When it’s FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE –
The reports last year were that we had around 7,000 more fans show up for the BYU game than were at Neyland for the GSU loss. We’re like Timex fans, we take a licking and keep on ticking. Granted the actual crowd size isn’t always measuring up to the “announced” crowd size but still our crowds are larger than most stadium capacities in football. It just looks so much more amazing when it is actually full and our atmosphere is at peak performance.
In all of college football last year attendance for games as reported by the NCAA was 47,537,702 and that includes everything, home games, neutral site games, bowl games, and playoff games, for all divisions. The FBS portion of that number was 36,831,692. The SEC portion of that number was 7,417,759. The combined total of home, road, and neutral site attendance for Tennessee’s games in 2019 was 1,055,406 and 702,912 of that was at Neyland. Our average home attendance was 87,864 as “announced”. The average money spent for attendance by an SEC fan for college football is around $1,212 not including any hotel cost. This is for the season so theoretically, Tennessee fans, even without filling the stadium to capacity, might be spending around $106,491,168 to attend games at Neyland every year. The average cost for the season for those staying in hotels is $4,232 and since some people do do that there’s even more money being spent. Tennessee has one of the best “traveling” fanbases in the history of any sport.
A May 2016 report conducted by Tripp Umbach, a national leader in economic impact research and analysis, found Vols football has a $355.7 million annual economic impact on Knox County. Hotels see $73.9 million in annual effects from UT football, while restaurants and bars get $82.5 million, according to the study. According to the study, 2,611 local jobs result directly from UT football’s impact, and another 1,210 jobs come from its secondary effects. Knox County residents spend an average of $55 on football game days, while visitors from out of state are likely to spend $308, according to the study. That translates to $18.6 million in state and local taxes, not counting ticket sales.
It is unclear what portion of revenue would be lost if the college football season was affected by the coronavirus, which led to the cancellation of spring sports across the country and halted winter NCAA championships. Ticket sales, game day revenues such as parking and concessions, bowl game payouts and similar sources would likely be wiped out.
Football accounts for at least 67% of all athletic department revenue at Tennessee and that revenue can essentially be split into three broad streams, ticket sales, contributions, and media rights. Those revenue streams each produce about 30% +/- 2% or so of the total.
Around 50% of fans attending college football are under the age of 35. About 43% are age 35-64 and only about 7% are in the age group 65+.
There’s a weird and somewhat unpredictable psychology going around right now. I’m not sure what to expect when it comes to how all this plays out. This is a table from TDPH this morning on the effects of the virus by age group here in the state. Again, I’m not sure how the psychology is going to play out but for the vast majority of those who attend college football games the fatality rate appears to be extremely small.
There seems to be a climate of fear fostered among some but my take is that many younger segments in the population aren't buying in. I think most older people, those in vulnerable demographics, are probably, as best they can, taking the appropriate and wise safety precautions. I'm just not sure how this is going to play out. I think many younger people will likely still show up for the games, assuming they are played, while a certain portion of older people may stay home and catch the games on TV. I'm pretty sure if we play, it's not going to be a situation where one size fits all with regards to how fans will respond.
Having said that, I tend to believe if we are 3-0 when Florida comes to Rocky Top, Neyland will likely be at maximum capacity and rocking like crazy. jmo.