There was a very good topic in Matt Brown's Extra Points newsletter this past week regarding the gap between reported ticket sales and actual attendance at games. Without ripping off their graphics and article I'll paraphrase the important parts.
Out of public FBS schools in 2025 that responded to FOIA and handle their own stadiums (so no serial violators like USF and Memphis here or private schools like ND etc.), the gap is the percentage of tickets sold vs. scanned tickets at the gate . There are 55 schools reporting. The bulk of the "bad" third of schools are MAC, AAC and Sun Belt programs.
Worst Gap: Toledo at 68% tickets sold and never scanned
Cincinnati : 40%
Best Gap: Michigan 13%
This puts UC squarely in the "bad" third of the respondents and leads the P4 in gap percentage among respondents
I don't think this necessary casts UC itself in a bad light. The same cannot be said for some of our fans. If you're a season, 3 pack or single game ticket holder and can't make it to the game for whatever valid reason, make the effort to put someone in your seats even if you give the tickets away. The person that takes your seats, scans at the gate, makes this number better, spends money on concessions and maybe buys some merchandise all of which benefit the program. You might even make a frequent fan out of them and they keep coming back on their own.
Out of public FBS schools in 2025 that responded to FOIA and handle their own stadiums (so no serial violators like USF and Memphis here or private schools like ND etc.), the gap is the percentage of tickets sold vs. scanned tickets at the gate . There are 55 schools reporting. The bulk of the "bad" third of schools are MAC, AAC and Sun Belt programs.
Worst Gap: Toledo at 68% tickets sold and never scanned
Cincinnati : 40%
Best Gap: Michigan 13%
This puts UC squarely in the "bad" third of the respondents and leads the P4 in gap percentage among respondents
I don't think this necessary casts UC itself in a bad light. The same cannot be said for some of our fans. If you're a season, 3 pack or single game ticket holder and can't make it to the game for whatever valid reason, make the effort to put someone in your seats even if you give the tickets away. The person that takes your seats, scans at the gate, makes this number better, spends money on concessions and maybe buys some merchandise all of which benefit the program. You might even make a frequent fan out of them and they keep coming back on their own.
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