Rick, if the parable about the blind men and the elephant had been about economists, they would have all gotten multiple published papers on what elephants are.
There are probably a dozen or more factors that can affect population trends, economic conditions being one of them.
Looking at a graph of the US birthrate since 1950, the only time the rate went up is between about 1978 and 1989, and I think that corresponds with what demographers often call the 2nd echo of the baby boom.
Good stuff. I remember reading those things over time but you related them a lot more eloquently than I could. I agree in that I don’t think any amount of moving administrative control around will increase enrollment and/or increase student ticket demand. If I recall correct student ticket demand started going down some years before enrollment went down.
I won’t be around to see it but I wonder that will happen to athletic attendance when the older generation passes on? The number of college age people has gone down and those that go to college aren’t as interested in attending athletic events. The are many reasons for this and among them are sports bars carrying all the games, the price of a ticket, all Husker games being televised, etc. But, in my opinion I think the biggest reason is young people just aren’t overall as interested in sports as young people were years ago.
John Papenhagen
“I’d be willing to bet you, if I was a betting man, that I have never bet on baseball.” - Pete Rose
---- On Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:15:33 -0500 Mike Nolan via TSSI Lists <listmgr@lists.tssi.com> wrote —
Mike -
Absolutely correct about the range of data available. I checked some online birthrate data as well, and it appears I should have said “the most recent tipping point in high school grads” seems to match the timing of the 2007-08 economic downturn from a birthrate point of view. After declining from a high point around 1960, U.S. birthrates trended up around 1970 and again around 1990. There was a slight uptick again around 2007 after which it appears to be downhill.
I will also concur with John’s comments about the changes in student interest in attending athletic events. As with the birthrate stats, there are undoubtedly lots of reasons, but they would likely include more options for things to do, and - a big one - the need for students to work more. I know here at UNL, our student involvement in outside activities of any sort (clubs, sports, etc.) is down, in part because students tell us they just don’t have time around their work schedules.
TV dollars drive the sports machine these days, and folks are far more willing to watch games on TV than take 6 hours or longer to attend one. I don’t see that changing even if UNL gets back to top 25 caliber most years.
I expect more games to show up on streaming services I don’t currently subscribe to, like some Big Ten games are on Peacock this year. PPV might be the next shoe to drop.
I had Nebraska tickets when I was in grad school, my father-in-law had good seats, some he’d had since before Devaney. I’ve sat through a lot of games. When my father-in-law died, UNL offered to let us take over his pressbox seats, I think there was an annual $25K donation that accompanied them. We declined their generous offer.
We had Northwestern season tickets for several years, too, and it just got to be too time-consuming: leaving town after 5PM on Friday, driving 10 hours to the Chicago area, staying overnight somewhere and then getting up for an 11AM start and either spending another night on the road or driving back after the game, getting home well after midnight. (Flying was not much better time wise and a lot more expensive.)
I get the impression that the clubs on East Campus are more active, but they’re more career-oriented, at least they are in Agronomy & Horticulture.