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>>"Of the 10 largest sports stadiums in the world, eight are US college football venues". TIL / this blows my mind. I would never have guessed that US college

>>"Of the 10 largest sports stadiums in the world, eight are US college football venues". TIL / this blows my mind. I would never have guessed that US college football trumps all those soccer stadiums around the world, by that much! :O Weird.

adventured 3y ago
It's no weirder than, say, the European obsession with their football programs. The US has ~340 million people, and we're talking about 10-20 mega stadiums in college football. $80,000 GDP per capita (nearing double that of France or Britain) with one of the highest disposable incomes and extreme amounts of wealth. It's surprising the stadiums aren't even bigger.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  You're missing the salient point that 8 out of ten largest stadiums in the world are american college football, NOT THE NFL The thing that's supposed to be a fun side part of your education, or even a feeder program to the pros, can afford larger stadiums than the pros.
  - hospitalJail 3y ago
    Colleges are able to spend 4 years promoting their brand, its kind of a cult of sorts. Professional teams don't have that pull, you see them a few times a year. In college, your degree's reputation can depend on how well they are viewed nationally. For 2 decades a top school could not win games, the fanbase was outraged because they were spending record amounts of money on trying to win games. It seriously made me (and others) question how good the school was academically if they couldn't manage to win, despite setting records on spending. Not to mention your friends go to the games, you have nostalgia from a vulnerable part of your life, etc... That just doesnt happen as much in Pro.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      >It seriously made me (and others) question how good the school was academically if they couldn't manage to win, despite setting records on spending. Why?
      - hospitalJail 3y ago
        "Where there is rot, there is more" Bad management. Or consider that if some obscure school, who's players are going to school for college instead of football is beating a 'football school', their management is performing worse than supposedly lower skilled managers and lower skilled players.
  - chasd00 3y ago
    NFL teams have to do deal with a city government to get their stadiums built. I'm surprised there's any at all. Colleges football has more autonomy and can actually accomplish things.
TylerE 3y ago
A big part of that is that most of them have no/far fewer luxury boxes than a typical pro stadium. Those eat up a ton of room for not much capacity.
LanceH 3y ago
The oval of the stadium is bigger for football for one. It's less frequent with maybe 6-7 home games per year. They graduate 10,000 seniors a year into being alumni who want to make it to one of those games every year. Then there is the matter of building a bigger stadium means the super-expensive skyboxes are that much further away.

adventured 3y ago

It's no weirder than, say, the European obsession with their football programs. The US has ~340 million people, and we're talking about 10-20 mega stadiums in college football. $80,000 GDP per capita (nearing double that of France or Britain) with one of the highest disposable incomes and extreme amounts of wealth. It's surprising the stadiums aren't even bigger.

mrguyorama 3y ago
You're missing the salient point that 8 out of ten largest stadiums in the world are american college football, NOT THE NFL The thing that's supposed to be a fun side part of your education, or even a feeder program to the pros, can afford larger stadiums than the pros.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  Colleges are able to spend 4 years promoting their brand, its kind of a cult of sorts. Professional teams don't have that pull, you see them a few times a year. In college, your degree's reputation can depend on how well they are viewed nationally. For 2 decades a top school could not win games, the fanbase was outraged because they were spending record amounts of money on trying to win games. It seriously made me (and others) question how good the school was academically if they couldn't manage to win, despite setting records on spending. Not to mention your friends go to the games, you have nostalgia from a vulnerable part of your life, etc... That just doesnt happen as much in Pro.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    >It seriously made me (and others) question how good the school was academically if they couldn't manage to win, despite setting records on spending. Why?
    - hospitalJail 3y ago
      "Where there is rot, there is more" Bad management. Or consider that if some obscure school, who's players are going to school for college instead of football is beating a 'football school', their management is performing worse than supposedly lower skilled managers and lower skilled players.
- chasd00 3y ago
  NFL teams have to do deal with a city government to get their stadiums built. I'm surprised there's any at all. Colleges football has more autonomy and can actually accomplish things.

TylerE 3y ago

A big part of that is that most of them have no/far fewer luxury boxes than a typical pro stadium. Those eat up a ton of room for not much capacity.

LanceH 3y ago

The oval of the stadium is bigger for football for one. It's less frequent with maybe 6-7 home games per year. They graduate 10,000 seniors a year into being alumni who want to make it to one of those games every year. Then there is the matter of building a bigger stadium means the super-expensive skyboxes are that much further away.