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Yesterday's excellent conversation about the Boston College football marketing challenge got me looking at BC's home per-game attendance figures. I went all the way back to the 1995 season to see which opponents have filled Alumni.
The 1995 season was the first year of Alumni Stadium's current configuration and 44,500-seat capacity. After the 1995 renovations, the Eagles actually sold out the first 10 games of the 1995 and 1996 season. That streak was snapped by Temple, who drew just 42,463 in the 1996 home finale.
Top 10 Lowest Attendance Non-Conference Home Games (1995-2010)
1. Army (1997) -- 13,309
2. Buffalo (2006) -- 14,682
3. Kent State (2009) -- 25,165
4. Rhode Island (2008) -- 32,628
5. Northeastern (2009) -- 33,262
6. Baylor (1999) -- 33,756
7. Central Michigan (2009) -- 34,128
8. Weber State (2010) -- 34,168
9. Kent State (2010) -- 35,122
10. Georgia Tech (1997) -- 38,462
Of the above list, just two of the 10 are BCS AQ conference programs -- Baylor and Georgia Tech, before they were a fellow ACC member. The rest of the eight include 4 MAC schools, 3 Division I-AA schools and Army. The 13,309 listed attendance for the 1997 Army game was the all-time low for the 44.5k seat Alumni Stadium. Army traveled to Chestnut Hill to end TOB's first season on the Heights (BC went into that game with a record of 3-7 ... Army was 4-5).
Here are the the programs that have helped BC sell out Alumni Stadium more than once from 1996-2010 (last sellout year in parenthesis):
1. Notre Dame -- 6 (2010)
2. Virginia Tech -- 4 (2006)
2. Miami -- 4 (2007)
4. Syracuse -- 3 (2004)
In addition to those four programs, these programs have all played in front of a sold-out Alumni Stadium crowd: Army, Clemson, Connecticut, Florida State, Maryland, Michigan, Navy, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and West Virginia.
I think it's interest to see which programs have helped BC sell out Alumni Stadium and where we've struggled to put butts in seats. After seeing some of these attendance figures, interested in your thoughts here.