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Topic: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Topic: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

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rpbobcat
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Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/10/2019 1:19:44 PM

There's an article in today's The Record about a significant drop in attendance at high school sporting events.

I don't know about Ohio,but at a number of schools,even those with winning programs,attendance is anemic.

What's really bothersome is that the group with the lowest numbers are students.
According to the article,fans stay loyal to pro teams they start rooting for as kids.

Not so with high school or college.

On the high school level,the fans are limited to friends and relatives.

Even the state wrestling championships didn't sellout.
Just a couple of years ago you couldn't get a seat for any round.

The people they interviewed gave a number of reason,including kid's "attention span" and the lack of a desire to actually sit through a game,match etc.

Last Edited: 3/10/2019 1:31:45 PM by rpbobcat

cbus cat fan
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/10/2019 2:39:14 PM

RPBobcat very interesting post. I will say this as having some 40 years of experience of playing, teaching, coaching, administrative and parental experience here in Ohio. It certainly doesn't have the same amount of interest, hype or exposure as it did when I was a kid. I can tell you as a kid in the 1970s the State Basketball Final was held in Columbus and there were over a hundred live broadcasts from local radio stations (often in rural areas who didn't even have a team in the finals or semi finals.) Seeing all those radio station banners in the lower rung of St. John Arena was something that made an impression on me as a kid hoping my small Catholic school would get there some day. We never made it there, but it would something for which to strive.

That being said, I was at the recent central district finals held at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus (Divisions II,III and IV.) The place was packed for the games, and last night there wasn't a seat to be found for both games. There has been a downward trend simply because of so many more options when I was a kid. However, in the central district finals you had representative schools from the all parts; public and Catholic, rural, suburban, and inner city and all those games had great attendance. Now the Ohio Dominican facility is smaller than the old Fairgrounds Coliseum, but the crowd was still great.

I think schools that have always had great traditions continue to draw well, while those schools who don't have that kind of history and tradition have been the ones that have seen the biggest tailspin in participation and attendance.

Ohio69
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/10/2019 3:50:23 PM

I found the article online. One high school official noted that games used to be the main place students get together and socialize and now that�s done online. Seemed like the best guess on why attendance is down. Maybe there are more sports teams at each school and more non-school club teams and people are at those events instead of football/basketball?

Can somebody hit a pull up jumper for me?.....

Joe McKinley
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/10/2019 4:59:38 PM

I think you�ve hit on some of the reasons attendance is down in sports at the high school level .

FYI - Ohio Dominican�s gym seats 2,000 - smaller than most high school facilities in central Ohio. Just a decade ago, Division 1 single game ( not doubleheader) district finals at the Fairgrounds Coliseum would draw sellouts or close to it at 5,000 seats.

rpbobcat
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 6:36:47 AM

There's a follow up article on Northjersey.com about this.

One impact of lower attendance,particularly at championship events,is a drop in revenue.

What is the governing body for high school sports in N.J. (NJSIAA) considering to address this ?

Higher ticket prices.

Alan Swank
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 8:52:17 AM

Lack of parental identification with the local high school is also a contributing factor. For example, none of the curent parents of students at the three newest Olentangy schools attendended those schools. As people continue to move all over the country, fewer and fewer local residents will be alumni of the local school. Combine that with smaller families, and the "natural" fans in the stands are becoming fewer and fewer each day.

MonroeClassmate
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 9:25:00 AM

Many of the above comments undoubtedly add to the problem. Here is one more.

Dating. It was a social thing to go to a game and often times the only non-class hour way to meet with the opposite sex. With the social media providing today's youth with alternative ways to contact folks there now is decline in some youth who would have attended games.

Football might buck this trend because of it being outside with nice weather providing an experience that the electronic type cannot match!

cbus cat fan
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 9:48:10 AM

Alan Swank wrote:

Alan makes a great point. I believe there are four Olentangy high schools now, Olentangy Berlin opened last fall. There are 3 Dublin High schools. Take Olentangy for example; in 2025 there is estimated to about 7,500 in those four high schools. In 1975, there was less than 750 in the one high school they had at the time simply named Olentangy, a 10 fold increase in 50 years.

Many budding athletes will never be good enough to make a varsity sport, which is why some schools (I am not sure if Olentangy does this) makes a rule than no one can be cut from the cross country team.

All of those rapidly growing districts are well regarded academically, but they don't have the generational alumni base one would see at a rural high school or even a Catholic high school. My understanding from talking to coaches is there aren't a whole of old time alums from Olentangy or Dublin that go to any of the games associated with the schools now, because when the old timers went there, they were rural districts not the suburban districts they are now. Go to any small town or Catholic high school and you will probably find a group of older alums whose kids and grand kids have moved away, but still go to the games to cheer on a friends kids or grand kids. Besides winning, tradition is a big factor in keeping sports and fan participation high.

Last Edited: 3/11/2019 10:05:59 AM by cbus cat fan

Alan Swank
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 10:10:46 AM

cbus cat fan wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

All of those rapidly growing districts are well regarded academically, but they don't have the generational alumni base one would see at a rural high school or even a Catholic high school. My understanding from talking to coaches is there aren't a whole of old time alums from Olentangy or Dublin that go to any of the games associated with the schools now, because when the old timers went there, they were rural districts not the suburban districts they are now. Go to any small town or Catholic high school and you will probably find a group of older alums whose kids and grand kids have moved away, but still go to the games to cheer on a friends kids or grand kids. Besides winning, tradition is a big factor in keeping sports and fan participation high.

Up until a few yeas ago, my aging parents were a perfect case in point. I played at and graduated from Akron East in 1973 yet my parents, even after a four year hiatus in North Carolina, continued to attend East's basketball games well into this decade. Locally, you see as many old timers at Athens High games as you seen adults in there 30s to 50s. Rural, small town and Catholic schools still have that alumni following but as a percentage of attendance in schools, those schools are getting smaller and smaller.

bobcatsquared
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 10:40:05 AM

Anecdotal, but I was impressed with the support both Olentangy Liberty and Olentangy Orange had Saturday at the Columbus Convention Center for the district finals. Newark has a tradition of supporting its basketball teams and the fan bases for the Olentangy schools were equally impressive.

.
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 11:49:55 AM

I figured this drop would happen, but it happened so rapidly that it caught me off-guard.

There was just this really clear dividing line between kids who were introduced to social media later in childhood and social media natives. When that latter group got into high school, attendance in student sections seemed to plummet.

And even the schools that have large student sections aren't as cohesive or as loud as they were even six or seven years ago.

Last Edited: 3/11/2019 11:52:28 AM by .

Kevin Finnegan
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 12:16:26 PM

At work, I often say to my staff, "Don't admire the problem, offer solutions." So, what are the solutions to this decline? We aren't going to eliminate social media anytime soon, so there have to be other ways to reach the fans.

How many of these schools are using social media to reach out to their fanbase? **Full disclaimer, I don't use social media, so I'm the worst one to answer this.

Have special nights...an 80's night...no tech night...make the games social events rather than sporting events. Maybe, just maybe, they'll start getting into the games.

Recovering Journalist
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 1:28:37 PM

finnOhio wrote:

So, what are the solutions to this decline? We aren't going to eliminate social media anytime soon, so there have to be other ways to reach the fans.

How many of these schools are using social media to reach out to their fanbase? **Full disclaimer, I don't use social media, so I'm the worst one to answer this.

Have special nights...an 80's night...no tech night...make the games social events rather than sporting events. Maybe, just maybe, they'll start getting into the games.

Many others have pointed to how crappy the fan experience has become in the Convo. Students should be able to get in via any door at any time. I don't care what the Keystone Kops say about security - Figure it out.

People should be able to walk the center interior concourse at all times if we recognized the games are a social experience and a fun one. Get rid of at least half of the yellow jackets.

Bring back assigned seating to the upper bowl. Why would you upset so many core customers for a few bucks?

And 10x more important than any of that: WIN

Winning solves a lot. From the Buffalo News this week:

UB set a school single-season record for attendance.

The Bulls� average of 5,289 for 14 home games broke the mark of 4,417 set in the 2004-05 season.

UB ranks No. 2 in the MAC in average attendance this season, its highest standing ever. Ohio, which has a seating capacity of 13,000, is No. 1 with an average of 5,485.

UB has ranked among the top four in MAC average attendance six of the last seven seasons. The best previous average during that stretch was 3,791 in 2016-17.

Friday�s standing-room-only crowd of 6,704 was a record for the arena's current configuration, created in 2006.

bornacatfan
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 8:06:16 PM

Alive and well here in the country. My last 2 weekends have been in packed gyms.Those fans are there to see some pretty good talent and are not made up of alums or old fans Alan is talking about. I talked to folks who drove over 3 hours to see Luke Brown, Jalen Blackmon or the only undefeated team left in IN. Hoopheads just looking to see the next great star. Talked to them about my Gramps hauling me 3 hours down to see some kid from French Lick in 1973. Thanked them for coming.
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https://www.facebook.com/tomfreeman6/videos/1015621699803... Capacity 7500
https://www.facebook.com/tomfreeman6/videos/1015623425685... Capacity 9300

Schools in the cities of 3500 to 5000 students can't sell their 1200 alloted tickets. Smaller cities and towns pack them in. Even the vaunted Crispus Attucks, a legendary HS that produced Oscar Robertson and have won recent 3a titles can't muster over a couple of hundred fans. Strange disconnect in the cities. Basketball is not dying or going away quietly in the state but the Indy fans won't come out beyond I 465. Not sure if that is the case in Columbus and around 270 and the surrounding areas. I know Athens, St Henry, Tipp City, Moeller think nothing of heading to the center of the state but still wonder if Cols folk travel well. Discussion about Olentangy mirrors Carmel, Fishers, Avon IN but they do not split the schools keeping them getting bigger instead of adding multiple schools in a district.

Seems like the bigger the schools whether Ft Wayne, Indy, Gary or Evansville or even Penn up in the country around South Bend with 4K students are worse with their support. Do you see that over there with Larger Cleveland, Cincy or other schools or do the ones that have 3-5ooo kids exist?

Last Edited: 3/11/2019 8:12:36 PM by bornacatfan

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HarvardOnTheHocking
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RE: Troubling Indicator For Future Attendance ?

Posted: 3/11/2019 11:56:49 PM

This is an interesting topic. There's been plenty of talk of college and pro attendance across the nation, but not high schools.

Anyway, I think part of it too is there are so many options for extra curricular activities nowadays for kids, where like athletics, they are requiring more and more time after school. When evening rolls around, kids are probably more likely to want to stay home and scroll their Instagram feed while watching TV after a long day instead of screaming their head off at a basketball game. Could be wrong, but just a thought.

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