The number of Rutgers football season tickets are down 8.6% from '15 -- 31,168 compared to 28,478 this year, according to Ryan Dunleavy of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Rutgers Senior Associate AD & CMO Geoff Brown said, "What we've found this year is we have a lot of season ticketholders who are still fans but dropped a couple of seats. They had increased their seats when we were going into the Big Ten and ... their level is back where they were before." Dunleavy noted Rutgers is "averaging 42,995 fans through its first three home games," with the Sept. 17 game against New Mexico drawing just 39,680, the school's lowest total since it began Big Ten play. However, Brown is "anticipating a sellout" for Saturday night's game against Michigan. He said that industry standards "prepared Rutgers to expect a dip in season tickets around Year 3 of the Big Ten after experiencing spikes" of 40.7% in season tickets and a 15.3% in accounts from '13-14 "coinciding with the move from the American Athletic Conference to a celebrated new home." Syracuse experienced a "slight attendance bump upon first moving" to the ACC in '13, but the number has "gone down ever since" (NJ.com, 10/6).
