Entering his 11th season in Durham, head football coach David Cutcliffe really has things humming at Duke, former perennial football doormat.
Cutcliffe’s Blue Devils, who hammered Kansas 41-3 in 2013, have had a winning record in four of the past five seasons. His 2012 squad ended the school’s 18-year bowl drought. Despite all that success, the Blue Devils still must play in front of so many empty seats.
Among the 65 power-five schools, plus Notre Dame, Duke had the second-lowest average attendance in the nation (26,797) in 2017. It’s not cool to be a football fan at Duke. Krzyzewskiville is cool. Shame.
At least Kansas has a legitimate excuse for even smaller, albeit just barely, crowds (26,641). The Jayhawks are 3-33 the past three seasons. Nobody wants to watch their teams lose, especially in such uncompetitive fashion.
Eighty percent of power-five football programs draw more than 40,000 fans per game and 97 percent draw more than 30,000 a game, Duke and Kansas being the lone exceptions.
For winners and losers, though, crowds at college football games have been on a steady decline in recent years. A look at the 13 power-five schools with the smallest football crowds:
Power 5 School | 2017 Attendance (capacity) |
2017 W-L |
---|---|---|
Kansas | 26,641 (50,071) | 1-11 |
Duke | 26,797 (40,004) | 7-6 |
Vanderbilt | 31,341 (40,550) | 5-7 |
Syracuse | 33,929 (49,250) | 4-8 |
Oregon State | 34,754 (45,674) | 1-11 |
Northwestern | 35,853 (47,130) | 10-3 |
Boston College | 35,924 (44,500) | 7-6 |
Pittsburgh | 36,295 (68,400) | 5-7 |
California | 36,548 (63,000) | 5-7 |
Virginia | 39,398 (61,500) | 6-7 |
Illinois | 39,429 (60,670) | 2-10 |
Maryland | 39,643 (54,000) | 4-8 |
Rutgers | 39,749 (52,454) | 4-8 |