How Deion Sanders going to Colorado has impacted Jackson State football attendance in 2023
When Deion Sanders led the Jackson State football team onto the field at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on a sun-splashed mid-October afternoon last year, the Tigers were greeted by a crowd of 48,763 raucous fans in town for homecoming eager to watch their alma mater play Campbell University.
The year before, the season after attendance was limited by COVID-19 protocols, Sanders and the Tigers drew 53,578 fans in their homecoming game against Alabama State.
Sanders, the NFL Hall of Fame defensive back whose resume and persona made Jackson State into arguably the highest-profile program in FCS football, left for a major college coaching job at Colorado in December 2022 after three seasons leading the Tigers. The impact of his departure has perhaps never been more visible than during the homecoming game last month.
As T.C. Taylor, Sanders’ successor as head coach, and the Tigers emerged from the tunnel in the east end zone that day, they found barely half of the 60,000 seats in Memorial Stadium occupied. The attendance was 30,947, though Taylor was full of praise of the fan support.
“To me from down on the field it looked like they were in there,” Taylor said after the game. “When we pulled up to the stadium and did our Tiger Walk, there was a big crowd at the tailgate. Coming out to pregame it looked like it was butts in seats at that point. When you come out of the tunnel, the energy was there. They (fans) did their part. They showed up and showed out.”
Jackson State athletic director Ashley Robinson declined comment when asked by the Clarion Ledger for comment on the change in attendance since Sanders' exit.
The Tigers' success under Sanders can't be overlooked. Jackson State went 27-6 in his three seasons, including 11-2 and 12-1 in the last two. National interest in Jackson State football perhaps culminated when ESPN brought "College GameDay," its must-see TV pregame coverage of college football Saturdays, to Jackson for the Southern game last season.
Clearly, that interest has declined since Sanders departed. But his absence has had an impact on Jackson State football locally and regionally among HBCU programs as well.
Sanders sold tickets, a lot of them.
Jackson State football was a hot ticket under Deion Sanders
Average attendance for Jackson State's four regular-season home games in 2022 was 42,990. The Tigers earned a fifth home game when they hosted Southern for the postseason Cricket SWAC Championship Game. Attendance was 53,754, which boosted average attendance for games at Memorial Stadium to 45,143. Attendance was nearly as strong in 2021, when the Tigers' averaged 42,288 for six games at Memorial Stadium, including that season's Cricket SWAC Championship game against Prairie View A&M.
Average attendance for Jackson State's first two home games of the 2023 season is 27,313 -- a decline of 15,677, or 36%, from 2022 and 14,975 or 35% in 2021. Jackson State has two home games remaining: Saturday against Texas Southern and the season finale against Alcorn State on Nov. 18.
It should be noted that Jackson State is No. 1 in FCS home attendance this season, according to the analyst.com. In fact, since 2018, with the exception of the COVD-19 2020 season, Jackson State has been No. 1. In 2018 and 2019, JSU averaged 24,770 and 33,762 fans respectively. However, the attendance numbers pale in comparison to those during the 2021 and 2022 seasons with Sanders as the Tigers' coach.
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Jackson State also hasn't been quite the same draw when playing away from Memorial Stadium.
The opponents and venues differ from year to year and make comparisons of season averages more difficult. However, Jackson State regularly plays in Classics, games played at neutral sites that celebrate HBCU programs and rivalries.
In the Tigers' two Orange Bowl Classic games under Sanders against Florida A&M in Miami Gardens, Florida, attendance was 36,000 (estimated) in 2021 and 39,907 in 2022. This year, attendance was listed at 24,967. Jackson State has played at Alabama A&M in the Gulf Coast Challenge in Mobile, Alabama, the past two seasons. Attendance in 2022 was 32,300; this year it was 19,107.
Jackson State football does not lack fan support, but clearly the loss of the Deion Sanders Effect has had impacted the box office.
Note: Attendance figures were gathered from the game reports listed on the schools' official websites.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Deion Sanders: Colorado coach's impact on Jackson State attendance
