FanPost

How does Maryland football attendance compare?

Considering the frequently discussed frustration with football attendance, I got to thinking that the size of the surrounding metropolitan area could be limiting the team's attendance potential. The multitude of other entertainment options in large cities being so much greater than that of rural centers. (Perhaps this is also outweighs the poor attendance figures in the eyes of some recruits.)

To get a bit of an idea how much of an impact this has, I pulled together this quick overview of major D1 Teams in or near major cities (ca. 1 mil pop.). Data includes stadium capacity, average 2012 home attendance and 2011 W/L record (assuming previous year success impacts interest in the following year) Colors indicate performance vs. average of this group. Green = Above, Red = Below.

A couple of interesting points come to light:

  • Maryland is the only school below average on all accounts.
  • Even after a 2-10 season, Maryland comes closer to selling out than most teams sharing their local pro stadiums.
  • Byrd capacity is actually below average in this group (however, take out the absurd texas and pac 12 stadiums and Byrd seems about 5-10k too large when compared with the others - probably could have done without the upper deck. would improve the atmosphere and may have saved a few of the lost teams)
  • Who knew Rutgers averaged nearly 50k per game?

In general, it is hard to say that how much the area affects the attendance level, but from these figures, it really doesn't look like more than an additional 5k per game can be expected (notwithstanding the newness factor of the B1G). Winning seems to help, so lets hope that winning brings those 5k additional to the upper deck. It looks depressing on a good day.

I am including a link to the file in case anyone wants to play around with it (or take the time to add a "sells beer" or "marketing budget" column, etc.). Any other thoughts or findings in the comments. enjoy: File

School Pro Stadium? Stadium Capacity 2012 Avg. Attend. % 2012 Avg. Empties 2011
W L %
Texas 100.119 100.884 101% -765 8 5 62%
USC Pro 93.607 87.945 94% 5.662 10 2 83%
UCLA 92.542 68.481 74% 24.061 6 8 43%
Miami Pro 74.916 47.719 64% 27.197 6 6 50%
Arizona State 72.995 56.835 78% 16.160 6 7 46%
San Diego State Pro 71.294 30.879 43% 40.415 8 5 62%
University of Washington 70.168 58.617 84% 11.551 7 6 54%
Temple Pro 68.532 26.580 39% 41.952 9 4 69%
South Florida Pro 66.321 44.130 67% 22.191 5 7 42%
Pitt Pro 65.050 41.494 64% 23.556 6 7 46%
Cal 62.717 55.876 89% 6.841 7 6 54%
Georgia Tech 55.000 43.955 80% 11.045 8 5 62%
Rutgers 52.454 49.188 94% 3.266 9 4 69%
Maryland 51.802 36.023 70% 15.779 2 10 17%
Minnesota 50.805 46.637 92% 4.168 3 9 25%
Stanford 50.000 43.343 87% 6.657 11 2 85%
Northwestern 47.130 35.697 76% 11.433 6 7 46%
TCU 45.000 46.047 102% -1.047 11 2 85%
Boston College 44.500 37.020 83% 7.480 4 8 33%
Vanderbilt 40.550 37.860 93% 2.690 6 7 46%
Houston 40.000 27.247 68% 12.753 13 1 93%
SMU 32.000 21.292 67% 10.708 8 5 62%
Average 61.250 47.443 78% 13.807 7 6 56%
Key:
below average Red
above average Green

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