FSU Football sees slight attendance dip during 2017 season

FSU football didn’t just see a drop in their record last season – they also saw a drop in the number of butts in the seats of Doak Campbell Stadium.

If you attended one of the five FSU football home games during the 2017 season that didn’t involve the Seminoles taking on the rival Miami Hurricanes, you noticed something a little bit different – for some reason last year, a lot of Noles fans came to Doak Campbell Stadium dressed in silver to look like they were bleachers.

Oh, wait – those weren’t fans? They were actually bleachers? Oh, my bad.

As it turns out, Florida State fans did not come out in droves last season like they had in years before. According to the latest stats released by the NCAA, the program saw a nearly 6,000 drop in attendance for each game of the 2017 season.

"No. 20 FLORIDA STATE – 6 games / 425, 658 total (70,943 per game average)"

Now, being in the top 20 out of 130 teams in the FBS is something that can be considered respectable – until you look at the fact that the Seminoles averaged almost 77,000 per game during the 2016 season (granted, that season did include games against Clemson and Florida at home for FSU football).

Of course, there are plenty of reasons for such a drop off during what was a season for forget for the Noles – you had the postponed and later played game against Louisiana Monroe which, along with the Miami game being moved to October, meant the season opener wasn’t played until September 23rd against N.C. State.

Maybe it could have something to do with the Champions Club, which continues to look like something causing more empty seats than looking like an idea that would bring more people into the stadium for games.

Or, and maybe this might be it, the fact that FSU football had a six loss season for just the third time in the last four decades might have had more to do with it than anything. Add a team that isn’t doing well along with a below average home slate of games and you have a recipe for empty seats.

Next: Three biggest takeaways from 2018 schedule

The 2018 season won’t be like that at all – with home games against Clemson, Florida and Virginia Tech along with a new found love for the program under new head coach Willie Taggart means as long as the Noles are winning, the fans will be back to wearing their garnet and gold.