Empty Seats at Badger B1G game?

[HawkinGoferLand]

coming off 2 Rose Bowls and student bailing already or what? Probably an anomaly and IL sucks per usual but I gotta give Hawk fans credit for sticking with the team through a couple of frustrating seasons.

Wisconsin's student attendance: There were huge swaths of empty seats in the student section at Camp Randall on Saturday against Illinois. Where were all the students? (And don't say studying). The game was a 2:30 p.m. local time kick, so too much partying the night before could not be used as an excuse.


Big Ten stock report: Week 7 - Big Ten Blog - ESPN

 

[Calculator]

coming off 2 Rose Bowls and student bailing already or what? Probably an anomaly and IL sucks per usual but I gotta give Hawk fans credit for sticking with the team through a couple of frustrating seasons.

Wisconsin's student attendance: There were huge swaths of empty seats in the student section at Camp Randall on Saturday against Illinois. Where were all the students? (And don't say studying). The game was a 2:30 p.m. local time kick, so too much partying the night before could not be used as an excuse.
Big Ten stock report: Week 7 - Big Ten Blog - ESPN

Too much partying before hand could be. Did they check the bathrooms? Some may have defecated on themselves.

 

[HawkinGoferLand]

Badger fans avoided their game at Soldier Field last year too with announced attendance of 45,519 of which only 15k where Badgers:

Lack of attendance must teach Wisconsin a lesson - Madison Wisconsin Badgers Football | Examiner.com

 

[eveningnewsteam]

I was at the game Saturday in Madison. Parking lots didnt start to fill up until about noon and we were 2 blocks away from the stadium. Every game Ive been to in Madison has been like this, even the night games. There is absolutely nobody around until 2-3 hours before kick.

 

[hoffahawk]

Their student section is always like that. Playing Illinois probably didn't help much either.

 

[KnightHawk9]

I hope we see a Wisconsin that comes back down to earth. Very difficult for Iowa and Wisconsin to have success at the same time. The last few years they have stolen our identity.

 

[vosov]

Badger fans are much more "fair-weather" than anyone seems to realize and always have been. 3/4 of that stadium are Packer fans first that are looking for something to do on Saturday.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

We have had our share of games over the course of the past few years where the student section was not full ... or emptied quickly ... Our students are no different than their students ... It's human nature ... Win -- fans are interested ... Lose -- Interest lessens ...

 

[DTF]

I can't imagine why there would be a lack of demand for the Illinois game.

 

[bcl20]

Badger fans are much more "fair-weather" than anyone seems to realize and always have been. 3/4 of that stadium are Packer fans first that are looking for something to do on Saturday.

They are pretty fair weathered. I remember then having some trouble filling their bowl game allotment when it's a lower tiered one. When I was in school during the 06-08 season, our student section was plenty empty at times.

 

[HawkeyeHypnosis]

Our fans trump theirs everytime. Even other B1G teams would agree.

 

[HawkinGoferLand]

Our fans trump theirs everytime. Even other B1G teams would agree.

our CFO went to IC for the MN game and came away impressed, blown-away at how friendly everyone was. Him and his 4 boys went. He was expecting a bunch of heckling with his Gopher gear on, but said just good friendly ribbing and lots of hospitality unlike trips to Madtown. Although I know every crowd has its bad seeds, he could have easily run across the wrong group in IC post game, particularly if we lost...lol

 

[ILHawk]

Some of it is the economy. Iowa hasn't seen the economic problems....yet as much as other states. Iowa didn't take that much part of the housing bubble and it is resource (ag) driven in it's economy.

I've seen the same thing at Illinois high school football games and even teams (big schools) having problems filling rosters and big school varsity teams bring up underclassmen in bigger numbers. Some of this is due to the negative publicity that football has received from brain injuries.

Here is an article.

Major college football attendance drops

 

[ICHawk24]

Here is an article.

Major college football attendance drops

The numbers in that article show a drop in attendance of slightly less than 1%. Such a difference could possibly be due to scheduling vagaries from year to year.