Attendance Issues

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

12 minutes ago, wingman10 said:

Life is different 

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[GREYRIDERx]

Lets all jump!

[cbg]

On 6/8/2019 at 6:36 PM, MSURacer said:

I’d be interested to see a side by side comparison with other states for tickets sold over the past 10-20 years to see if it’s a national trend. I doubt TN is much different than other states regarding its trends in attendance. 

As far as TN itself goes, growth is a double edged sword. The increase in population has enhanced the talent level but has also created many more high schools, which has greatly diminished the hometown/community pride that once pumped blood into these programs. 

I do think 5 classes is optimal and would make the playoffs more interesting, but I hope it never happens (the 6 class system has been very good to us). 3 or 4 will never happen. Too much money would be lost and the state has outgrown it IMO. 

Toothpaste is already out of the tube on most of the other issues. 

You really have nine (9) classes in football today.  Six in D1 and three in D2.  I remember when everyone played together and there were three classifications.  For real competition everyone should be placed back together in four or no more than five classifications.

[MSURacer]

27 minutes ago, cbg said:

You really have nine (9) classes in football today.  Six in D1 and three in D2.  I remember when everyone played together and there were three classifications.  For real competition everyone should be placed back together in four or no more than five classifications.

The best system was 5 classes for D1 and 2 classes for D2. Privates need to stay in their own league. 

[GWAVE1]

1 hour ago, cbg said:

You really have nine (9) classes in football today.  Six in D1 and three in D2.  I remember when everyone played together and there were three classifications.  For real competition everyone should be placed back together in four or no more than five classifications.

If the financial aid could be stopped I would be all for it.  I like the 5 class system.  Back when they went to 5 in the 90’s it was too much and 4 would have been perfect.  I think 5 is best now.  

[Red Rebels]

2 hours ago, MSURacer said:

The best system was 5 classes for D1 and 2 classes for D2. Privates need to stay in their own league. 

That was pretty good. so lets go to D1 - 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and D2 - 1A, 2A, 3A.

[TryNotToSuck]

We are talking about attendance issues here, not classification issues. Here's my two cents on what I believe is what's going on, especially in West Tennessee (I don't know if this will relate to y'all Middle/East TN folks). Our teams that were powerhouse teams, aren't currently powerhouse teams anymore. Example number one is Camden. I haven't been to a Camden game in a few years, but they haven't been to the second round of the playoffs since 2015. In addition, they had a 2 win season sandwiched between 6 win seasons. It wasn't too long that we can guarantee Camden as a 8-10 win regular season team, with an opportunity to play on Black Friday. Second is Lexington, they are down and down bad. Lexington's stadium is big, but I would hate to see the revenue money they have brought in compared to years past. Humboldt is bad. There's no excitement in McKenzie. Westview is not a good football team. Ripley has been bad for years now. South Gibson is, ehh. And these schools are "one-city schools" like they're not competing with other schools just to get every penny they can get.

Truth is, there are programs that were really good a decade ago, they aren't good anymore. And fans aren't going to spend money watching bad product, just like fans aren't going to spend money watching a bad money or go to a bad concert, they just aren't. I don't think this has to do with classification issues, we are talking about attendance, not money.

[cbg]

6 hours ago, MSURacer said:

The best system was 5 classes for D1 and 2 classes for D2. Privates need to stay in their own league. 

Seven classes is still way to many.  Why not just do 3 in D1 and 1 or 2 in D2

[blazer1set]

According to this, there are 294 high school football teams in Tennessee.  Therefore we should have 295 classes....

https://www.fieldlevel.com/explore-teams/football/tn/highschool

Edited June 13, 2019 by blazer1set
fix typo

[MSURacer]

5 hours ago, cbg said:

Seven classes is still way to many.  Why not just do 3 in D1 and 1 or 2 in D2

You want my honest answer? It's because my team would stand virtually no shot in that scenario lol

However, I don't think 7 between the two divisions is too many. I actually think it's about right for TN when compared to other states.   

Edited June 13, 2019 by MSURacer

[JDHoss]

We went to the SHHS vs Bradley Central 1st round game last year. On a cold, misty, windy night in Johnson City I'd say the total fan count was 400 or less, excluding the bands and cheerleaders. IMO it's a combination of a couple of things.....

* More entertainment options than ever. Unless you have kids or other relatives playing, high school football is simply a form of entertainment and there's a lot of competition for your entertainment dollars.

* Consolidated schools have taken away some great local rivalries and created in some cases longer travel plans than people want to put forth the effort to make.

 

It's not just a TSSAA problem. We watch a lot of high school football across the Southeast and while many of the community based schools will still pack the stands, there's a lot more that struggle to make anything at the gate. 

[sheppy]

blazer1set,

I believe the total number of football playing schools in Tennessee is about 340.