Attendance at Memorial Stadium for Kansas football games declined for the eight consecutive year since the school set an attendance record in 2008 with an average crowd of 50,907.
Roughly half as many paid to watch the Jayhawks play this past season, when KU drew 25,828, nearly 20,000 fewer fans than the next closest Big 12 team, TCU, in terms of crowd size. The Horned Frogs averaged nearly 20,000 more fans than did Kansas.
Before looking at KU attendance figures for the past nine seasons, game-by-game crowd sizes for this past season and average crowds at other schools, here are seven factors that should prevent the streak from reaching nine consecutive seasons of declining attendance at Memorial Stadium:
**1 – Improved quarterback play:** Juco signee Peyton Bender, who has two remaining years of eligibility, and late-season starter Carter Stanley, who has three, fit David Beaty’s Air Raid offense far better than Montell Cozart and Ryan Willis.
**2 – Daylon Charlot:** The Alabama transfer wide receiver wowed the coaching staff with his smooth athleticism, speed and great attitude.
**3 – Dominic Williams:** The fast, shifty 5-foot-9, 186-pound running back from Frisco, Texas, who is verbally committed to Kansas recently was upgraded from three-star status to four-star. Running back is one of the easier positions to earn immediate playing time.
**4 – Dorance Armstrong curiosity seekers:** The defensive end is just halfway through his career and already became KU’s first unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection. KU football fans who stopped coming to games will want to catch a glimpse of him in person so that when he’s sacking NFL quarterbacks they will be able to say, “I knew him when . . .”
**5 – More size at wide receiver:** LaQuvionte Gonzalez, Steven Sims and Daylon Charlot will benefit from better blocking on the perimeter, which will translate to more big plays for the primary targets. Plus, certain plays call for big, physical receivers and with Derby High’s Kenyon Tabor on the way, he qualifies. He catches everything thrown near him, even if he only has one available hand to snare it. Plus, Chase Harrell showed enough to make projecting a big step forward a reasonable expectation.
**6 – Four of first five games at home:** If KU can make a big splash in the season opener against SEMO and the offensive highlights are impressive enough to make the masses want to turn out for the Central MIchigan game and the crowd makes a difference in tipping that game in favor of the home team, suddenly, attending KU football games could become fashionable.
**7 – More experienced offensive line:** It still will be the youngest in the Big 12, but with only one starter (D’Andre Banks) departing, it basically will be a year older and stronger. Plus, having decisive quarterbacks who process information quickly always makes an offensive line look better. Look what happened when Michael Cummings took over midway through the 2014 season and when Stanley took over late this past season.
**KU ATTENDANCE
**
*Year……………..Avg.*
**2008:**……….50,907
**2009:**……….50,581
**2010:**……… 44,851
**2011:**……….42,283
**2012:**……….41,329
**2013:**……….37,884
**2014:**……….34,077
**2015:**……….27,282
**2016:**……….25,828
**2016 KU GAMES**
*Opp…………..Crowd*
**URI:**………..26,864
**OHIO:**……..28,467
**TCU:**……….23,946
**OSU:**……….26,262
**ISU:**…………23,757
**TEXAS:**……25,673
**BIG 12 ATTENDANCE 2016**
***School…………………Avg. (games)***
TEXAS…………………….97,880 (6)
OKLAHOMA…………….86,857 (6)
TEXAS TECH……………58,250 (6)
WEST VIRGINIA………..57,583 (7)
OKLAHOMA STATE…..53,814 (7)
IOWA STATE…………….52,557 (7)
KANSAS STATE………..51,919 (6)
BAYLOR………………….45,838 (6)
TCU………………………..45,168 (7)
KANSAS………………….25,828 (6)
