Is the SEC the best?

[Travis Galey]

Yes - at least when it comes to attendance. Of course this is why they get so much attention, it just means more to their fans. This is also a good reason why the Big Ten would be a good landing spot for UT and it gives credence to the people who say Pac-12 football doesn't mean anything to their fans. I have to admit, I'm surprised the ACC is so weak. But then again, outside of Clemson, FSU and Virginia Tech, they don't have many schools that are football crazy.

SEC once again tops in college football in average attendance

More than 7.7 million spectators took in Southeastern Conference football games last season helping push the league to the top of Football Bowl Subdivision for the eighteenth consecutive season.

The SEC averaged an all-conference record of 78,630 fans per home games last season with six schools ranking among the top ten in total attendance in 2015 according to a report by the National Football Foundation.

The remaining members of the Power 5 conferences ranked as followed: Big Ten (66,008), Big 12 (57,347), Pac-12 (51,880) and ACC (49,033).

According to the NFF, close to 50 million fans (49,057,966) attended football games at all three divisions last season. The FBS drew close to 37 million of those spectators for an average of 43,933 fans per game in 2015.

 

[Oilfield]

They have a great set up for the most part. Obviously football-loving fans in small cities without a tremendous number of distractions from their games. Also, many conference road games are within a reasonable driving distance.

 

[LonghornCPA82]

Well at least we barely made the top 10.

 

[Oilfield]

Well at least me barely made the top 10.

Our attendance, considering the product, has really been very good.

 

[LonghornCPA82]

Also looks like UCF and USF would bring down the Big 12 average attendance.

 

[BullSprig_a_Work]

Not surprising..

SEC stadiums are much larger.

Compared to Big XII stadiums...the SEC has 4 stadiums 100K+ while Texas is the only 100K+ stadium in Big XII. Oklahoma is a distant 2nd with 82K+...

 

[LonghornCPA82]

Our attendance, considering the product, has really been very good.

Has to be based on tickets sold vs. actual attendance. We had to have had more than 12K average empty seats in 2015. I expect a pick up in attendance in 2016 with ND and BU at home. TCU may help as well.

 

[Santiam]

Our attendance, considering the product, has really been very good.

Also, there are a lot of smaller stadiums in the Big12. Only Texas and OU have big stadiums.

 

[quartersmith]

What is best in life?

 

[Oilfield]

Has to be based on tickets sold vs. actual attendance. We had to have had more than 12K average empty seats in 2015. I expect a pick up in attendance in 2016 with ND and BU at home. TCU may help as well.

Oh yeah, K-State was mostly empty, but that was because the weather forecast made it sound like we were being hit with the storm of the century.

 

[ATRumbler]

They have a built in advantage of having most road games being very driveable.

For instance, for Ole Miss LSU, Arkansas, Vandy and Auburn are all around 4 hours, Alabama around 2, Vandy is 5 and MsState about an hour. It's pretty easy to road trip to any away game.

 

[PBR_StreetGang]

I remember growing up rooting for the conference Texas was in to win some made up attendance title. Wait, no I don't.

 

[Travis Galey]

I remember growing up rooting for the conference Texas was in to win some made up attendance title. Wait, no I don't.

That's pretty pithy.

Of course ignorance of the impact attendance has on conferences and its members is completely your choice. 'Merica!

 

[Rider54]

They have a built in advantage of having most road games being very driveable.

For instance, for Ole Miss LSU, Arkansas, Vandy and Auburn are all around 4 hours, Alabama around 2, Vandy is 5 and MsState about an hour. It's pretty easy to road trip to any away game.

Think back. In the old SWC, everything was drive-able. Except for Texas, no one had great attendance unless the opponent happened to be Texas or else the opponent had a real good record. The SEC does have a built in advantage, but it is not distance, it is fans who care.

 

[PBR_StreetGang]

That's pretty pithy of you. Of course ignorance of the impact this kind of thing has on conferences and its members is completely your choice. 'Merica!

I'm not one of these new age, fan-of-conference robots created by ESPN in the last 15 years or so. It's the lowest common denominator element of the current CFB narrative, kind of like the rise of fantasy has been for so many other sports. It's much easier to keep it simple. Root for Texas to win and to do it the right way, which they will always have the resources to do regardless of other schools' attendance figures.

Really give zero Fs about anything else, especially how many truck driver, NASCAR style bumpkins decide to spend half their yearly income on going to watch the teams of colleges they never came close to attending. This conference vs. conference, fantasy trophy thing is something that's developed in the last 10 years or so, and it's completely fabricated.

 

[Pho King Master]

I assume a lot has to do with stadium size and lack of other forms of entertainment.

Outside of maybe attending a go kart race or chicken fight, what else are they going to do? There's no pro teams in SEC country for the most part.

 

[Pho King Master]

Also, there's no way aggy averaged over 100k last year.

 

[SouthAustinHorn]

I remember growing up rooting for the conference Texas was in to win some made up attendance title. Wait, no I don't.

You don't recall anxiously looking through the paper for the attendance figures from the Rice-SMU games?

 

[Travis Galey]

I'm not one of these new age, fan-of-conference robots created by ESPN in the last 15 years or so. It's the lowest common denominator element of the current CFB narrative, kind of like the rise of fantasy has been for so many other sports. It's much easier to keep it simple. Root for Texas to win and to do it the right way, which they will always have the resources to do regardless of other schools' attendance figures.

Really give zero Fs about anything else, especially how many truck driver, NASCAR style bumpkins decide to spend half their yearly income on going to watch the teams of colleges they never came close to attending. This conference vs. conference, fantasy trophy thing is something that's developed in the last 10 years or so, and it's completely fabricated.

Speaking of fabricated, nobody but you is talking about a conference vs. conference fantasy trophy. I'm talking attendance figures broken down by conference.

Of course you came on and tried to be snarky implying that this doesn't matter and I'm saying it does. Larger attendance figures means larger operating budgets which means better facilities and more disparity between the haves and the have nots. And while you may not give two f's about which conference we're in, it does make a difference. Good players want to play against good competition, which is why the SEC is so attractive to many recruits. If that conference is getting top notch recruits, big pay days and lots of fans watching their teams then that conference is going to separate itself from the pack and we're going to be at a disadvantage.

 

[drunk randoke]

They have a great set up for the most part. Obviously football-loving fans in small cities without a tremendous number of distractions from their games. Also, many conference road games are within a reasonable driving distance.

Well the big 12 has shit cities with no football loving fans.

 

[PBR_StreetGang]

Speaking of fabricated, nobody but you is talking about a conference vs. conference fantasy trophy. I'm talking attendance figures broken down by conference.

Of course you came on and tried to be snarky implying that this doesn't matter and I'm saying it does. Larger attendance figures means larger operating budgets which means better facilities and more disparity between the haves and the have nots. And while you may not give two f's about which conference we're in, it does make a difference. Good players want to play against good competition, which is why the SEC is so attractive to many recruits. If that conference is getting top notch recruits, big pay days and lots of fans watching their teams then that conference is going to separate itself from the pack and we're going to be at a disadvantage.

Many attendance figures are largely made up and have been for years. It's become a meaningless PR point where most schools pad their stats for media releases. Can't tell you how many "sell outs" I've seen where there are thousands upon thousands of empty seats. How do people really not know this at this point?

 

[Travis Galey]

Many attendance figures are largely made up and have been for years. It's become a meaningless PR point where most schools pad their stats for media releases. Can't tell you how many "sell outs" I've seen where there are thousands upon thousands of empty seats. How do people really not know this at this point?

Who says they don't? Just about everyone understands sellout doesn't always equate to butts in seats.

And why shouldn't a school claim a sellout of they sold the tickets? Even if many of those fans didn't show up? The ticket was still sold and the money still goes into the school's coffers. So is that really "meaningless?"

 

[PBR_StreetGang]

Who says they don't? Just about everyone understands sellout doesn't always equate to butts in seats.

And why shouldn't a school claim a sellout of they sold the tickets? Even if many of those fans didn't show up? The ticket was still sold and the money still goes into the school's coffers. So is that really "meaningless?"

You actually believe that second paragraph? LOL. And yes, there are a lot of my informed people that take those numbers at face value year after year after year with zero context.