Penn football attendance drops to lowest level in 15 years

Although Penn has suffered a lower rate of attendance decline than the Ivy League as a whole -- down 13 percent in the 1990s from the 1980s compared to a 22 percent decline for the league as a whole -- the decline has irked Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky. A member of Penn's class of 1971, Bilsky recalls that going to football games as a student was as routine as registering for classes. "It was just the culture of the campus that students went to the football games, whether you were a football fan or athletic fan or not," Bilsky said. "The fact is that the traditional element of going out and 'rah-rah' football, regardless of whether it's a good team or bad team or whatever your background, is gone." Penn fans certainly jumped off the bandwagon this year as the Quakers endured a mediocre 5-5 season. Attendance at Franklin Field dipped sharply to an average of 12,669, the lowest level since the 1981 season. Bilsky singles out student attendance as the main cause of the decline and is focusing on ways to reverse the trend. Penn experimented with an evening game this past season and will likely play another next season in hopes of attracting late-rising students to games. Also, concert promotions and scheduling games against local rivals such as Villanova and Delaware are under consideration. But Bilsky believes the key to boosting the attendance numbers is raising the caliber of Quakers football. "We went from a team that was undefeated to a good team but not undefeated and not an Ivy champion, and we've seen our attendance suffer," Bilsky said.

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