Saturday’s home crowd at Williams-Brice was a little light. Shane Beamer noticed
Shane Beamer made it a point to thank the fans at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday.
Those fans erupted when David Spaulding returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown as the first half waned. They sounded resounding shouts of approval when Damani Staley intercepted Troy quarterback Taylor Powell with 23 seconds left in the game. The Gamecocks won 23-14 to improve to 3-2 on the season.
“I appreciate the fans that were there,” Beamer said after the game. “They were loud, and the Cockpit was rocking down there in the end zone. We appreciate those guys.”
Indeed, the Cockpit student section was mostly packed Saturday, but other parts of the stadium — notably the upper decks — featured their share of empty bleachers.
Beamer offered a nudge to anyone who had a ticket but opted to stay home instead. Saturday’s announced attendance was 60,686 in a stadium with a capacity of 77,559.
“Going forward if you’re a season-ticket holder or if you’re somebody that has tickets to a game and you’re not going to come, please get those tickets to somebody else,” he pleaded. “There’s a bunch of great Gamecocks out there that would love to be in the stadium. Let me know and we’ll put it on social media and get some tickets given away, because we’ve got some great fans and we need every single one of them out there.”
That 60,686 figure is one of the lowest of the past 10 seasons (excluding the COVID-reduced capacity limits that squashed attendance in 2020). The 2018 home game against Akron on Dec. 1 drew an announced total of 53,420 for what was a makeup game played on a cold, rainy day.
Saturday’s attendance of 60,686 technically includes the band, players and coaches and such things as media members, first responders and other stadium workers. Actual fan attendance was likely somewhere north of 50,000.
While it wasn’t immediately known how many people had tickets for Saturday’s contest but chose not to use them, South Carolina’s first two games offer a point of comparison. Last week’s SEC showdown with Kentucky was announced as a sellout of 77,559, or almost 17,000 more. Attendance for the season opener against Eastern Illinois was 64,868.
Another hint of actual attendance? The postgame traffic flow was near gridlock for two hours or more last week after the UK game, but cars on Saturday were swiftly moving away from Williams-Brice shortly after the Troy game ended.
So why a slimmer crowd this week? Fans offered some theories on social media.
“Missed a key building block by blowing the Kentucky game!” one fan posted.
Said another: “1. We aren’t very good; 2. The couch is better; and lastly, COVID — probably least impactful anymore...”
COVID’s impact on the crowd size is hard to quantify, but the pandemic has not gone away. New daily case counts remain upwards of 2,000 and 3,000 most days in South Carolina.
One thing that’s affecting the overall attendance total: Season-ticket sales in late August were 7,000 off the pace of the more than 47,000 sold in 2018 and 2019 — possibly a lingering impact of how the pandemic reduced 2020 stadium crowds and affected fans’ ticket-buying perspectives.
The next home game (Oct. 16 vs. Vanderbilt) doesn’t offer much hope for an attendance bounceback, though USC is offering $30 game tickets to educators as part of Teacher Appreciation Day.
The rest of the schedule has more promising matchups. USC has home games remaining against Florida (Nov. 6), Auburn (Nov. 20) and Clemson (Nov. 27).
Football season tickets sold
- 2008: 54,347
- 2009: 47,851
- 2010: 45,985
- 2011: 47,591
- 2012: 49,195
- 2013: 51,967
- 2014: 54,005
- 2015: 51,167
- 2016: 50,395
- 2017: 49,700
- 2018: 47,381
- 2019: 47,500
- 2020: N/A*
- 2021: about 40,000**
* = COVID year
** = as of start of 2021
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 11:52 AM.
