Groucho Marx (above) famously said, “I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member”. Let’s look at the last 4 teams to move out of the Big 10 for other destinations.
This is not going to be a hot take. I don’t have any connections or fan bases to favor among these four programs. But I’ve got these attendance figures, and there’s other proofs I won’t get to in this brief article.
The last 4 major teams to leave the Big 12 now have a decade of experience to share. Let’s see about their “earth-changing” fan experience. I’ve charted the attendance for the last 10 years (pre-pandemic).
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | |
Missouri | 54,160 | 51,466 | 51,490 | 52,236 | 65,120 | 65,285 | 63,505 | 67,476 | 62,095 | 61,540 |
Nebraska | 89,348 | 89,034 | 89,798 | 90,200 | 89,998 | 91,249 | 90,933 | 85,517 | 85,517 | 85,664 |
Texas AM | 101,608 | 99,844 | 98,802 | 101,917 | 103,622 | 105,123 | 87,125 | 87,014 | 87,183 | 82,477 |
Colorado | 49,573 | 45,809 | 47,056 | 46,609 | 39,389 | 37,778 | 38,463 | 45,373 | 50,355 | 46,864 |
Or if you prefer to look at it graphically:
A couple of notes about the attendance; Missouri sank the capacity of their stadium in the mid-2010s. And conversely, Texas A&M expanded their stadium to it’s six-figure capacity. For reference on the charts above: Colorado joined the Pac 12 in 2011, Nebraska joined the Big 10 in 2011. Texas A&M and Missouri joined the SEC in 2012.
The attendance figures give one startling change: the ABSENCE of change. The ABSENCE of any great spike in attendance or incredible drop-off in attendance. 4 college programs playing a totally different set of teams, from a totally different geographical area resulted in no noticeable change in attendance.
The reasons might be disparate for the four schools, but the aggregate truth is clear; no great change. Besides minimal changes to stadium capacity, the earth-changing conference realignment DID NOT change the earth.
So if you’ve got a comment as to why this is a wrong result, let me know. And if you do, be clear and bring facts. I did.