I understand my opinion isn’t a popular one but oh well. Football should be at 50%. I don’t mind arguing the other side. We are at 20% vaccination still in the midst of a global pandemic. We will feel the effects for years to come. My medical practice has never been busier, and that isn’t something to be excited about. Living in Houston, I struggled to find friends interested in attending the Minute Maid classic with me despite open air, minimal attendance, and me paying. My group had 10ft+ of distance there and it wasn’t even hard to find. Many friends are not eating out or attending public events yet. My son’s boy scout events outside are still in masks. I lectured a local Girl Scout troop and 50% are still only online. Doing hands-on first aid training via Zoom isn’t as fun for the kids. We are invited more and more on trips with friends to the beach, outdoor zoos, pool parties, etc. There has been a hard shift on the type of fun.
My friends are transitioning their enjoyment to hiking, fishing, and other outdoor events. They aren’t watching nearly as much sports on television. People are more interested in getting a lake house or buying many acres for outdoor fun.
While I enjoy TCU football live, I greatly anticipate others’ lack of enthusiasm. Live sports won’t be the same. At 50% attendance in a few months, I would hope that we can coax people out of their bubbles and regrow interest over time.
I don’t expect TCU to hold to 50% though. It comes down to $$. Myself and friends are likely to drop 50% of our tickets if TCU goes to full capacity. Our poor on-field performance was already making it harder to find interested peers to fill my seats in recent years. This isn’t a shock as our attendance across the board has been worse lately even before the pandemic. Convincing friends into a packed seating area to see Kansas St is just not going to happen. I’d need to move my seats to a worse location to space out.
If TCU goes to 100%, I expect TCU season tickets to drop to 75% or less of what it was in 2019. The net effect will be reduced attendance regardless of what TCU does with the exception of UT/OU.