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Attendance Issues


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50 minutes ago, wave88 said:

Thanks for providing the article.  Good read.  I think after reading the article one has to wonder if all the glory that past players received in the towns where they played, tied to their off the field actions and lack of classroom desire, has led to the decline as well.  We all know the stories of Johnny 5 star who has 20 offers to play on Saturday but couldn’t spell the word Saturday if you spotted him Satur.  I grew up in Gallatins hey day.  The stadium was packed on both sides with Green Wave fans.  After I graduated I had to sit on the East side of the stadium because there just weren’t any seats to have on the home side.  Now when I look around the home side is hardly ever full and a sprinkling of fans on the visitors side.  As I travel to Away games I hardly ever see a packed stadium.  I guess it really is a different day.

Station Camp on the other end of town had something to do with that as well.  

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3 hours ago, TeeterTot said:

Less kids play so less people attend.  It's no rocket science guys.  Read this article by Forbes and you'll realize the TSSAA and their multi-classification system is not the problem.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2018/08/31/why-high-school-football-is-dying-a-slow-death-its-not-just-concussions/#215afbf75408

Interesting article but I think a sport such as football that has been king for so long is going to have its ups and downs.  I do not see it going anywhere anytime for the foreseeable future.  

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On 6/12/2019 at 10:56 AM, TryNotToSuck said:

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.

Totally agree same here in Middle Tennessee ..Take Gallatin for instance back in the mid to late 70's to mid to late 90's Gallatin was a powerhouse! Attendance was great . I can remember when you had to be a in your seat a couple of hours before game time at the wave yard . The rival games with Hendersonville and Mt Juliet would have standing room only crowds. Back then you might have 8000 to 10,000 fans . No problem finding a seat last year at the wave yard 5 minutes before game time..Its unfortunate its about the product on the field but thats the way it is .

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23 hours ago, TeeterTot said:

Less kids play so less people attend.  It's no rocket science guys.  Read this article by Forbes and you'll realize the TSSAA and their multi-classification system is not the problem.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2018/08/31/why-high-school-football-is-dying-a-slow-death-its-not-just-concussions/#215afbf75408

Not much of an article. I think classification is part of the problem. I know when MHS plays Alcoa, Oakland, Fulton, and Catholic in the regular season, the place is packed. When they play some other schools, it's not.  The first two rounds of the playoffs are the same way. If there were more teams in each classification, there would be better games in the early rounds and attendance would go up. 

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17 minutes ago, Red Rebels said:

If there were more teams in each classification, there would be better games in the early rounds and attendance would go up. 

But then the TSSAA $$$$$ would go down, and as in just about everything these days, it's all about the dollars.  

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17 hours ago, Red Rebels said:

Not much of an article. I think classification is part of the problem. I know when MHS plays Alcoa, Oakland, Fulton, and Catholic in the regular season, the place is packed. When they play some other schools, it's not.  The first two rounds of the playoffs are the same way. If there were more teams in each classification, there would be better games in the early rounds and attendance would go up. 

Of course the "back when I played" crowd would think there's not much to the article.  I venture to say the same crowd is the ones who had concussions when they played and can't comprehend the numbers and stats in the article.  

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2 hours ago, TeeterTot said:

Of course the "back when I played" crowd would think there's not much to the article.  I venture to say the same crowd is the ones who had concussions when they played and can't comprehend the numbers and stats in the article.  

I have had concussions and I love stats and math.  

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If you are having a solid, undefeated type of season within two programs, the fans will come. Take 2011 MJ vs Gallatin for example. Two 7-0 teams heading into the game with wins over other big programs. That game had over 8k fans easily. Or the Beech / MJ undefeated matchup in 2012 with Jalen Hurd out there. Another huge crowd. Win, and they will come. It's that simple. It has less to do with the "time" than people think. 

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4 minutes ago, thegreatwhite1 said:

There is an abundance of AWFUL football in all classes in Tennessee.  No one wants to watch awful football. 

I think you could say that no matter what state.  There will be good football and bad football everywhere.  I do believe however, that the current classification system is not the best.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would like to bring another perspective to a table in regards to dwindling attendance at high school games no matter what the level. One reason for the decline in attendance would be the increase in other entertainment and sporting options for people. This is mainly due to the increases in the number of people subscribing to a cable television or to satellite TV. More a TV options equals more people who are less willing to go out to a ball game on a Friday night.

Another part of the issue will be the fact that college ball games are now being scheduled on Fridays and being shown on TV. Friday night used to be exclusively for high school football and Saturdays for a college football. Now you have the NFL expanding their television presence and the colleges playing on other days than their traditional Saturday ball games. Again more choices for the consumer equals or less Revenue at the high schools on Friday night.

Another reason for the decrease in attendance at high school football games on Friday night is video streaming of high school football games. Many high schools have now set up their own streaming services and in West Tennessee one radio station has set up a video streaming and offering multiple high school games on live video. What this is doing is that the average fan instead of paying six bucks and going to watch the local high school play and buying hot dogs, popcorn, and soft drinks at the concession stand, they are now staying at home and watching that same game on TV at no charge.

I personally would like to see live video and television broadcast severely restricted. If there is a broadcast organization that wants to do a television or video broadcast of a ball game, they should in turn have to pay a broadcast rights fee to the schools involved in that game. During the postseason ,  the TSSAA already mandates  that a rights fee  has to be paid  for a broadcast entity  to do a live streaming video  or a live broadcast of a ball game . If this policy was enacted for regular seadon games, at least the schools would get some of their revenue back in the form of Rights fees.

The bottom line for me is that live video broadcast and live television broadcast of high school games are most definitely hurting the attendance at the games and thus hitting the school's right in the pocketbook.

Edited by ReitzFan
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