6500. The 4A-8A Championships will be in Daytona Stadium, which seats around 10,000.

[PP1]

I think weather only is a factor when it is cold. I don't think people mind sitting in the stands on a hot September night. When I was a kid, I think I remember the first football game being before school even started, like the third Friday in August, thus cutting down on the number of cold games.

[Maroon Beech]

I think you nailed it Guru. So many options for entertainment. We have been blessed with a strong program so our attendance has remained good even with internet radio broadcasting the games. However, the TSSAA (the KHSAA here in TN) is proposing reducing the number of Division 1 (public schools) Classes from six (instituted in 2009) back to five under the argument that the additional class has reduced playoff attendance. Still trying to figure that logic!