Duke stadium mods will reduce capacity

[phatcat]

They want to be like the cool kids

"The renovations to the north end of the stadium will decrease the official seating capacity from 40,004 to 35,018."

Duke Introduces New ‘Devils Deck’ to Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium - Duke University

Duke Athletics announced Monday the addition of the Devils Deck to Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium.

goduke.com

 

[zeek55]

For pretty much every private other than say ND, USC, Miami; hard to see capacity >35k making sense.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

For pretty much every private other than say ND, USC, Miami; hard to see capacity >35k making sense.

Here's a few more for your list...
Average attendance for last 5 seasons in parentheses.

BYU (58k), Baylor (44k), TCU (43k), Syracuse (37k), Boston College (36k)

2023 FBS Attendance Trends | D1 ticker

A look at FBS attendance for the 2023 season compared to year-over-year and five-year-over-year averages. | Data through Week 13.

www.d1ticker.com

 

[zeek55]

Here's a few more for your list...
Average attendance for last 5 seasons in parentheses.

BYU (58k), Baylor (44k), TCU (43k), Syracuse (37k), Boston College (36k)

2023 FBS Attendance Trends | D1 ticker

A look at FBS attendance for the 2023 season compared to year-over-year and five-year-over-year averages. | Data through Week 13.

www.d1ticker.com

Completely forgot BYU was private. The Texas Big 12 schools are doing well, that I knew.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Completely forgot BYU was private. The Texas Big 12 schools are doing well, that I knew.

Telling that even TCU, in a big metro area with LOTS of success over the last couple of decades and in recent years, is still at 43k. That puts in perspective the difficulty.

 

[Eurocat]

Telling that even TCU, in a big metro area with LOTS of success over the last couple of decades and in recent years, is still at 43k. That puts in perspective the difficulty.

Their capacity is only 46,000. It just means they had lousy attendance at one game, probably an early season game against a creampuff opponenet (I know, I know, those kinds of teams have beaten us, I remember...) but all you need is to draw nto 46 but only, say, 34, to just one game, and you don't have the stadium size to make up for it later when you play more attracitive teams. Even if you sell out all the rest you will be stuck at 43,000 max. Perhaps one game was set to be played in terrible weather, even the biggest football fans, if they are up there in years, don't want to sit and bake for several hours when you can see the game with the a/c on from your coach and its over 90 degrees outside. It is Texas after all.

 

[phatcat]

Here's a few more for your list...
Average attendance for last 5 seasons in parentheses.

BYU (58k), Baylor (44k), TCU (43k), Syracuse (37k), Boston College (36k)

2023 FBS Attendance Trends | D1 ticker

A look at FBS attendance for the 2023 season compared to year-over-year and five-year-over-year averages. | Data through Week 13.

www.d1ticker.com

Our attendance is really bad. Down over 40% from best recent years. Some of it last year was people canceling after the hazing/firing, some was a weak hone schedule, but wow. Look at some of the schools above us. Just wow

 

[Darren72]

Our attendance is really bad. Down over 40% from best recent years. Some of it last year was people canceling after the hazing/firing, some was a weak hone schedule, but wow. Look at some of the schools above us. Just wow

And a lot of it was the poor team in 2021 and 2022. Attendance was on a downward trajectory after the Covid year. Gotta win to get fans to show.

 

[CappyNU]

Telling that even TCU, in a big metro area with LOTS of success over the last couple of decades and in recent years, is still at 43k. That puts in perspective the difficulty.

It's odd, they list their "official capacity" as 46k, but says it's expandable and they had over 53k in their first game last year against Colorado. 🤷‍♂️

 

[CappyNU]

As far as the major private schools, attendance by %capacity:

TCU - 102.89% (46,000) 🤔
ND - 100% (77,622, reduced capacity from 80,795 in 2017 renovation)
BYU - 97.6% (63,470)
Wake Forest - 97.2% (31,500)
Baylor - 96.1% (45,140, reduced capacity from 50,000 in 2014 when they built their new stadium)
Vandy - 89.5% (28,500, reduced from 40,350 due to construction over next few seasons, will likely end up in the low 30k for capacity)
USC - 85.2% (77,500, reduced capacity from 92,348 in 2019)
BC - 81.7% (44,500)
Miami - 76.1% (65,327, reduced capacity from 75,540 in 2015)
Syracuse - 69.4% (49,000, reduced capacity to 42,000 starting in 2024 due to replacing the benches with actual seats)
Stanford - 65.9% (50,424, reduced capacity from 89,000 in 2006)
Duke - 62.8% (40,004, reduced capacity to 35,000 in 2024)
NU - 44.1% (47,133, reducing capacity to 35,000 for 2026)

BC is currently gauging interest from alumni regarding renovations to their stadium that will likely reduce capacity. My guess is that BYU and ND will remain at high capacity without issues, and TCU, Wake Forest and Baylor have the right size stadium for their needs. Every other P6 private school has reduced capacity in the last 2 decades.

 

[FeralFelidae]

For pretty much every private other than say ND, USC, Miami; hard to see capacity >35k making sense.

BYU

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

As far as the major private schools, attendance by %capacity:

TCU - 102.89% (46,000) 🤔
ND - 100% (77,622, reduced capacity from 80,795 in 2017 renovation)
BYU - 97.6% (63,470)
Wake Forest - 97.2% (31,500)
Baylor - 96.1% (45,140, reduced capacity from 50,000 in 2014 when they built their new stadium)
Vandy - 89.5% (28,500, reduced from 40,350 due to construction over next few seasons, will likely end up in the low 30k for capacity)
USC - 85.2% (77,500, reduced capacity from 92,348 in 2019)
BC - 81.7% (44,500)
Miami - 76.1% (65,327, reduced capacity from 75,540 in 2015)
Syracuse - 69.4% (49,000, reduced capacity to 42,000 starting in 2024 due to replacing the benches with actual seats)
Stanford - 65.9% (50,424, reduced capacity from 89,000 in 2006)
Duke - 62.8% (40,004, reduced capacity to 35,000 in 2024)
NU - 44.1% (47,133, reducing capacity to 35,000 for 2026)

BC is currently gauging interest from alumni regarding renovations to their stadium that will likely reduce capacity. My guess is that BYU and ND will remain at high capacity without issues, and TCU, Wake Forest and Baylor have the right size stadium for their needs. Every other P6 private school has reduced capacity in the last 2 decades.

EuroCat isn’t going to like this trend.

 

[NUCat320]

Our attendance is really bad. Down over 40% from best recent years. Some of it last year was people canceling after the hazing/firing, some was a weak hone schedule, but wow. Look at some of the schools above us. Just wow

It’s entirely schedule-contingent.

There’s never preseason buzz, no matter how good they’ve been. So non-cons are a bust.

It’ll be even tougher to get great crowds if we can’t expect Wisconsin or Nebraska or Iowa every other year.

(I honestly have no idea what the long-term schedule looks like, but I’m pretty sure it sucks in terms of playing traditional rivals.)

 

[phatcat]

(I honestly have no idea what the long-term schedule looks like, but I’m pretty sure it sucks in terms of playing traditional rivals

just using simple math, without divisions, we'll have far fewer games against the prev B1GW teams. I'd prefer a 12 game B1G schedule, to mitigate that

 

[CappyNU]

For the public P6 schools, there have been major changes and minor changes. For the major:
Washington State reduced in 2014 (40k to 33k)
LSU expanded in 2014 (92k to 102k)
Texas A&M expanded in 2014 (83k to 103k)
Mississippi State expanded in 2014 (55k to 61k)
Iowa State expanded in 2015 (55k to 61k)
Kentucky reduced in 2015 (68k to 61k)
Cincinnati expanded in 2015 (35k to 38k)
Ole Miss expanded in 2016 (60k to 64k)
FSU reduced in 2016 (82k to 79k) and is currently further reducing capacity by 2025 (79k to 69k)
Arizona State reduced from 2014-2018 (72k to 54k)
UNC expanded in 2011 (60k to 63k) and reduced in 2018 (63k to 50k)
Louisville expanded in 2018 (55k to 61k)
Arkansas expanded in 2018 (72k to 76k)
Utah expanded in 2021 (46k to 51k)
UCLA reduced in 2021 via tarps (91k to 70k)
Cal reduced in 2012 (72k to 63k) and reduced again in 2023 (63k to 52k)
Purdue reduced in 2014 (62k to 57k) and expanded in 2023 (57k to 61k)
Oregon State reduced in 2023 (43k to 36k)
Kansas is in the process of reducing (47k to 40-42k)
Nebraska will be reducing over the next few seasons (83k to 75k!!)
UCF will be expanding (45k to 46k)
Missouri plans to expand by 2026 (63k to 65k)

So in the last decade, there was a lot of SEC stadium expansion, and reductions almost everywhere else aside from Iowa State, Cincinnati, Louisville and Utah.

These more minor changes were largely due to adding/improving premium seating or converting to seats from bleachers:
Illinois reduced in 2011 (63k to 61k)
Maryland reduced in 2012 (54k to 52k)
Colorado reduced in 2014 (54k to 50k)
Washington reduced in 2014 (72k to 70k)
Michigan reduced in 2015 (109k to 107k)
OK St. reduced in 2017 (60k to 57k), 2019 (57k to 55k), and is in the midst of another reduction
Iowa reduced in 2018 (70k to 69k)
OSU expanded in 2014 (102k to 105k) and reduced in 2019 (105k to 103k)
Oklahoma reduced in 2019 (86k to 80k)
Arizona reduced in 2019 (56k to 51k)
South Carolina reduced in 2020 (80k to 77k)
Alabama reduced in 2020 (102k to 100k)
Wisconsin reduced in 2022 (80k to 76k)
Auburn expanded in 2023 (87k to 88k)
GT reduced in 2024 (55k to 52k)
PSU will be reducing over the next few seasons (106k to ?)

I think for the most part it's reasonable to assume that we reached peak stadium capacity in the last decade, and the future of renovations will be focused on attracting the revenue coming from premium seating options while reducing overall capacity as more and more people opt for their comfy, schmumfy couches to watch the games.

 

[CMcCat]

For the public P6 schools, there have been major changes and minor changes. For the major:
Washington State reduced in 2014 (40k to 33k)
LSU expanded in 2014 (92k to 102k)
Texas A&M expanded in 2014 (83k to 103k)
Mississippi State expanded in 2014 (55k to 61k)
Iowa State expanded in 2015 (55k to 61k)
Kentucky reduced in 2015 (68k to 61k)
Cincinnati expanded in 2015 (35k to 38k)
Ole Miss expanded in 2016 (60k to 64k)
FSU reduced in 2016 (82k to 79k) and is currently further reducing capacity by 2025 (79k to 69k)
Arizona State reduced from 2014-2018 (72k to 54k)
UNC expanded in 2011 (60k to 63k) and reduced in 2018 (63k to 50k)
Louisville expanded in 2018 (55k to 61k)
Arkansas expanded in 2018 (72k to 76k)
Utah expanded in 2021 (46k to 51k)
UCLA reduced in 2021 via tarps (91k to 70k)
Cal reduced in 2012 (72k to 63k) and reduced again in 2023 (63k to 52k)
Purdue reduced in 2014 (62k to 57k) and expanded in 2023 (57k to 61k)
Oregon State reduced in 2023 (43k to 36k)
Kansas is in the process of reducing (47k to 40-42k)
Nebraska will be reducing over the next few seasons (83k to 75k!!)
UCF will be expanding (45k to 46k)
Missouri plans to expand by 2026 (63k to 65k)

So in the last decade, there was a lot of SEC stadium expansion, and reductions almost everywhere else aside from Iowa State, Cincinnati, Louisville and Utah.

These more minor changes were largely due to adding/improving premium seating or converting to seats from bleachers:
Illinois reduced in 2011 (63k to 61k)
Maryland reduced in 2012 (54k to 52k)
Colorado reduced in 2014 (54k to 50k)
Washington reduced in 2014 (72k to 70k)
Michigan reduced in 2015 (109k to 107k)
OK St. reduced in 2017 (60k to 57k), 2019 (57k to 55k), and is in the midst of another reduction
Iowa reduced in 2018 (70k to 69k)
OSU expanded in 2014 (102k to 105k) and reduced in 2019 (105k to 103k)
Oklahoma reduced in 2019 (86k to 80k)
Arizona reduced in 2019 (56k to 51k)
South Carolina reduced in 2020 (80k to 77k)
Alabama reduced in 2020 (102k to 100k)
Wisconsin reduced in 2022 (80k to 76k)
Auburn expanded in 2023 (87k to 88k)
GT reduced in 2024 (55k to 52k)
PSU will be reducing over the next few seasons (106k to ?)

I think for the most part it's reasonable to assume that we reached peak stadium capacity in the last decade, and the future of renovations will be focused on attracting the revenue coming from premium seating options while reducing overall capacity as more and more people opt for their comfy, schmumfy couches to watch the games.

This is the understandable result of the widening gap between socio-economic classes. As the college educated upper class accumulates greater amounts of national wealth and as the collapsing university business model places increasing pressure on revenue, we will see growing focus on elite fripperies that can be sold at high margin.

TV contracts monetize the working class consumer product purchaser and game tickets, required donations gather the upper class gold.

 

[CMcCat]

This is the understandable result of the widening gap between socio-economic classes. As the college educated upper class accumulates greater amounts of national wealth and as the collapsing university business model places increasing pressure on revenue, we will see growing focus on elite fripperies that can be sold at high margin.

TV contracts monetize the working class consumer product purchaser and game tickets, required donations gather the upper class gold.

Recently available single-game ticket pricing is Exhibit A. $249 a ducat for Indiana end zone seats?

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Recently available single-game ticket pricing is Exhibit A. $249 a ducat for Indiana end zone seats?

What’s Exhibit B & C?

 

[CMcCat]

What’s Exhibit B & C?

They will be revealed in about 18 months.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Recently available single-game ticket pricing is Exhibit A. $249 a ducat for Indiana end zone seats?

Thank you Mr. Friedman.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

They will be revealed in about 18 months.

Will they be announcing opening acts at that time as well?

 

[CMcCat]

Will they be announcing opening acts at that time as well?

Silly man. NU Football IS the opening act!