Football ticket revenue for Boise State has "decreased each of the past four years, and is likely to do so again this season," according to Dave Southorn of the IDAHO STATESMAN. BSU brought in $7.57M in '12 when it "enjoyed record average attendance and season-ticket sales." That number dropped to $6.81M last year. The athletics budget is projected at $39.4M for FY '17, meaning football tickets represent about 17% of the department’s revenue. BSU AD Curt Apsey said, "Football ticket sales plays a huge role. It supports more than just football. When you’re down in that area, it affects everybody. I’m concerned about it, no doubt about that." Through four games at Albertsons Stadium, the "average attendance has been 32,370 in the 36,387-seat venue." The average was 34,273 in '16, a 3.2% "drop from the school record" in '12. If the current average holds, attendance "will be the lowest" since '08. Attendance actually "increased the past two seasons, but with help from ticket promotions that produced less revenue." The reasons tickets have become "more difficult to sell are not lacking: Apsey noted late kickoffs as a primary factor." Coming into this season, 17 of the previous 21 games "played at home" started at 7:30pm MT or later. BSU is expected to bring in $2.9M in "conference television revenue" in FY '17 -- another key revenue source but one that puts BSU "mostly at the whim of ESPN." Meanwhile, Apsey is "optimistic about men’s basketball ticket sales" (IDAHO STATESMAN, 10/31).
WILDCAT FORMATION: In Tucson, Greg Hansen notes Arizona is only averaging 42,961 fans for football games this year because the "games are too long and they start too late." The Pac-12 "feebly addressed the length-of-games issue by attempting to shave five minutes off halftime on Pac-12 Network telecasts." Hansen: "Effect: none." Over the next five years, UA AD Dave Heeke "plans to remake Arizona Stadium and improve fan amenities and perhaps chop 5,000 seats from capacity." That would "improve intimacy and eliminate a lot of embarrassing empty seats, but that’s only half of the issue." Arizona State is also having attendance struggles -- after reviving its season with "rousing victories" over Oregon, Washington and Utah, ASU "drew just 53,446 against USC last week." That left about 4,000 "empty seats at Sun Devil Stadium." ASU’s home attendance average is a "mere 51,114 despite having home games against USC, Oregon and Washington" (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 10/31).
