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Wake Forest football 2020 outlook

That Ole Miss game was the best I ever attended at Wake. Perfect day, tailgating alongside their fans in the Joel parking lot was awesome, and the game was high level and entertaining. It was also the first season I purchased season tickets.

Beating F$U and Clemson was also great, but that game was just more fun.
 
Excited to have Ole Miss back on the schedule in 2024 & 2025.
 
One topic that has been discussed by Clawson, Currie and this board has been about how do we get more fans to attend games at BB&T Field (Truist or whatever it's now called). Last night I took about 30 minutes to do some very simple research using Wake Forest's official statistics published on godeacs.com. The question I had was simple, "Have we really fallen off in attendance and, if so, by how much?" I started with 2007 since that was our highest attendance average in the past 14 years. It slightly eclipsed 2006's average. I was shocked to see that we've had a 21% decline in average home-game attendance during this period. I also found it interesting that there is an 18% decline when comparing 2019 and 2008 and both seasons the team had an identical 8-5 record.

I'm not posting to grind axes or prove any points. Perhaps all of P5 college football has dropped by this same margin. I simply just wanted to know the answer to my question above. I would have guessed maybe 7-8% but never almost a 25% decrease.
I would welcome your insights or guesses as to why this decline. And, again, maybe we are right in line with most other schools. If anyone wants to do that research, it might be very interesting.


Year Avg. Att % change Record
2007 32595 * 9-4
2008 31666 -3% 8-5
2009 31791 -3% 5-7
2010 30474 -7% 3-9
2011 31967 -2% 6-7
2012 28912 -13% 5-7
2013 28414 -15% 4-8
2014 27210 -20% 3-9
2015 26674 -22% 3-9
2016 26456 -23% 7-6
2017 28436 -15% 8-5
2018 26842 -21% 7-6
2019 26999 -21% 8-5

** I apologize for the poor formatting. I'm not very good at such things. The four columns are:

Column #1 : Year
Column #2 : Avg. Attendance
Column #3 : % Change
Column#4 : Season Record
 
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We used to be able to count on either NC State or UNC coming to Groves every year for a near sellout. Now, when we have those games, there's a good chance it's on a Thursday or Friday night. And if you schedule a weeknight home game against Presbyterian, your average attendance for the year is going to take a hit.
 
Basketball sucking has also sapped enthusiasm for football. Less excitement around WFU sports in general.
 
Absolutely a key factor in the attendance decline is that an increasing number of games are played on weekdays.
 
Absolutely a key factor in the attendance decline is that an increasing number of games are played on weekdays.

I think that's a very valid point as well. I know Clawson has referenced the Friday night games on numerous occasions and how that really puts a damper on recruiting kids to games.
 
I really hate the season opening Thursday night game against some podunk team like Presbyterian or Gardner Webb. Friday games not much better, especially 3 in a row to start the season.
 
I really hate the season opening Thursday night game against some podunk team like Presbyterian or Gardner Webb. Friday games not much better, especially 3 in a row to start the season.

Only 1 Saturday home game before November (and it's against fucking Villanova). And then one of the 3 November Saturday home games is the Saturday after Thanksgiving

Even without the pandemic, attendance numbers were going to suck this year.
 
Only 1 Saturday home game before November (and it's against fucking Villanova). And then one of the 3 November Saturday home games is the Saturday after Thanksgiving

Even without the pandemic, attendance numbers were going to suck this year.


Agreed. 2020 should never be factored into any trend IMHO. Total outlier. No telling what restrictions might still be in place. Ten thousand fans may be a huge crowd come September.
 
Only 1 Saturday home game before November (and it's against fucking Villanova). And then one of the 3 November Saturday home games is the Saturday after Thanksgiving

Even without the pandemic, attendance numbers were going to suck this year.

That’s brutal. No way the AD should be ok with that schedule. Only so much they can control I guess.
 
Thursday and especially Friday nights are program killers. ACC, TV and powers that be see us as expendable. The tv money is great for everyone who does not play these games, for us the money just is not worth it but there is no way to oppose it.
 
Thursday and especially Friday nights are program killers. ACC, TV and powers that be see us as expendable. The tv money is great for everyone who does not play these games, for us the money just is not worth it but there is no way to oppose it.

Does anyone have visibility to contract language between the ACC and networks regarding football scheduling? Are the individual schools absolutely at the mercy of the ACC and/or networks in terms of days the games are played? I understand that is the case re: Saturday kickoff times. Any language re: spreading around weekday games among ACC schools? I assume no...
 
Wake Football 2020 Outlook

My original post disappeared when I edited this so sorry this may not make sense. My original point was that we need to be able to “reserve” five games which are the teams that help us fill the stadium on Saturdays. State, Carolina, Va Tech, Clemson and App are the teams that travel well and help us fill our stadium. Clawson has emphasized the importance of full stadiums on Saturdays when recruits visit. Wake and maybe even Duke need this “exemption” since we don’t have the alumni base which allows state schools to fill their even larger venues even when playing lesser competition just due to their size.
 
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Thursday and Friday night games are not great. But, I would choose them 1000% of the time over Saturday at noon games in Sept and much of October. The tailgating is great for night games no matter the date - noon games just suck.
 
Thursday and Friday night games are not great. But, I would choose them 1000% of the time over Saturday at noon games in Sept and much of October. The tailgating is great for night games no matter the date - noon games just suck.

Thursday night is fine if it's a big game and you can justify leaving at 2:30 in the afternoon to drive to W-S. But it's a little different story if you're playing Pitt or PC. Most folks are rolling in with no time to tailgate and getting home after midnight with work or shit to do the next morning, including kids who have school on Friday. It's fine if you live in the Triad, but it's a huge pain in the ass for everyone else. Full disclosure, I attended the Thursday night PC game a few years ago. I also hate noon games.
 
WF gets a lot more money from TV contracts than from gate receipts even if the house is full. Also, WF has often found itself as being "good enough" so that a Thursday or Friday game is interesting enough to get programmed by ESPN, with no fear that ESPN or ABC is losing a must see Saturday primetime game . Also, guessing that the ACC who must collaborate with ESPN in setting the conference game schedule is more concerned with protecting Clemson's home gate of 80,000+ (or even State's or UNC's home gate) as opposed to WF home gate of 30,000-. Doesn't seem like Clemson plays many weekday games; guessing Dabo feels like that's a no go for his program, and he has the power to dictate schedule. Doubt that it's a coincidence that WF seems to play more weekday games than every or almost every other conference school (would guess that VT, who has made Thursday night games an event, may be the only ACC program that has played more weekday games).
 
Clemson played Georgia Tech on a Thursday night last season. Reported attendance was about 2,000 less than the full sellout/reported attendance against A&M the next week and A&M was Clemson's best home opponent of the season. Clemson could draw 70,000 on Wednesday morning.
 
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