Playoff Quarterfinal Attendance

[Professor Chaos]

Attendance figures for the quarterfinal round:

NDSU @ South Dakota: 9,141 (132.7% of USD's regular season average of 6,890)
Albany @ Idaho: 9,372 (79.9% of Idaho's regular season average of 11,737)
Furman @ Montana: 20,884 (79.5% of Montana's regular season average of 26,269)
Villanova @ SDSU: 10,216 (56.1% of SDSU's regular season average of 18,208)


These are really good numbers - USD blew away their regular season average, Idaho and Montana getting to 80% with just a week to sell is tickets is pretty darn good, and SDSU getting 10k+ given the weather conditions is still admirable. The quarterfinal average of 12,403 was the highest since 2015 and second highest overall since the field expanded to 24 in 2013. The running average through the first 3 rounds of the playoffs is sitting at 8,433 which is the 3rd highest since 2013 and less than 0.1% (or 8 people on average) behind 2nd place (the 2017 playoffs).

This year probably won't catch the 2015 season (which had huge numbers from NDSU and JSU primarily driving it) but pretty good chance it can catch 2017 - if the weather is decent in Brookings and Missoula I'd expect 35-40k combined between those two games which would bump this year up to #2 in terms of most attended playoffs overall since 2013.

[Hammerhead]

I wonder if any people hoping to resell tickets at USD are mad they had unsold tickets? The actual attendance at SDSU also looked lower and I could see some fans with tickets deciding to skip the game because of the weather.

[Professor Chaos]

Adding the semifinal attendance onto this thread:

NDSU @ Montana: 26,544 (101.0% of Montana's regular season average of 26,269)
Albany @ SDSU: 12,265 (67.4% of SDSU's regular season average of 18,208)

The average of 19,405 for the semis is the 2nd highest since the field expanded to 24 teams in 2013 trailing only 2015. The running average for all playoffs games through the semis is 9,430 which again is 2nd since 2013 trailing only 2015. This year won't catch 2015 but it only needs about 15k in Frisco to ensure it finishes as the 2nd most attended playoffs since 2013 which I would think will easily be surpassed by the two fan bases traveling to the championship game this year.

In total the FCS playoffs have attracted 207,459 in paid attendance across the 22 game so far. Hopefully the good attendance number along with the new media deal coming for for the FCS playoffs next year can provide the financial backing to push through the current proposal to seed the top 16 teams in the playoffs moving forward.

[Sitting Bull]

For comparison, here are a few of the G 5 bowl games from yesterday:
New Orleans Bowl. 14,485
Louisiana vs Jax State
Myrtle Beach Bowl. 8,059
Ohio vs Georgia Southern
Cure Bowl Orlando. 11,121
Miami OH vs App State

[Gil Dobie]

Approx 6000 more attendance than the Furman game, but FUBeAR can juggle numbers to make the quarter finals vs a seeded team look larger than a semifinal vs an unseeded team. And South Carolina 😆

[Professor Chaos]

For comparison, here are a few of the G 5 bowl games from yesterday:
New Orleans Bowl. 14,485
Louisiana vs Jax State
Myrtle Beach Bowl. 8,059
Ohio vs Georgia Southern
Cure Bowl Orlando. 11,121
Miami OH vs App State
And attendance for minor bowl games are almost always inflated whereas FCS playoffs are not because they have to but a check to the NCAA based on the number they report and the larger the number the larger the check.

[robsnotes4u]

Adding the semifinal attendance onto this thread:

NDSU @ Montana: 26,544 (101.0% of Montana's regular season average of 26,269)
Albany @ SDSU: 12,265 (67.4% of SDSU's regular season average of 18,208)

The average of 19,405 for the semis is the 2nd highest since the field expanded to 24 teams in 2013 trailing only 2015. The running average for all playoffs games through the semis is 9,430 which again is 2nd since 2013 trailing only 2015. This year won't catch 2015 but it only needs about 15k in Frisco to ensure it finishes as the 2nd most attended playoffs since 2013 which I would think will easily be surpassed by the two fan bases traveling to the championship game this year.

In total the FCS playoffs have attracted 207,459 in paid attendance across the 22 game so far. Hopefully the good attendance number along with the new media deal coming for for the FCS playoffs next year can provide the financial backing to push through the current proposal to seed the top 16 teams in the playoffs moving forward.

Why do you think SDSU numbers are so low for a Semi-Final?

Any idea how many people were at the Championship compared to NDSU? NDSU travels well


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[Professor Chaos]

Why do you think SDSU numbers are so low for a Semi-Final?

Any idea how many people were at the Championship compared to NDSU? NDSU travels well


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SDSU has always had issues drawing fans with the weather turns cold in December. This was their highest attendance home playoff game ever I believe so they are trending upwards. They also had some really big draws in the regular season that bumped their attendance average up like Montana St and NDSU and they had another big crowd on their homecoming (aka Hobo Day).

I'm pretty sure Toyota Stadium in Frisco will be sold out again. SDSU traveled well last year and made it a pretty evenly split crowd with NDSU and I'd imagine that Griz fans are going to be able to more than cover half the crowd if necessary. Capacity there is only about 18k now after they renovated the south endzone (used to be able to get around 21k seated I believe).

[Sitting Bull]

Update on the G5 Bowls

Toasters Bowl. 5,632
ODU vs WKU

Frisco Bowl. 11,215
UTSA vs Marshall

[Chalupa Batman]

Update on the G5 Bowls

Toasters Bowl. 5,632
ODU vs WKU

Frisco Bowl. 11,215
UTSA vs Marshall

From what I saw there is zero chance there were this many fans in Toyota Stadium last night.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

From what I saw there is zero chance there were this many fans in Toyota Stadium last night.

I agree! The crowd was pitiful given the fact a Texas school was playing. The bowl games have morphed into a symbol of what is wrong with FBS college football. Its nothing but a TV show and the players are being exploited at this point and I'm not one to go down that road. But ESPN just wants football for programming, the participants are irrelevant so long as they put on a show for the network. That's what makes FCS, D2 and D3 so great! It's still about the in person experience. Just like with racing, go to your local short track. TV killed mainstream auto racing too....

[UNHWildcat18]

I agree! The crowd was pitiful given the fact a Texas school was playing. The bowl games have morphed into a symbol of what is wrong with FBS college football. Its nothing but a TV show and the players are being exploited at this point and I'm not one to go down that road. But ESPN just wants football for programming, the participants are irrelevant so long as they put on a show for the network. That's what makes FCS, D2 and D3 so great! It's still about the in person experience. Just like with racing, go to your local short track. TV killed mainstream auto racing too....
It's unreal how many bowl games there are. I understand maybe teams 1/2/3 each conference but do we really need to see two 6-6 teams play.....

12 of the ****ing 14 teams in the sunbelt when to a bowl game! That is so stupid...

[ASU33]

The Celebration Bowl smoked all of these as far as attendance.


For comparison, here are a few of the G 5 bowl games from yesterday:
New Orleans Bowl. 14,485
Louisiana vs Jax State
Myrtle Beach Bowl. 8,059
Ohio vs Georgia Southern
Cure Bowl Orlando. 11,121
Miami OH vs App State

[Bisonoline]

Update on the G5 Bowls

Toasters Bowl. 5,632
ODU vs WKU

Frisco Bowl. 11,215
UTSA vs Marshall

There is no way there were 11k at the frisco bowl. If there was 2500 they were lucky.

[Sitting Bull]

I agree! The crowd was pitiful given the fact a Texas school was playing. The bowl games have morphed into a symbol of what is wrong with FBS college football. It’s nothing but a TV show and the players are being exploited at this point and I'm not one to go down that road. But ESPN just wants football for programming, the participants are irrelevant so long as they put on a show for the network. That's what makes FCS, D2 and D3 so great! It's still about the in person experience. Just like with racing, go to your local short track. TV killed mainstream auto racing too....

ESPN has these G5 leagues by the balls. They are nothing more than space fillers for the “money and exposure”,

[ysubigred]

There is no way there were 11k at the frisco bowl. If there was 2500 they were lucky.Glad someone posted this.. I've been to Frisco in that stadium with ~11K it was not nothing like that. 2500 is a stretch.. mostly TXSA people..

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[Bisonoline]

Glad someone posted this.. I've been to Frisco in that stadium with ~11K it was not nothing like that. 2500 is a stretch.. mostly TXSA people..

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The only other people there were the ones who got tix from the games sponsors.

[Gil Dobie]

Glad someone posted this.. I've been to Frisco in that stadium with ~11K it was not nothing like that. 2500 is a stretch.. mostly TXSA people..

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I would guess more than that at some of the Bison pep rallys the night before the game.