Princeton Stadium: Plenty of quality seats left

If a philosophy major attends a football game at Princeton Stadium, he might find himself considering a challenging question: are the stands half-empty or half-full?

In five home games last season, the Tigers drew an average of 13,270 fans, or less than one half of the stadium's 27,800 capacity. For a school with an enrollment of fewer than 5,000 students, that's a sizeable turnout.

Although Princeton will never compete with a Division I-A program like Michigan — on the field or attendance-wise — it has consistently ranked in the top 15 in Division I-AA attendance, finishing 14th last year. Among Ivy League rivals, the Tigers trailed only Yale.

And yet, inside the stadium on game day, it's easy to acquire a feeling of emptiness when scanning the stands. With large patches of seats completely abandoned, the stadium often feels far more cavernous then it really is. It's not just the upper deck that's empty — plenty of good seats go untaken, too.

Perhaps the most surprising lack of support comes from the fan base expected to be most devoted: the students. The lower-level section reserved for students — tickets are free — is often sparsely populated.

"It's important that the students are involved and excited," head coach Roger Hughes said. "People on campus underestimate the effect the football team can have on the community. It can be a unifying force, something to be proud of."

Although Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 said he is pleased by how Princeton's attendance compares to that of peer schools, he noted that the athletic department is "always working on ways to improve attendance and [is] aggressively marketing to students, alumni, and the local community." This year's marketing campaign revolves around the slogan of, "football, family, fun."

Promotions specifically aimed at students are also planned, such as a free t-shirt give away before this weekend's home opener against Lafayette. But all student-specific promotions are planned by outside sponsors. Unlike past seasons, the athletic department is no longer making a concerted effort to target students on its own behalf.

"We have [targeted students] in the past, but there wasn't a great response," Athletic Relations and Marketing staffer Brie Galicinao '02 said. "We found families were more responsive then students."

Despite efforts to draw fans, attendance has steadily declined over the past six seasons, since Princeton Stadium opened in 1998. That year, an average crowd of 20,475 came to see the Tigers break in their new digs, the third highest average in all of I-AA. But by 2001, attendance had dropped by nearly a third, to 14,419 fans per game.

Walters responds that the initially high attendance figures reflected the draw of a new stadium; he believes current attendance represents the "natural level." He's also quick to point out that current attendance is still higher than in the final decade of play at Palmer Stadium.

Ironically, the new Princeton Stadium is actually smaller than its predecessor, which stood from 1914 to 1996. With an official capacity of 45,225, Palmer Stadium routinely drew enormous crowds — including a reported 56,000 to a 1935 game against Dartmouth. Of course, that game sealed an undefeated season for the Tigers, in an era when they still placed among the top college football programs in the country each year.

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Perhaps that's the greatest lesson — the strategy of "if you build it, they will come" might work in movies and look good on paper, but in the real world the best way to pack a stadium is to win a championship.

"It would be great to get more students out here," senior linebacker Zak Keasey said. "The best way is to get some wins and get them pumped up about the program."