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Fun Facts on Football Attendance

cymonw1980

cymonw1980

Well-Known Member
Nov 23, 2015
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Raleigh, NC
A couple fun facts on attendance:

ISU attendance since 1994:
- Has increased 179k (213k to 392k, 7 games v. 6 games in 1994)
- Average Attendance has increased 20.5k (35.5k to 56k)

Since 2008:
- College Football (FBS level) Attendance is down 11% (47k average in 2008, 42k 2018)
- ISU has added 12% capacity to our stadium (55k to 61.5k)
- ISU has seen average attendance increase 18% (47k to 56k)

Compared to our friends to the east:
- Per Game Attendance at Jack Trice 1994 - '98 : 37,591; 2014 - '18: 55,043 (+46%)
- Per Game Attendance at kinnick 1994 - '98: 68,438; 2014 - '18: 66,938 (-2%)
- Avg Annual Attendance* Jack Trice: 1994 - '98: 225,738; 2014 - '18: 362,409 (+61%)
- Avg Annual Attendance* kinnick: 1994-'98: 410,630; 2014-'18: 468,565 (+14%)
- kinnick recently shrunk capacity 2% (70,585 to 69,250)
- Jack Trice was 61% of kinnick's size in 1998 (70,397 v. 43,000); Today it is 89% (69,250 v. 61,500)


*NOTE: Avg Annual Attendance numbers in 1994 - '98 were for 30 games for both team (average of 6 games each season); From 2014-'18 kinnick had 35 games (7 per season); Jack Trice had 33 games (6.6 per season).
 
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Aclone said:
Well, then. Clearly, we need to keep growing until we can bump Jack up to, say, 75K or So capacity.

Thanks for posting this...
Click to expand...

agree.. but first we need to pack the place regularly...

1) stay above 55k in every game
2) sell out for big ones - not just uni, iowa when we have opposing fans coming, OSU, Texas, TCU, etc.

Then maybe they will consider it... hope we can get it to 70k at some point. Good news is, ISU has been growing, passed iowa in total number of students. Also, of the two schools I think we have more grads that stay in state after school.. so, maybe.
 
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In 2011. When iowa state played texas after starting 3-0 they broke the attendance record that had been set at the triple overtime game against iowa in week 2.
So we dont need the opposing fan base for great attendance.
 
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Isualum13 said:
In 2011. When iowa state played texas after starting 3-0 they broke the attendance record that had been set at the triple overtime game against iowa in week 2.
So we dont need the opposing fan base for great attendance.
Click to expand...

understand... but my point is, before we talk about expanding the stadium from current 61,500, we need to fill it up more consistently and not just for iowa and uni. Currently, iowa and uni are 4 of the 5 sellouts we have had since expanding in 2015. Only exception is when they sold $11 tickets for the "11/11" game vs. OSU in 2017.

The 2011 Texas game had 56,390 (not a fair compare since capacity was only 55,000 in 2011). I hope we get to 61,500 for texas this year...

Bottom line though, the trend has been very positive over the last 25 years.


Current Top 10 Crowds:
1. 61,500:
iowa 2017
uni 2017
OSU 2017 ($11 tickets for the last home game of the year, had 56k for the TCU game)
iowa 2015
uni 2015
6. 60,629 uni 2016
7. 58,479 ou 2018 (largest crowd last year)
8. 57,908 tex tech 2018
9. 56,800
iowa 2013
uni 2013
OSU 2013
KSU 2012

After the first two games this year, I would expect uni and iowa 2019 to be in the 61500 category and 7 of our 10 highest attended games will be in-state rivals.
 
isu81 said:
As of 2017, Iowa's ticket revenue ($28.3 million) was double Iowa State's ($14.3).

Click on each school for breakdown of revenue.

https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
Click to expand...

yes... couple of things

1) in 2017 iowa had one more home game, in addition, they still have a larger stadium. So, in total they had 130k more in total attendance for the year - estimate +$9M

2) Assume they also have more premium seating (?); estimate + $2.5M

3) They have more sports (including baseball) and I believe wrestling gets better attendance; estimate +$2.5M

maybe a little off... but that would be my breakdown of the ~$14M gap.
 
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isu81 said:
As of 2017, Iowa's ticket revenue ($28.3 million) was double Iowa State's ($14.3).

Click on each school for breakdown of revenue.

https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
Click to expand...
Unfortunately ticket prices and donation levels both need to increase while also keeping attendance at / near capacity before any further talk of expansion takes place. Economics don't make sense to make a large capital outlay to expand stadium capacity with current (relatively) cheap ticket prices.
 
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Sometimes a little shrinkage isn't all bad (that's not what she said). If it makes sitting/standing more comfortable, losing some seats can be a benefit.
 
cymonw1980 said:
yes... couple of things

1) in 2017 iowa had one more home game, in addition, they still have a larger stadium. So, in total they had 130k more in total attendance for the year - estimate +$9M

2) Assume they also have more premium seating (?); estimate + $2.5M

3) They have more sports (including baseball) and I believe wrestling gets better attendance; estimate +$2.5M

maybe a little off... but that would be my breakdown of the ~$14M gap.
Click to expand...


EDIT:
Well... I was wrong. It's all Football. :)

Good news? we are SLOWLY catching up...

Even with fewer sports we actually make more on tickets to non-football sports (MBB, WBB specifically). They make more on wrestling, but overall in the last 3 yrs we have about an 800k / yr advantage (small $ relative to football).

Overall gap in 2017 was $14.6M, in 2019 it was 10.8M, and the FY2020 budget is now down to a $9.1M gap total gap ($9.8M on football).

What doesn't make sense to me is the average cost of a ticket (using the 392k reported attendance and $11.4M in football ticket revenue) is $29 per game. Looking at season tickets, premium seats are $121/game, donation required seats are $71, Faculty are $64, General Admission are $32 - $46 (edges and corners), Mobile Pass are $28, Student tickets are $21... not sure how you get a $29 average....

Latest Board of Regents review with athletic budget details (pages 24 and 34):
https://www.iowaregents.edu/media/cms/0819_ITEM_3__Budgets_581B4C4633C5F.pdf
 
laminak said:
I wonder how much revenue is lost at ISU for all of the halftime crowds going to the parking lot rather than staying inside the stadium.
Click to expand...

Can't be much. The reason our stands are empty is because the lines for concessions\restrooms are already horrendous, leaving people still in those lines when the second half starts. You block them from going out (where they stop for food\drinks\restroom outside) and the lines inside just get worse, which is going to make some other people just avoid those lines entirely

Not sure what the solution to that is though. There's limited space on the concourse, and unlike some other stadiums our size we only have the one concourse level to work with.
 
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