State Championship Attendance

[HSFB99]

I mentioned the attendance looked sparse during the games, but now PIAA has released the figures. I pulled these from Bob Greenburg’s twitter feed.

PIAA State Championship Football – Paid attendance
A = 1829
3A = 1458

2A = 1747
5A = 1352

4A = 2304
6A = 1510

Total 10,200

These are abysmal numbers. He also noted these were cut in half from just 2021, which was the last year in Hershey.

 

[northalleghenytiger]

Total attendance for Hershey in 2021: 19,822

1A = 2563

2A = 3174

3A = 3405

4A = 4306

5A = 2679

6A = 3965

Go back to Hershey!!!!

 

[bucksftball]

I mentioned the attendance looked sparse during the games, but now PIAA has released the figures. I pulled these from Bob Greenburg’s twitter feed.

PIAA State Championship Football – Paid attendance
A = 1829
3A = 1458

2A = 1747
5A = 1352

4A = 2304
6A = 1510

Total 10,200

These are abysmal numbers. He also noted these were cut in half from just 2021, which was the last year in Hershey.

It's a shame when they play in front of much larger crowds during the regular season. Doesn't take away from the accomplishment but you'd certainly want a more electric atmosphere.

6A is especially brutal.

 

[HSFB99]

It's a shame when they play in front of much larger crowds during the regular season. Doesn't take away from the accomplishment but you'd certainly want a more electric atmosphere.

6A is especially brutal.

No doubt about it. It would be nice for the kids to have a better atmosphere. I attended a few of the CB games (East-West and West-South) and they easily had 5k+.

 

[2020sports]

It's a shame when they play in front of much larger crowds during the regular season. Doesn't take away from the accomplishment but you'd certainly want a more electric atmosphere.

6A is especially brutal.

uh yea it kinda does "take away" from the accomplishment

 

[BradlyPitt]

what hurts attendance is it's largely the same schools there every year, it's not as exciting to fans when their team has been there before

Fort Cherry won it's first wpial title in their school existence, which i think has been around for maybe 100 years or so, they brought a big crowd to Acrisure compared to other 1A games

rich school districts like Peters rarely bring large crowds, it was the same way with Upper St. Clair when they made title games on a consistent basis

 

[tulla]

what hurts attendance is it's largely the same schools there every year, it's not as exciting to fans when their team has been there before

Fort Cherry won it's first wpial title in their school existence, which i think has been around for maybe 100 years or so, they brought a big crowd to Acrisure compared to other 1A games

rich school districts like Peters rarely bring large crowds, it was the same way with Upper St. Clair when they made title games on a consistent basis

You're right that the excitement is usually greater the first time or two.

Hershey is also simply a better draw, no matter how much the stadium needed work. It looked and felt more like a state championship venue should.

Last year Harrisburg was in the final. It's much closer to CV than either NA or SJP.

IMHOTEP never draws many fans especially on the road. There are understandable circumstances why that's so.

A lot of SJP people went to the IMG game and the first LaSalle game, but they (we) often have a problem with attendance. Not having an actual home field means having to figure out where the game is and how you can get there every week. They played a "home game" against Judge at Conwell Egan, which is very far for nearly everyone in the Prep community. Norristown, where they were the home team in the PCL championship against LaSalle, was much closer to most LaSalle fans than to most SJP fans--and the site was chosen five days before the game. And it's true that the expectation game will be a blowout reduces the incentive.

I know some will say the answer is for the Prep to play a national schedule. But, as I've said on here before, they can't because 1) they don't have the money to be travelling around the country every other week--they make one trip by plane each year, 2) almost all the other teams people want them to play (the North Jersey powers, the teams from FL and GA, the teams from DC, and the teams from CA--even Bishop Gorman from Nevada) very rarely if ever have openings after September because they have league games to play, and 3) they have their own league games to play and as a founding member of the PCL, they are committed to those games. It's also the case that winning the state championship means a lot to the players. People from other parts of the state probably don't realize that people in south Jersey generally identify much more with "the Philly area" than with the state of New Jersey. That goes for just about all of south Jersey. Go down to Ocean City, Avalon, Wildwood, etc. in the summer and you'll find very few from North Jersey and a lot from SE PA. Plus the media market is dominated by Philly.

 

[DripDrop]

You're right that the excitement is usually greater the first time or two.

Hershey is also simply a better draw, no matter how much the stadium needed work. It looked and felt more like a state championship venue should.

Last year Harrisburg was in the final. It's much closer to CV than either NA or SJP.

IMHOTEP never draws many fans especially on the road. There are understandable circumstances why that's so.

A lot of SJP people went to the IMG game and the first LaSalle game, but they (we) often have a problem with attendance. Not having an actual home field means having to figure out where the game is and how you can get there every week. They played a "home game" against Judge at Conwell Egan, which is very far for nearly everyone in the Prep community. Norristown, where they were the home team in the PCL championship against LaSalle, was much closer to most LaSalle fans than to most SJP fans--and the site was chosen five days before the game. And it's true that the expectation game will be a blowout reduces the incentive.

I know some will say the answer is for the Prep to play a national schedule. But, as I've said on here before, they can't because 1) they don't have the money to be travelling around the country every other week--they make one trip by plane each year, 2) almost all the other teams people want them to play (the North Jersey powers, the teams from FL and GA, the teams from DC, and the teams from CA--even Bishop Gorman from Nevada) very rarely if ever have openings after September because they have league games to play, and 3) they have their own league games to play and as a founding member of the PCL, they are committed to those games. It's also the case that winning the state championship means a lot to the players. People from other parts of the state probably don't realize that people in south Jersey generally identify much more with "the Philly area" than with the state of New Jersey. That goes for just about all of south Jersey. Go down to Ocean City, Avalon, Wildwood, etc. in the summer and you'll find very few from North Jersey and a lot from SE PA. Plus the media market is dominated by Philly.

They should play the schedule they have now and not participate in the piaa playoffs. You have to admit the advantages given to them are just to great and other schools don't have the same advantages. There's other schools that do it in other sports as well. Check out Imhoteps basketball teams they put on the court every year.

 

[Football-Freaks]

They should play the schedule they have now and not participate in the piaa playoffs. You have to admit the advantages given to them are just to great and other schools don't have the same advantages. There's other schools that do it in other sports as well. Check out Imhoteps basketball teams they put on the court every year.

Don't think PIAA woiuld want that. You know in the end it about money

 

[tulla]

They should play the schedule they have now and not participate in the piaa playoffs. You have to admit the advantages given to them are just to great and other schools don't have the same advantages. There's other schools that do it in other sports as well. Check out Imhoteps basketball teams they put on the court every year.

But Roman does the same thing, even getting students from Jersey (as does N-G), so should they also be asked / required not to participate in the playoffs? And if LaSalle, which also draws from a fairly wide area, improves in the way they seem to want, should they also be told/advised to stay out of the playoffs? And what about IMHOTEP? From what I read and hear, people there see themselves are real challengers to SJP. It draws students from all over Philly, and--unlike SJP---there are no tuition barriers.

 

[Fletchster1]

Correct, all non-boundary schools have the ability to pull kids from wherever they choose. Male students 9-11 does not provide competitive balance when a school can pick the specific students that make up those male students 9-11.