Real Talk: Student Section Attendance

It’s no secret student sections around the country have been lacking in attendance lately.

While you’re watching an Auburn football game or really any other college football team on T.V. you have most likely noticed a sparse student section or most of the students have dispersed by the beginning of the second half.

Yes, if it’s an important conference game, a night game, or a rivalry game, of course student sections will be packed the entire time.

But, whether it’s an early 11 a.m. or 12 p.m. game, unfavorable weather, if the game precedes a school break (here’s a Dr. Carvalho thinkpiece on the topic), or if the enticing lure of watching the game at a bar with cheap adult refreshments is too strong then many students decide to watch the game elsewhere or leave the stadium.

Why is that? Why doesn’t every student want to attend every game and stay the entire time? Well that’s because students, including myself, prefer air conditioning and adult refreshments on hand while cheering on their team.

I don’t mean this negatively, but when you’re inside an extremely loud, jam-packed student section for over an hour and overindulgent fans begin to fall on and around you, it’s time to go.

If we lived in a perfect world, all college football stadiums would be indoors and off-campus so cheap beer could be sold. Maybe that’ll be the move in the future for Jordan-Hare, but probably not.

I can assure you if that was the case, Auburn’s student section would be packed for every home game. Rain or shine, 11 a.m. or 7:30 p.m., day before break or iron bowl.

I know my friends and I would attend every single Auburn game, no matter what, if there was beer and the stadium was indoors. This would drive me and many other students to attend all home games, rather than comfortably watching it on T.V.

Auburn’s student government has attempted to fix the attendance issue in the past by issuing penalty points to students who don’t attend every game they purchased a ticket for. If a student gets four penalty points, they have a more difficult time earning the privilege of purchasing tickets the next season.

But, here’s the true answer to the student section attendance issue: cheap beer and air conditioning in JHS. But, just don’t tell our overindulgent friends!