Furman Football - Attendance up ~60 percent in 2021

[Northeast Furman Fan]

We ended up 6-5 which is not where any Furman Fan wanted to be at the start of the season. Even so, I am hopeful for the future. We won our last 2 games and our offence came alive averaging 40 points per game over the past 3 games. We showed improvement over the season and many people return next year. Furman can compete with anyone in the league and had 3 close losses that could have easily been wins. I am hopeful for 2022.

One of the measures of a great football program is fan attendance. Players want to play in front of large crowds and fans want a great football experience which includes a great stadium atmosphere. These two things build off of each other and are important to building a great program for the future.

In 2021, Furman led the Southern Conference in attendance for most of the season. Attendance at Furman Football games was 9,577 per game which is up by ~60 percent from 2019 when Furman had 6,039 per game. I believe that the increased emphasis on the game day experience at Furman had a lot to do with it. The final 2021 numbers are below.

Average Game Attendance in SoCon in 2021
Citadel - 10,291 fans per game
ETSU - 9,780 fans per game
Furman - 9,577 fans per game
W. Carolina - 9,499 fans per game
Mercer - 8,568 fans per game
UTC - 7,482 fans per game
VMI - 5,217 fans per game
Wofford - 4,686 fans per game
Samford - 3,549 fans per game

The trend for Furman football over the past decade has been declining attendance which makes 2021 increased attendance an even more impressive accomplishment. The yearly game attendance averages are listed below.

Average per game attendance at Furman - Past 10 years
2011 - 11,064 fans per game
2012 - 9,008 fans per game
2013 - 8,298 fans per game
2014 - 7,229 fans per game
2015 - 6,795 fans per game
2016 - 5,771 fans per game
2017 - 7,775 fans per game
2018 - 6,138 fans per game
2019 - 6,039 fans per game
2020 - Covid
2021 - 9,577 fans per game

In 2021, Furman was able to increase the number of fans per game by 3,500. This is a great accomplishment and hopefully, Furman will keep its foot on the gas pedal for 2022. If Furman can increase its attendance per game by another 3,500 per game, Furman could average over 13,000 fans per game in 2022. This can be done. The last time that Furman averaged over 13,000 fans per game was in 2004 when Furman averaged 14,109 fans per game for that season.

We have seen some great results from the efforts that many have made from improving the game day experience. My hope is that the Furman game day experience will continue to improve and that Furman builds upon this success. In addition to winning, my hope is that Furman has plans to continue the great work on the game day experience at Paladin Stadium.

I would like to see more wins, better football teams, better recruits in the future, more fans etc. It all builds off each other. 2021 has been encouraging in terms of the game day experience and I hope that it continues to improve and that the game day experience at Furman is second to none.

[Paul C]

Great post

[apaladin]

Just think what it could be with better football.

[JohnKX512]

Them is some good numbers. Get better, win more, play more.

I hate to say this, but, good for the Citadel. I sure as heck don't want to be in that stadium in September, but I guess it is nice for the boys to have a day off and see the outside of their barracks.

[apaladin]

We were back to bad attendance the last game only 6500+. Really hurt the season average.

[Northeast Furman Fan]

This is a good point that was made that attendance fell off for the last game of the season from an average of 10,391 per game for the first 4 games to only 6,662 fans for the last game. The main reason for the large drop in attendance for the last game of the season was due to the fact that Furman was no longer in the hunt for a playoff spot. Cold weather in November and the quality of our opponent can also have an impact on November attendance. I took a look at the last 10 years and separated the years that Furman was playing meaningful, last home games of the season and the years that Furman was out of the playoffs.

Years when Furman was out of the playoff hunt for the last home game
2021 - Furman had a 4-5 record for the last home game, attendance was 6562 (down 38 percent from the average)
2018 - Furman had a 4-4 record for the last home game, attendance was 4,332 (down 36 percent from the average)
2016 - Furman had a 2-7 record for the last home game, attendance was 4,117 (down 33 percent from the average)
2015- Furman had a 4-5 record for the last home game, attendance was 6351 (down 20 percent from the average)
2014 - Furman had a 4-7 record for the last home game, attendance was 4,377 (down 44 percent from the average)
2012- Furman had a 3-7 record for the last home game, attendance was 8127 (down 12 percent from the average) The last game was against the Citadel

Years when Furman had a chance to make the playoffs for the last home game
2019 - Furman was in the playoffs, last home game drew 3559 fans for Point University
2017 - Furman was in the playoffs, last home game drew 10,105 against the Citadel
2013 - Furman made the playoffs, last home game attendance was 8,291 vs Wofford

I think that it is clear that when Furman is not on the hunt for the playoffs, you can expect to see a drop of 30-40 percent in attendance for the last home game. That being said, attendance for the last home game this year was 6500 verses around 4500 for other years that we were out of the playoffs for the last home game.

Everything feeds off of each other

• More wins brings more fans

• More fans brings better team performance and more wins

• more wins and more fans brings better recruits

• more wins and more fans brings more money into the program

• More money into the program allows for better facilities and the ability to hire and retain coaches

• Better facilities and great coaches allow for more wins

• more wins increases fan support

• etc.

[Davemeister]

I agree. It is good to be in the playoffs. Same goes for the BB team.

[The Cats]

The final 2021 numbers are below.

Average Game Attendance in SoCon in 2021
Citadel - 10,291 fans per game
ETSU - 9,780 fans per game
Furman - 9,577 fans per game
W. Carolina - 9,499 fans per game
Mercer - 8,568 fans per game
UTC - 7,482 fans per game
VMI - 5,217 fans per game
Wofford - 4,686 fans per game
Samford - 3,549 fans per game

First of all, congrats to the Furman fans for such a large increase in game attendance.

My question is about the attendance numbers posted. I looked up and posted attendance numbers taken from the official SoCon football site and here's the numbers posted on our board (https://catamount.boards.net/thread/122 ... attendance) ...

2021 SoCon Football Home Attendance

The Citadel - 9,982
Western Carolina - 9,824
ETSU - 9,683
Furman - 9,577
Mercer - 8,908
Chattanooga - 7,482
VMI - 5,217
Wofford - 4,686
Samford - 3,949

not sure where the difference comes from?

[Northeast Furman Fan]

The numbers that I posted were gathered from the game summaries from the ESPN website. I am not sure why there is any difference in numbers but they seem to be close.

[The Jackal]

The SoCon reports attendance here: https://static.soconsports.com/custompa ... nfsked.htm

Listed as "A"

[Affirm]

I agree. It is good to be in the playoffs. Same goes for the BB team.

We would not know about the BB team attendance in playoff.
You probably mean men’s basketball. For that program, it’s been 42 years. Sorry, the other post season tournaments are not playoffs (NIT, CBI, or what have you.) (If you mean baseball, I have no idea when that program got to playoffs. I guess it did if we ever won SoCon baseball tournament. Who know when that was. And I doubt there was little if any impact on attendance.)

[Affirm]

The SoCon reports attendance here: https://static.soconsports.com/custompa ... nfsked.htm

Listed as "A"

Interesting. This whole thread is interesting. Noteworthy, and sad, is that our final game, at Samford, had the smallest attendance for all games (in and out of conference, all members) for entire season.

[apaladin]

I agree. It is good to be in the playoffs. Same goes for the BB team.

We would not know about the BB team attendance in playoff.
You probably mean men’s basketball. For that program, it’s been 42 years. Sorry, the other post season tournaments are not playoffs (NIT, CBI, or what have you.) (If you mean baseball, I have no idea when that program got to playoffs. I guess it did if we ever won SoCon baseball tournament. Who know when that was. And I doubt there was little if any impact on attendance.)

Last baseball ncaa tournament was 2005 or 2006. Lost to overall #1 seed Georgia Tech in the last inning, Then lost to Michigan 5-3 IIRC. Baseball was the only major sport where we had any chance against the big boys regardless of how small that chance was. There was a chance. ED took that away from us. Thanks again ED.