Hard to fathom.
The crowd of 44,877 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium was somewhat disappointing, given what was at stake. Even if it was the sixth largest crowd in University of Louisville football history.
Should have been packed. Perfect football weather, with temperatures in the high seventies. Charlie Strong’s team poised to become bowl qualified.
The only drawback a noon time start. People sleeping late, hunting deer, raking leaves, attending fall festivals or just hanging around the house. Wasting the weekend away.
Average attendance is 50,461 this season, as compared to 32,448 last year. Here’s the attendance for each home game:
Kentucky — 55,327
Eastern Kentucky — 51,427
Memphis — 48,427
Cincinnati — 55,106
Connecticut — 48, 591
South Florida — 43,887
Phenomenal increase, actually, with 18,000 more people per game. Better to count heads than empty seats, and Louisville obviously has a growing fan base.
But it’s also obvious that Strong’s program deserves much better.
Coach Strong is an amazing coach that brings discipline to a program that had none. But lets take it one step at a time. Be patient. Coach did has done an amazing job this year winning five games so far. Remember, this team had expectations of 3 wins by most critics. The coaching staff is phenominal, the recruits are lining up, and the wins will come. All this equals a sold out Papa John’s Stadium. Give it some time. The avid fan core will always be true win or lose but the few extra band wagon jumpers make up the last few thousand
I’ve said it before and will say it again…hate the noon start. IMHO, if the USF game would have been at 2..or 3:30…or 7 p.m. (my favorite start time) I honestly believe attendance is higher. Attendance will be higher for the WVU game..because of the rivalry. They did return some tickets from Morgantown, though…
ESPN…read my lips…NO noon starts in the 2011 season.
It says something about the difference Charlie Strong has already made that the increase in average attendance is significantly more than the increase in seating capacity. It took three seasons for the previous regime to create the malaise in U of L’s fan base; kudos to Coach Strong and his staff for dispelling this much of it in just 10 games.
I’m disappointed in some of the season ticket holders. If you’re not going, give the tickets to someone who wants to go but can’t afford the ticket price. I went to the game against USF by the goodness of a friend of my cousin’s I’ve known since I was a little kid. I might be there again this Sat., hopefully anyways. Deer hunting? I thought the bluenecks were more into that sort of thing. Plus, Churchill Downs is still open. The only way Louisville football will get out of these early games is by winning. Winning dictates the future game times of the UL program.
I find it stunning that EKU pulls 51K. Go Colonels! Perhaps even more stunning is Memphis at 48K, especially considering how poor they looked here. Way to hang with your team through down times, Elvisville!
Tom, that’s the attendance of UofL fans for the games. I doubt Memphis draws 25,000 to its games.
True, Zag — Roy Kidd Stadium at EKU doesn’t hold anything close to 51,000.
Amen brother.Louisville fans if you want to be mentioned with the big boys of college football, you have to do your part and show up.Louisville fans if you want to sign the big time football recruits, you have to show them you care.UofL recruitment of DeVante Parker and DaMarcus Smith two of the best players in Kentucky,and in the nation at their positions, is still wide open.When they come to the games and they see 12,000 no shows,what does that say about UofL football and it’s fans.Trust me fan support has a lot to do with where the big time recruits want to go to school.Well I’m done ranting hopefully i didn’t offend anyone.GO CARDS.
I have to disagree. The University of Miami has horrible attendance, low to mid 40’s at best per year (in a stadium that holds over 75,000) and they continue to sign outstanding recruits. Yes, it helps to have a full house, is it mandatory, no. Is it talked about TOO much…YES!
This is a great point. Kids care about one thing first and foremost when it comes to recruiting, and that is whether or not the coaching staff can get them to the next level. We have a great staff in place and our recruiting is already beginning to reflect that.