Arkansas’ scanned home attendance last season was 58% of its announced attendancegetty images
College football has an "attendance problem," with the gate at D-I schools declining 7.6% in four years, but the sport’s "attendance woes go far beyond that," according to Rachel Bachman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The average count of tickets "scanned at home games -- the number of fans who actually show up -- is about 71% of the attendance you see in a box score." Even Power Five schools "routinely record thousands fewer people passing through stadium gates than they report publicly." The no-shows "reflect the challenge of filling large venues when nearly every game is on TV." When Arkansas hosted Auburn last season, scanned attendance was "more than 25,000 lower than announced attendance." Overall last season, Arkansas’ "scanned home attendance was 58% of its announced attendance." Florida State last season had a "scanned attendance that was 57% of its announced attendance." Many schools take a "generous approach in compiling announced attendance, by including ushers, security guards" and even concession workers. Public attendance numbers are "part of some schools’ identity." Michigan Stadium, whose 107,601 capacity is the "nation’s largest, still claims a streak of 100,000-plus attendance games dating back" to '75, even though "two games last year showed fewer than 80,000 scanned tickets." A UM spokesperson said that "surges of fans at gates just before kickoff sometimes prompt workers to tear tickets rather than scanning them." Michigan counts the "media, stadium workers and marching bands in its announced attendance" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/31).
