Most FBS teams have seen attendance decline in recent years, but the ACC has one notable exception in its midst: Boston College. The Eagles have seen their home attendance numbers increase by 5,700+ over the last 3 years:

2015: 30,205
2016: 32,157
2017: 35,924

IMO, part of it is improvement by the home team - the product on the field has gotten better, and they are playing for bowl games now.

Another part is trading quantity for quality: BC has gone from 7 home games in 2015 (many of them uninteresting) to 6 home games in 2016 and 2017. It's easier to sell 6 tickets than 7 - especially when 2 or 3 of those 7 are uninspiring games.

They've also put more emphasis on playing local teams like UConn and UMass. While they did get a visit from Notre Dame in 2017, BC has not built its home schedule on marquee P5 games.

Is this a scheduling strategy that other ACC teams might use? Thoughts?

accfootballrx: BC Attendance Up In 2017

Having Notre Dame on the schedule really juices BC's attendance. Folks buy season tickets just to get the ND game. Hopefully, they will be able to build on the momentum though, particularly with their recent success under Addazio.

I would say the 2 factors that contribute the most are 1) playing better and 2) scheduling better.

(02-27-2018 02:00 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  I would say the 2 factors that contribute the most are 1) playing better and 2) scheduling better.

The blog makes a good point about the 2018 schedule, it has a number of opponents that should draw well. They play an FCS opponent, but it is Holy Cross, their all time most played rival which is also local. Similarly, fans of both schools should be interested in the UMass game. Those games will definitely outdraw similar level opponents without a local or historic connection. Miami has a huge tradition with BC because of the Flutie Hail Mary game. Syracuse is also a historic rival that will bring fans (I certainly expect to be there).

I gave up on season tickets after 2014. The 2015 schedule had four home games in September. And 5 home games by Oct 10. And included 2 FCS teams and a MAC team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Bosto...tball_team

September we are still going to the beach and getting out on the boat. Football is better in Oct and Nov.

The other issue I have with BC's schedule is the even years (Clemson, Syracuse, Louisville, ACC Rotating) are so much more interesting than the odd ones (FSU, NCST, WF, VT) . It would be nice to swap one of the NC schools with Louisville/ACC Rotating to have a little more balance.

(02-27-2018 10:54 PM)swardy76 Wrote:  I gave up on season tickets after 2014. The 2015 schedule had four home games in September. And 5 home games by Oct 10. And included 2 FCS teams and a MAC team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Bosto...tball_team

September we are still going to the beach and getting out on the boat. Football is better in Oct and Nov.

The other issue I have with BC's schedule is the even years (Clemson, Syracuse, Louisville, ACC Rotating) are so much more interesting than the odd ones (FSU, NCST, WF, VT) . It would be nice to swap one of the NC schools with Louisville/ACC Rotating to have a little more balance.

What? BC gets FSU and VT in the same year... what more could you want? ;-)

Seriously, though, did you notice that the #1 highest-attended home game for BC in 2015 was Florida State? It was 1st by a good 9,000 fans - and got more people than Notre Dame/BC at Fenway Park. Sure, Clemson drew about 2,000 more than FSU the year before (there is a MUCH longer history with Clemson than with FSU). BC had about the same size crowd when the USC Trojans came to town - but that's a huge national brand. Plus, the fact that BC won that game probably juiced up the rest of the season in terms of attendance...