Football Attendance Comparison

[laker]

2022 SJU vs. FCS/Division II Schools in Upper Midwest

No.	School	NCAA	Gms.	Total	Avg.
1.	North Dakota State	FCS	9	141,179	15,687
2.	South Dakota State	FCS	9	113,227	12,581
3.	Saint John's	III	8	57,715	7,214
4.	Northern Iowa	FCS	6	50,154	8,359
5.	North Dakota	FCS	5	48,898	9,780
6.	South Dakota	FCS	5	31,772	6,354
7.	St. Thomas	FCS	6	31,366	5,228
8.	Northern State (S.D.)	II	6	27,688	4,615
9.	MSU-Mankato	II	6	22,664	3,777
10.	Bethel	III	5	21,451	4,290

[AU guy]

I don't get how SDSU says they get that many fans because most games I've seen on tv the stadium is over half empty! Hardly any students and the visitors side of the stadium is mostly empty. If you talk to any SDSU fan all they talk about is how good of fan base they have then fill that stadium up each week. If the actual attendance is 8k I would be surprised.

[Millsy]

I don't get how SDSU says they get that many fans because most games I've seen on tv the stadium is over half empty! Hardly any students and the visitors side of the stadium is mostly empty. If you talk to any SDSU fan all they talk about is how good of fan base they have then fill that stadium up each week. If the actual attendance is 8k I would be surprised.

Tickets sold versus butts in the seats (most places count tickets sold since it is already revenue in their pocket). If I had to guess, a lot of season tickets sold to people/corporations that don't actually attend every game.

[WPHB]

2022 SJU vs. FCS/Division II Schools in Upper Midwest

No.	School	NCAA	Gms.	Total	Avg.
1.	North Dakota State	FCS	9	141,179	15,687
2.	South Dakota State	FCS	9	113,227	12,581
3.	Saint John's	III	8	57,715	7,214
4.	Northern Iowa	FCS	6	50,154	8,359
5.	North Dakota	FCS	5	48,898	9,780
6.	South Dakota	FCS	5	31,772	6,354
7.	St. Thomas	FCS	6	31,366	5,228
8.	Northern State (S.D.)	II	6	27,688	4,615
9.	MSU-Mankato	II	6	22,664	3,777
10.	Bethel	III	5	21,451	4,290

Is that compilation from a website or did you have to go through manually to compile numbers? I did something similar not too long back for USD, SDSU, Augie, and USF but had to manually calculate.

[SW_Mustang]

I don't get how SDSU says they get that many fans because most games I've seen on tv the stadium is over half empty! Hardly any students and the visitors side of the stadium is mostly empty. If you talk to any SDSU fan all they talk about is how good of fan base they have then fill that stadium up each week. If the actual attendance is 8k I would be surprised.

SDSU did have fairly decent attendance towards the latter half of the year. They drew some of the largest crowds in school history. That being said, it is abysmal overall. Definitely the blacksheep of the athletic department. They didn't even sell out against NDSU (EDIT: I forgot, that was 2021 I was thinking of).

[crixus]

Kudos to the SDSU Jackrabbits on their National Championship. They've been my favorite FCS team for a long time. Beating rival NDSU 45-21 made it even better!

[Dan Brookens]

Worth mentioning that Mankato's average would have been much higher if not for the brutally cold playoff game vs. Wayne which drew only 700 some. Which is quite remarkable considering wind chills were sub-zero.

[laker]

Is that compilation from a website or did you have to go through manually to compile numbers? I did something similar not too long back for USD, SDSU, Augie, and USF but had to manually calculate.

It was posted by the SJU athletic department, which was announcing that their opening game would be hosting Trinity of Texas, another top ten team.

Since the Mavs open at UST on Thursday, I'm hoping to see the St John's-Trinity game at 1 and the SDSU-Western Oregon game at 6 (no time has been posted yet).

[NSU4LIFE]

Worth mentioning that Mankato's average would have been much higher if not for the brutally cold playoff game vs. Wayne which drew only 700 some. Which is quite remarkable considering wind chills were sub-zero.

4386 average for the five regular season games

[vikingfaithful]

Does anybody think some schools are inflating their attendance numbers? or count everybody in stadium including players and coaches.

[laker]

Does anybody think some schools are inflating their attendance numbers? or count everybody in stadium including players and coaches.

I think that they are using the new math to count. When I subbed after retiring I told the students that I wouldn't be able to help them much with the new math, then blew them away with doing numbers in my head without using paper- same with percentages. And math was by far my worst subject. I had one girl who came up with $9 after a problem where she was to buy two bakery items with $5. I spent ten minutes trying to show her how she had to have LESS money after buying two items but she never did figure it out.

So- yes!

[SW_Mustang]

Does anybody think some schools are inflating their attendance numbers? or count everybody in stadium including players and coaches.

Have to be. Not sure what there is to gain besides bragging rights, unless the NCAA has attendance requirements like they do for FBS - but they don't really seem to enforce them anyway.

[Millsy]

Does anybody think some schools are inflating their attendance numbers? or count everybody in stadium including players and coaches.

Counting tickets sold as it is already revenue for the athletic department. A lot of people/corporations that hold season tickets that don't actually attend every game, but the seat is sold and no one else can grab it.

[SW_Mustang]

Is that compilation from a website or did you have to go through manually to compile numbers? I did something similar not too long back for USD, SDSU, Augie, and USF but had to manually calculate.

The NCAA does release a report every year, unless that's what you used in your calculations.

Reading it for some of the FBS conferences, it's easy to see how often these numbers get fudged.

[WPHB]

The NCAA does release a report every year unless that's what you used in your calculations.

Yeah, I just went on individual team sites and what the reported attendance was for each home game. I like to do things the hard way!