Since the NFL is more popular than college football, why are college stadiums bigger?

Question

Since the NFL is more popular than college football, why are college stadiums bigger?

Answer 1

Why not continue to root for the team you currently support? The vast majority of Bostonians respect a fans allegiance to a team, even if that team is not from Boston. You'll see plenty of out of town jerseys if you got to a bar on an NFL Sunday. BC football is your only real college option. Even so, support for BC football is pretty concentrated and doesn't have a region-wide dedicated following. A suggestion I'd make is to choose a college hockey team to follow. A couple nights a week you have the option to watch some of the best college hockey in the country. BU vs BC is the major rivalry. Right or wrong, these two teams have distinct personalities. BC is perceived as being the popped collar preppy school with their "superfans". The hockey team has a gentlemanly head coach and they usually have first dibs on the best recruits and almost always compete for the NCAA title. BU hockey is more blue collar and the coach is a tough nut. Their recruits are also top tier but are more likely to leave school early for the pro ranks. When these two play, it's likely to be sold out and the games are very entertaining. A good underdog choice would be Northeastern. The coach is a local guy, they don't get top recruits but once every couple years they have the right chemistry to turn heads. College hockey helps getting you through these atrocious winters.

Answer 2

I never believe in polls because the results can be skewed. I can only speak for the region I live in and that's the South where college football is way more popular than pro ball. A comparison of the fan base for college as compared to pro is not even close. Also, I never would have thought the popularity would drive the coaches salaries to multimillion dollar contracts. Even Saban admitted his greatest mistake was leaving LSU and the poor man is only making $4 million a year at Bama. Additionally, the student body is limited to the number of tickets. Therefore, the student body does not drive attendance.

To the guy above me I have had two LSU season tickets since the early seventies. I pay a $300 donation to have the right to purchase the tickets and then the tickets cost $700. This equates to a little over $70 per ticket and my cost is much lower than someone that has purchased season tickets in the 1990s. College football in the South is big business and then if you want to talk about a skybox at Tiger Stadium then you had better have deep pockets.

Answer 3

There are many factor all of which most people includingme do not know.



While your right in saying that the cost is a symptom there is some merit to the cost arguement. Stutents have a certain amount of money for socializing and this is an on campus event that is inexpensive and easy to get to, plus its a 100,000 person party.... Students only need to pay for themselves not a whole family, to take a family and buy tickets for them all, food, travel.... adds up so price os certainly an issue.



Alumni of big schools are also usually huge supporters of the sports programs and are forever rising in numbers so they are life long supporter along with their family members.



Top universities, lets go with the top 31 school generally are always in the top of their respective divisions so while they may not be top 10 in the country they are still an elite team, much easier to go to a game when your team is almost always way above teh 500 mark.



There are many more reasons but this answer is getting to long.



Cheers.

Answer 4

Well we know money drives the world we live in. Number one, most of these college stadiums (even for private schools) receive state funding for their construction. But so NFL stadiums. The real disparity between NFL stadiums and college stadiums are the alumni (students) and former athletes who pump money back into their school. I mean, Carmelo Anthony just shelled out 20 million to have a brand new basketball practice facility built at Syracuse.



I'm pretty sure at Miami, players like Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, Clinton Portis, Ed Reed and others give money to the program. The same goes at schools like Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, Florida State. Especially for the state-run schools, they just have bigger coffers than the privately owned NFL teams.



Also, pro games are expensive as is. So if your gonna charge $100 bucks for a ticket, the seat must be scarce. Which mean the stadium isn't holding 100,000 people, more like 55000.

Answer 5

I think you are wrong about the NFL being more popular than college football. I'll bet by about a 65% to 35% that college football is more popular. Also, colleges have less games for people to see so that may be one reason the stadiums are bigger, so more people have a chance to see a game in person. Personally, I love college football and will watch just about any college game on tv if my team isn't playing. I will not watch a pro game the Cowboys aren't playing in. I just like the college game much more and think it's more pure than the pros.

Answer 6

The NFL has become popular mainly because of TV. The NFL wants to keep their stadiums at 50-60,000 so when someone turns their TV on they always see a full stadium. A full stadium gives the appearance of importance, vs. a half empty stadium which plants the idea in someones mind that this is an unimportant event.

Answer 7

College Football Stadiums are larger because almost all College Students support their Colleges or Universities. The NFL, you can't really be part of a team unless your on the roster or on the staff, unlike College.

Answer 8

Because A ) its cheaper to go to a college game compared to a NFL game. B) Its a college team. A Lot of the fans are College campus kids. C) Because its the 3rd letter in the alphabet



I mean i ask myself the same question. How does penn state fit over 100,000 fans in its stadium? i have been to a game and i have been to a ravens and skins game and their stadium seems so much bigger but its not even close to penn state. Its crazy.



Great question

Answer 9

The NFL is only more popular cuz of marketing and TV rights.



And, a ticket to a NCAA game is under $20. An NFL ticket costs $200!

Answer 10

Major college football places with big stadiums also have huge student populations numbering in the 30,000 - 50,000 range, living within minutes of the stadium. It is a built in fan base. Also consider the opposing team putting thousands in the opposing stand and a small stadium is already full without one non student inside.



The general public also wants to go so you need more room for them. Also consider the thousands of alumni that graduate each year and want to go back.



Professional football doesn't have that built in and connected crowd to fit into thier stadiums.

Answer 11

the answer to your question is that college football is more popular than NFL football, i don't care what these poll results say..

Answer 12

Your argument is flawed.NFL Football is demonstrably more popular than college based on the TV ratings. NFL kills every other sport on TV.



If I used your logic MLB and even NBA have more attendace than the NFL because they play a million games a year. I would have to conclude that MLB & NBA are more popular than NFL even though their stadia have even less seats.



NFL is the most popular sport followed by MLB and then NCAA football. You have to calculate more factors besides just the size of stadiums. Read the article linked below, "NFL: America’s Choice"

Answer 13

college football is more of a family outing. I am a big NFL fan, but have to travel 100's of miles to see my team. I can get college tickets 5 or six times a year, travel only 60 miles and take my whole family. I may only see my Vikings once every 4 or five years. I never go a season without at least one Husker game.

Answer 14

Simply because the tradition of college football is much longer and used to be way more popular than NFL.



Think about the first year of the Super Bowl: 1967.



Penn State, one of the most popular and longest running traditions in college football, played its first season in 1887. Check the source.

Answer 15

College football is WAY more popular!



Where do you think Harris Polls are conducted?

In major cities where the NFL has the edge. Everywhere else college rules!

Answer 16

College Football is actually more popular in terms of going to the games. It is because every team has thousands of college kids and alumni that are in love with their college team. College football also has a better atmosphere because every team has a marching band and cheerleaders.

Answer 17

College teams are normally the only thing in that area. Think about it. Except for Florida (UF/FSU/Miami/Dolphins/Jags/Bucs), Texas (UT/Cowboys/Texans), and California (USC/Cal/Raiders/Niners), they are the only thing around. Alabama and Oklahoma are great examples. In addition, look at how the pro teams being ran poorly historically helps out so much for college teams in states like Georgia, Ohio, and Michigan. There are 5x more Bulldogs fans than Falcons fans in Georgia same as Ohio St. vs Bengals/Browns and Michigan/MSU vs Lions.

Answer 18

because college students and college towns support their college teams.

you figure most colleges that have football teams have well over 80,000 students and then their non-college friends and family want to come to the games too.



That's a lot of people vs. just an average person who likes the NFL.

Answer 19

Probably b/c of all the students who go. When I went, the season tix were only 110$ for 6 games.



In contrast, to go to one Chicago Bears game costs $400.