WHAT....is going on with attendance? I would figure with the success we've

[C-MontCityKnight2]

FSU started playing football in 1947. Their stadium was expanded to 40,500 in 1964. The first year I could find attendance figures was 1976 - Average 29,135. They didn't even average over 40,000 until 1978. It took them until 1980 to consistently average more than us. That's 33 years. We are at year 37 and basically on pace with them in a totally different era. In today's game if you aren't in the perceived power league, you are seen as JV, yet we still are on pace with one of the state powers.

For the Gators it is even worse. Started in 1906. Didn't begin to average more than us until 1960 (54 years).

Miami as late as 2006 averaged less than 42,000 (36,980 if you take out the FSU game that drew 71,000). That's a whopping 80 years after they started playing.

The point is, we'd all like it to be better, but these things take time. We are on pace for crowds of 90,000 in the future if we continue to make hires like Scott Frost.

 

[EngAlum98]

Attendance nationwide has fallen every year for a decade.

The only schools that fill the house regardless of record or opponent because fans design their fall around game weekend attendance. Every game is a road game for them because most of these schools are in remote college towns. When the Penn State mega-scandal hit, their 100,000+ fanatics felt like a part of their life was torn away. Yet attendance bottomed only to 95,000 despite national shame and mediocre teams.

Non-flagship metro universities like UCF with a large share of AA transfers and a tiny percentage of resident students confront many obstacle to attendance that an Oregon, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan, etc. couldn't conceive of. Even "suitcase" colleges (resident students who go home many weekends) lack the social life experiences to develop lifelong ties to the university.

Less than 12% of UCF enrollment is transfers (on par with large schools like Ohio State). And most transfers come from local neighboring colleges. Not sure I buy this argument.

I think our biggest problem is not facing name brand schools. Our attendance jumps to over 40K when we play "P5" teams at home which is really good for young schools like UCF that are still 50+ years from having the depth of a fan base the bigger schools have.

 

[UCFProf]

Less than 12% of UCF enrollment is transfers (on par with large schools like Ohio State). And most transfers come from local neighboring colleges. Not sure I buy this argument.

Whaa? You must be thinking of Rollins. For example, nearly 70% of our business grads are Direct Connect or other transfers. University wide, it's a clear majority of grads. It is easy to manipulate the stats because students who enter as freshmen take over twice as many courses at UCF, so a majority of credit hour enrollment is a majority non-transfer. Or one can site the low percentage of full-time students who are transfers because so many of them are working full-time. Also, before the state force us to cap freshman enrollment, there were considerably higher percentage of non-transfers.

 

[Knight_Light]

Less than 12% of UCF enrollment is transfers (on par with large schools like Ohio State). And most transfers come from local neighboring colleges. Not sure I buy this argument.

I think our biggest problem is not facing name brand schools. Our attendance jumps to over 40K when we play "P5" teams at home which is really good for young schools like UCF that are still 50+ years from having the depth of a fan base the bigger schools have.

While most have their AA degree...those coming from valencia/seminole are basically considered "transferred students"...as sadly, UCF on an annual basis, accepts more AA Grads for enrollment than they do HS Freshmen...and with the new downtown campus shared with Valencia, those numbers will only continue to grow higher for AA enrollment at UCF.

Example:
For 2015-2016:

Number of Freshmen Enrolled
Summer 2015: 2,902
Fall 2015: 3,716
Spring 2016: 479
------------------------------
7,097 Full-time Freshmen Enrollment for 2015-2016

Number of AA Grad Transfers Enrolled:
Summer 2015: 1,108
Fall 2015: 6,132
Spring 2016: 3,201
------------------------------------
10,441 Full-time AA Grad Transfers Enrollment for 2015-2016

Now "traditional" transfers (from other Universities and/or colleges)
Summer 2015: 96
Fall 2015: 645
Spring 2016: 246
----------------------
987 "traditional" Undergrad transfers from other Univ & Colleges

 

[UCFProf]

While most have their AA degree...those coming from valencia/seminole are basically considered "transferred students"...as sadly, UCF on an annual basis, accepts more AA Grads for enrollment than they do HS Freshmen

The good news is that USF, FIU, and FAU will continue to have considerably higher transfer rates than UCF because we have the rep as the statewide target for those who can't get into UF and FSU (which have cut their freshman admission in favor of emphasis on grad enrollment, especially UF), so most can't get in there any more.

Conversely, UCF's Provost is targeting a doubling of our graduate school enrollment from 10% (one of the lowest in the nation) -- we've led the nation in undergrads for eons -- up to 20%. That (along with a new building to house faculty interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research clusters) will give your degrees more value by bring in grant money and global reputation.

Finally, that downtown campus is not to serve overflow urban students who find the location more convenient to their homes. Instead, the plan is to house entire UCF professional colleges to tap into downtown businesses and their employees (who mostly commute in from the suburbs).

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

I hate to say it but now that our inclusion into the B12 is off the table I think it does not really matter how we do. Sure there will be some bump if we are winning, but in the AAC UCF will continue to have so-so attendance. Maybe over the next 15-20 years we can get more alumni to be hardcore fans. But I think everyone can relax for now because, without some major shift in conference affiliation we just are not going to be a big draw on Saturdays.

True but I'll be dead by then! J/K 15-20 years is what it will take for Die hards but isn't there an accelerated program for larger attendance?

 

[SiberianKnightmare]

The students suck. Period.

Maybe if we tell them that BHNS is their "safe space" they'll show up.

 

[UCFProf]

NASCAR attendance peaked 15 years ago. Rather than having stands look so empty, they've covered vasts areas of seating with things like giant flags. Daytona put $400 million into its new upgraded, Wi-Fi downsized "stadium."

 

[Knight_Light]

NASCAR attendance peaked 15 years ago. Rather than having stands look so empty, they've covered vasts areas of seating with things like giant flags. Daytona put $400 million into its new upgraded, Wi-Fi downsized "stadium."

Plus, NASCAR has removed hundreds of thousands of seats from most of their tracks...from Daytona to Charlotte to Michigan to Vegas to Atlanta to Richmond to Talladega to California et al.

Dover "eliminated" 29,000 seats by making current seats WIDER...increasing fan comfort for those that still come to the track.

 

[SCKnight]

Plus, NASCAR has removed hundreds of thousands of seats from most of their tracks...from Daytona to Charlotte to Michigan to Vegas to Atlanta to Richmond to Talladega to California et al.

Dover "eliminated" 29,000 seats by making current seats WIDER...increasing fan comfort for those that still come to the track.

Plus NASCAR fans have gotten a bit wider in recent years

 

[UCFProf]

Plus NASCAR fans have gotten a bit wider in recent years

Just like football fans. Some of us haven't seen our feet in years. Now we won't even have Michelle to keep us healthy.