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Just taking from this ESPN article, this Baltimore Sun article, and this NJ.com article, how did each B1G team fare in terms of putting butts in the seats in 2013? As a note, I took those articles at their word for averages, and lazily used Wikipedia for the capacity of each stadium. If I'm terribly off somewhere, please correct me in the comments.
Team | 2013 Avg | Capacity | % Full |
Illinois | 43787 | 60670 | 72.2% |
Indiana | 44353 | 52959 | 83.7% |
Iowa | 67125 | 70585 | 95.1% |
Maryland | 41278 | 51802 | 79.7% |
Michigan | 111592 | 109900 | 101.5% |
Michigan State | 72328 | 75005 | 96.4% |
Minnesota | 47797 | 50805 | 94.1% |
Nebraska | 90933 | 91145 | 99.8% |
Northwestern | 39307 | 49256 | 79.8% |
Ohio State | 104933 | 102329 | 102.5% |
Penn State | 96857 | 106572 | 90.9% |
Purdue | 48593 | 62500 | 77.7% |
Rutgers | 46549 | 52454 | 88.7% |
Wisconsin | 78911 | 80321 | 98.2% |
Thoughts:
- As TFFL noted, only Minnesota, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Purdue increased their attendance. Northwestern's is obviously the usual Michigan/Ohio State sellout, and Nebraska's is due to a stadium expansion. But Purdue? Maybe it's the Ohio State game. Must be. Minnesota is the only one of these where legitimate excitement likely contributed to the increase in attendance.
- Michigan State, as ESPN noted, declined in 2013 attendance during their Rose Bowl campaign. Perhaps the fans aren't as elite as the defense...or maybe Shilique Calhoun tackled half the students who tried to enter. Or perhaps I'm missing something.
- In terms of percentage of the stadium filled, Illinois lags behind the rest of the conference. The Tim Beckman-izing will do that to you, I'd assume.
- Maryland looks like it could use a boost from Ohio State and Iowa
taking overvisiting and being polite guests in 2014, as its percentage full falls even behind Northwestern's (if barely) but above Purdue's. - As Indiana improves marginally, it will be interesting to see if fan attendance follows. They had the slightest (449 fans) of decreases in 2013, and an exciting team should be edging them back toward 50K.
There you have it--not a banner year for plenty of Big Ten schools, but plenty of room for improvement, excitement (Franklin at PSU), and intrigue (Maryland and Rutgers). Feel free to make excuses for your team's terrible showing in the comments!