The Lions' Pride

Yeah my point was the second part and I agree with you that PSU is more than the economy. There's just a staleness in the program right now.

I'd be willing to bet that the economy is only about 25-35% of the issue here. The rest of it is people just being tired of the same old, same old.

seriously? we had something like 105K for iowa, and 100k for Purdue and on TV the place looked packed. I' m guessing for Nebraska we'll get close to 110.

We're hardly struggling here. Almost all of the unsold seats are in the middle od the field, where Penn State jacked up the prices. There was a MAD rush to get end zone seats by people who got affected by STEP. Those seats sold out almost as soon as soon as they were available.

Follow the metadata. This has almost NOTHING to do with a protest against the greatest coach in college football history, and everything to do with the AD office and the Big 10 being greedy scum bags.

As much as people wish otherwise, the paying PSU fanbase isnt as upset with Joe as people here think. Possibly Jay because of the QB shenanigans, but Joe? We still love him, we realize this team is underachieving, but also realize that the PSU experience is still a fantastic one.

FireJayPa...you are just plain wrong!

http://nittanyextra.com/?tag=beaver-stadium

"Attendance at Beaver Stadium has dipped this season, even though Penn State is 7-1 and ranked. Attendance for two games (Indiana State and Eastern Michigan) has been below 100,000, the first time that has happened since Beaver Stadium was expanded for the 2001 season."

Even during the Dark Years we were seating more fans than after STEP. " It's the ECONOMY stupid." And its the STEP increase in ticket prices that accerbates the poor economy leaving more fannies on the sofa and less in the bleachers of Beaver Stadium.

"product" has nothing to do with it. We're 7-1 thru the first 8 games and ranked in the top 20.

Cheers!

Kirk

But our team has always been built around playing good, tough defense. Why isn't that fun football? Other than 1982, 1994, 2005, and a few other years here and there, we've rarely had a high-powered offense. Yet people still came to the games. I think there is legitimate frustration with the program right now, but to say the product is boring or stale is simply an easy excuse that overlooks other more difficult issues.

I think JoePa is right here. The economy and STEP are big reasons why we are seeing empty seats. It is simply asking people too much to pay $55-70 per ticket, plus donate hundreds or thousands of dollars for the privilege of buying tickets, and to then drive several hours each way to get to the game and to then pay for parking/food/hotel seven times a year, when you could watch most games in high-def in the comfort of your home and make 1-3 trips to Beaver Stadium for select games.

That is the same reason that Michigan -- despite having the most exciting player in college football in Denard Robinson and an energetic new head coach in Brady Hoke -- is also seeing plenty of empty seats at the Big House.

The decline in attendance is the combined result of several factors.

STEP not only increased the cost of season tickets for many seats within Beaver Stadium, the re-seating/seat license program did not bother to factor in loyalty and past donations.

The economy has taken its toll on many in this country, and college football fans have not been excluded. The overall cost of attending a Penn State game has gone up significantly since 2007, yet, for most, real wages have stagnated or declined.

The product on the field is and has been predictable. Some label it as stale. Penn State has had two nice runs since 1999, and the stadium has filled during those years with an excited fanbase. During the 'Dark Years', the stadium filled, even though the waiting list evaporated after the 2001 expansion. Perhaps the fans filed in because of the hope that the team would quickly return to the elite level of play that had long been the norm in Happy Valley. Today's 30 and under crowd has never known a Penn State team to sit atop the polls.

The 'product' today is a different one than ten or twenty years ago. The experience today is largely about the crowd and pop music piped in through the speakers. Attend an NFL, NBA or NHL game and the experience is very similar. The University has driven and embraced the changes and sold the endless string of cliches to the fanbase, largely tossing aside the intricacies and uniqueness that long defined the Penn State football experience.

Many different factors, applicable on different levels to different alumni and fans,