Attendance Numbers

[VeryRustyRed]

I've been attending lacrosse games at Schoellkopf Field for 50 years.
'Hard for me to believe there were only 2,600+ there on Sunday.
My guess is that number reflects "paid" attendance, but it still seems low to me.

[Gorilla Fan]

2023 Regular season ivy game attendance:

https://twitter.com/HarvardMLax/status/ ... 95842?s=20

[VeryRustyRed]

Again, my guess is that the Cornell attendance reported is paid attendance.
This would not include students, player family members, and perhaps/? faculty.

[Chousnake]

Again, my guess is that the Cornell attendance reported is paid attendance.
This would not include students, player family members, and perhaps/? faculty.

Factor in that Cornell played almost every home game in horrible cold, rainy, windy weather this season.

FYI - Faculty and students pay to attend games - at a discount

[joatmon]

Screen shot off ESPNU. The capacity of the Crescent is listed as 21,500. 2,600 would be 12% of capacity. To my uneducated eye, that looks closer to 25% than 12%.

[xxxxxxx]

The attendance numbers are brutal, lacrosse is still a niche regional sport at best. I feel like the numbers peaked ten years ago and have been flat or falling ever since. 1,500 - 2,000 for a college D1 playoff game has to be at the bottom of the NCAA. I'd bet NCAA playoff games in baseball, softball, soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, wrestling, and gymnastics all do better.

I find it hard to understand, all we hear about is how fast the game is growing yet no one shows up to watch. Maybe the TV numbers are better? I was at Duke / Del Sunday and it was a nice little crowd, about what you get here in SE PA for every high school football game. It's a bummer.

[CU77]

Soccer and hockey do not do significantly better. The others I don't know.

People have other stuff to do now. Phones provide nonstop engagement.

[ObxTerpFan]

Soccer and hockey do not do significantly better. The others I don't know.

People have other stuff to do now. Phones provide nonstop engagement.

Just for kicks I looked up U of Maryland's soccer average attendance and it was a bit over 5,000 per regular season games
I'm not much for hockey but the top college teams look to be putting an average of 7,000 to 10,000 per regular season games

[ggait]

I find it hard to understand, all we hear about is how fast the game is growing

I've posted this before. "Fastest growing" means "currently, still quite small." There's a reason why lacrosse-only stadiums at colleges only seat 2k or so.

But to be fair, all college sports, except for football and mens hoops, are tiny in terms of in person attendance and TV ratings. Only minor isolated exceptions to that rule.

[CU77]

Just for kicks I looked up U of Maryland's soccer average attendance and it was a bit over 5,000 per regular season games

Over what period? I checked the box scores of a few Terp home games from this past fall:

#13 OSU, Sept 25: 1729
Wisconsin, Oct 14, shown on ESPNU: 1654
B1G semifinal, Indiana, Nov 9: 2070
NCAA 1st round, F.Dickinson, Nov 17: 864

I watch a lot of college soccer and these numbers are much more in line with what I see.

[gmen1986]

Just for kicks I looked up U of Maryland's soccer average attendance and it was a bit over 5,000 per regular season games

Over what period? I checked the box scores of a few Terp home games from this past fall:

#13 OSU, Sept 25: 1729
Wisconsin, Oct 14, shown on ESPNU: 1654
B1G semifinal, Indiana, Nov 9: 2070
NCAA 1st round, F.Dickinson, Nov 17: 864

I watch a lot of college soccer and these numbers are much more in line with what I see.

average attendance for NCAA sports can be found on their stats website.. https://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/change_sport_year_div.. Lacrosse does surprisingly well vs soccer and northern baseball teams on per game attendance... still ways to go though.

last weekends attendance let down can probably be attributed to weather. the rain probably scared the average fan off. I know for me, unless I have a kid playing, i will not sit through the rain when the game is on ESPNU. (only sport I'll do that for is football) It was raining in the DMV from noon til about 7pm.

[youthathletics]

Just for kicks I looked up U of Maryland's soccer average attendance and it was a bit over 5,000 per regular season games

Over what period? I checked the box scores of a few Terp home games from this past fall:

#13 OSU, Sept 25: 1729
Wisconsin, Oct 14, shown on ESPNU: 1654
B1G semifinal, Indiana, Nov 9: 2070
NCAA 1st round, F.Dickinson, Nov 17: 864

I watch a lot of college soccer and these numbers are much more in line with what I see.

average attendance for NCAA sports can be found on their stats website.. https://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/change_sport_year_div.. Lacrosse does surprisingly well vs soccer and northern baseball teams on per game attendance... still ways to go though.

last weekends attendance let down can probably be attributed to weather. the rain probably scared the average fan off. I know for me, unless I have a kid playing, i will not sit through the rain when the game is on ESPNU. (only sport I'll do that for is football) It was raining in the DMV from noon til about 7pm.

Look at Lacrosse and Soccer....enrollment matters. Lacrosse is down 23%
Younger Age



HS Aged

[10stone5]

I’ll still take lacrosse over volleyball

[faircornell]

Any thoughts as to the split between UMich and Cornell fans at Schoellllkopf?

Great numbers...

Michigan had a modest yet enthusiastic reserved section. It was overwhelmingly red.

Thanks !

[NYterp09]

The attendance numbers are brutal, lacrosse is still a niche regional sport at best. I feel like the numbers peaked ten years ago and have been flat or falling ever since. 1,500 - 2,000 for a college D1 playoff game has to be at the bottom of the NCAA. I'd bet NCAA playoff games in baseball, softball, soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, wrestling, and gymnastics all do better.

I find it hard to understand, all we hear about is how fast the game is growing yet no one shows up to watch. Maybe the TV numbers are better? I was at Duke / Del Sunday and it was a nice little crowd, about what you get here in SE PA for every high school football game. It's a bummer.

This information is a year or two old, but men’s lacrosse is one of only five sports whose NCAA tournament actually turns a profit. The others being men’s ice hockey, baseball, wrestling, and of course men’s basketball, which basically funds the entire NCAA by itself.

[NYterp09]

Soccer and hockey do not do significantly better. The others I don't know.

People have other stuff to do now. Phones provide nonstop engagement.

Just for kicks I looked up U of Maryland's soccer average attendance and it was a bit over 5,000 per regular season games
I'm not much for hockey but the top college teams look to be putting an average of 7,000 to 10,000 per regular season games

Maryland soccer prob isn’t the best litmus test. Granted I graduated a while ago, but when I was there the men’s soccer team was extremely popular amongst students. I imagine most other schools soccer teams don’t have quite the same level of support from their student bodies.

[drunkmonkey30]

Again, my guess is that the Cornell attendance reported is paid attendance.
This would not include students, player family members, and perhaps/? faculty.

Factor in that Cornell played almost every home game in horrible cold, rainy, windy weather this season.

FYI - Faculty and students pay to attend games - at a discount

Students are free for most athletic events, including lacrosse. Faculty and staff pay $6.

[steel_hop]

Again, my guess is that the Cornell attendance reported is paid attendance.
This would not include students, player family members, and perhaps/? faculty.

Factor in that Cornell played almost every home game in horrible cold, rainy, windy weather this season.

FYI - Faculty and students pay to attend games - at a discount

Students are free for most athletic events, including lacrosse. Faculty and staff pay $6.

Students are not free for NCAA tournament games. Regular season games, yes. tournament games, no.

[ObxTerpFan]

Soccer and hockey do not do significantly better. The others I don't know.

People have other stuff to do now. Phones provide nonstop engagement.

Just for kicks I looked up U of Maryland's soccer average attendance and it was a bit over 5,000 per regular season games
I'm not much for hockey but the top college teams look to be putting an average of 7,000 to 10,000 per regular season games

Maryland soccer prob isn’t the best litmus test. Granted I graduated a while ago, but when I was there the men’s soccer team was extremely popular amongst students. I imagine most other schools soccer teams don’t have quite the same level of support from their student bodies.

The article I read, if I recall correctly, said Maryland soccer was #1 in attendance followed up by UCONN. I'll try and find the article and post the link.
Both soccer and lacrosse teams at Maryland are very successful but one draws a lot more fans then the other. I've watched a couple of Terp soccer games on tv and the students turn out and are loud.
Having said all that the numbers for ESPN must be decent or they would not show the games.

[hofpride]

weather in the north feb thru mid apr has to have a big impact on attendance