Rutgers & B1G Attendance: the floggings will continue until morale improves!

Before the usual weekly report on football attendance, let’s take a quick look at that other futball. And this time the women’s team.

No. 22 Rutgers drew 1,206 for it’s 2-0 win over No. 21 Northwestern on Friday. That’s almost twice the average home attendance in 2015 when the women made their Final Four Women’s College Cup run. In 2015, the women averaged 769 per game.

Nicely done, soccer fans.

Now....football

The Iowa game.

52,000 strong!

That’s what the tweet said.

Well, not exactly 52,000.

More like 44,061. Hmmm.

Okay, last week I was upset that we didn’t draw better against a pretty decent team. And I heard a lot of responses about the logistics around the stadium, parking, busses, traffic directions, transit to and from the game. And I was listening to the “choir” who felt I was scolding the faithful.

You're (largely) preaching to the choir

....I don’t need to come here and be scolded every week because the attendance wasn’t up to your standards, or too many people came in too late. I was there. On time....When Rutgers gets consistently good, fans will consistently come. It takes time for new people to go to a game, have a good time and want to go back on a consistent basis. It’s not going to happen overnight....

Posted by russell_t on Sep 19, 2016

And some agreed with me....

It’s sad when I feel like I’m one of the few (along with some of my other friends) who actually goes to every single home game, gets in on time, and stays until the end....

The only time I end up missing a home game is when I really have no choice – a wedding, meeting/event I can’t get out of doing, etc. Even then, I try to move things around to accommodate football.

Posted by HowRU on Sep 19, 2016

Some felt it wasn’t the fans’ fault and that I was whining....

Filling Seats

Instead of whining about attendance, RU should be proactive – want the student section packed prior to kick off?

Half priced beers to anybody in the stadium prior to kick off.

Want the stadium packed for each and every home game?

Play on Saturday night.

Unlike the flyover states that make up most of our league, our area offers lots of alternatives to getting your butt out the door at 7:45 am to see a mediocre opponent from two time zones away.

Posted by bobbybow on Sep 19, 2016 | 10:55 AM

Or that Rutgers needed to do more to fill the place up.

You can't blame the population of the state of NJ for low turnout....

They are constrained by selling a shitty product, but it’s pointless to say "oh we have bad fans". The fans are the fans, and its a bad excuse that doesn’t get the program anywhere.

If they want more turnout, then they need to work harder, to sell more tickets.

Posted by ruckers on Sep 19, 2016 | 11:41 AM

Mediocre opponent? The one that went up 21-0 on us?

Look, there are a lot of reasons why people don’t or can’t attend a game. But if we are “big time”, then we need to show it. Would more people attend if Rutgers won more? Probably. If it was easier to park, or get to the stadium? Likely. But there are still people who claim to be fans who sit on the sidelines. When will they show up?

In fairness, the crowd that was there on Saturday was good and loud. And Rutgers Athletics appreciated it.

And those who came to watch from Iowa, or at least to support the Hawkeyes, thought Rutgers was a pretty good place to see a game.

In fact, there were folks in black & gold who really liked what Rutgers had to offer in a gameday experience.

Thanks for the assist, Zuzu!

Big Ten Attendance

This was an interesting week. All seven home teams reached season highs in attendance, yet it was a season low in total attendance for the Big Ten. Part of the reason for that was that the biggest stadiums - except for Michigan - were idle. Nebraska and Penn State were on the road while the smaller stadiums - including Rutgers, Indiana, and Northwestern - were in use. The Big Ten averaged just 57,450 with a total of 402,149.

Coming up

Next week is an all Big Ten Conference schedule, including two Homecoming games at Nebraska and Purdue. Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Penn State - the four largest buildings in the conference - will be in use and there will likely be around 400,000+ at those four sites alone.