It was fun while it lasted

Football
1

It was nice to have my Utes close enough to drive to a game each season. I will miss that.

But I am looking forward to playing TCU again. That was always my favorite team to play in the Mountain West.

BYU, not so much.

Next conference up. GO UTES!!!

2

I’m too old for this ■■■■… Learning about a new-ish conference sounds exhausting

4 Likes
3

We’ll have to get Utes in Seattle watch parties…

1 Like
4

What are going to miss? Half empty stadiums?

5

Sometimes Pac 12 after dark was glorious.

6 Likes
6

The lackluster attendance really varied based on school and how they were doing. The SoCal schools struggle to keep fans interested, and having a beach and tons of other things to do really was a challenge for them, particularly UCLA.

CU really struggled in the PAC, but Deion had the spring game sold out, so we’ll see. Oregon and UW were consistently high attendance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Stanford gives up football in the future. Oregon State and Washington State are small market schools with impressive fan support.

Cal and the Arizona schools could be hostile, or 3/4 full, all depending on how the team was doing.

That said, all the PAC schools are nice destinations, a lot of road trips turned into 3-4 adventures - Big Sur, Olympic Peninsula, lots of national parks, etc.

Come out to SLC, tons of outdoor things to do!

7 Likes
7

What’s crazy is the biggest loss of crowd year over year in P5. This past season the ranks are (future conf):

  1. Maryland -16.11% (Big 1G)
  2. Stanford -16.03% (Who Knows)
  3. UCLA -9.12% (Big 1G)
  4. Arizona State -8.82% (Big XII)
  5. Ga Tech -8.81% (ACC)
  6. Colorado -7.82% (Big XII)
  7. West Virginia -7.81% (Big XII)
  8. Northwestern -6.46% (Big 1G)
  9. Iowa State -5.53% (Big XII)
  10. Texas A&M -5.51% (SEC)

Let’s flip and see the 10 biggest gainers:

  1. Kansas +95.57% (Big XII)
  2. Duke +58.87% (ACC)
  3. Arizona +26.7% (Big XII)
  4. Miami +25.7% (ACC)
  5. Syracuse +25.7% (ACC)
  6. Vanderbilt +24.5 (SEC)
  7. Illinois +21.79% (Big 1G)
  8. Pitt +20.60% (ACC)
  9. TCU +17.79% (Big XII)
  10. Missouri +17.29% (SEC)

Lastly, who had the largest average crowd

  1. Michigan 110,246 (Big 1G)
  2. Penn State 107,379 (Big 1G)
  3. Ohio State 104,663 (Big 1G)
  4. LSU 100,596 (SEC)
  5. Tennessee 100,532 (SEC)
  6. Texas 100,242 (SEC*)
  7. Alabama 98,981 (SEC)
  8. TAMU 97,213 (SEC)
  9. Georgia 92,746 (SEC)
  10. Florida 87,180 (SEC)

Basically, the Big XII is a wash with gains and losses. Pac 12 is DOA. ACC seems to be doing better. The Big 1G needs to worry about filling in beyond the top 3. The SEC is just moving along with 9 schools averaging over 70,000 fans and 6 of those over 85,000 fans. With college football losing attendance it will be interesting to keep an eye on these #s.

1 Like
8

Reser and Autzen Stadiums were almost always high attendance and had an electric atmosphere. Husky Stadium is a beautiful venue and had decent attendance most of the time. Martin Stadium attendance was hit or miss depending on how the Cougars are doing each season, but I always enjoyed the drive out to Pullman each time I made it.

Above all else, all of these places were within reasonable driving distance from Seattle to see my Utes, which was the main draw for me anyway.

2 Likes
9

I figure I’m going to save, or at least redirect, a significant amount of money since there’s virtually nowhere in the B12(16) that would be a nice place to visit for what had become our annual roadie game. That includes a conference championship game. I loathe anything Texas.

8 Likes
10

C’mon man who doesn’t want to go to Manhattan, financial capitol of the world, Times Square, Broadway plays, world class restaurants, guys in Elmo suits smoking…ummmm oh it’s in Kansas? Oh well, I hear they have a great Cracker Barrel and 2 Applebee’s along with a Super Wal-Mart that has a bowling alley and car wash.

8 Likes
11

To be fair, our school is in Salt Lake City.

12

PAC-12 after dark sure could be wild. I can’t recall how many late night games I watched just to see who’d finally win. Let alone see what weirdness could happen just because.

I know I won’t miss the PAC officiating come the 2024 season.

13

Yup. Not a single Cracker Barrel or Applebees to be found.

14

Unless you go over by the Maverik Center. :wink:

15

That’s not in Salt Lake City. That’s West Valley :slight_smile:

1 Like
16

Are any Applebee’s left in Salt Lake area? Closed the one at Fashion Place. But they are pretty much another Chili’s / TGIF / Ruby Tuesday / etc. that are all pretty much the same.

17

It makes me sad that there will never be another Bill Walton/Dave Pasch BB game at the Huntsman Center.

6 Likes
18

West Valley/West Jordan/Taylorsville

TGI Friday’s in Utah are all gone.

1 Like
19

Yeah, Bill Walton is a gem. That Walton 30 for 30 on ESPN was great.

3 Likes