Attendance across the board in college football is down. Blame the improved television experience. Blame FCS games. Cite what you want. Data tells us the numbers are down almost everywhere.
Still, in the Big 12, there's not many falling off. Exactly six teams saw an increase in 2012, and four teams saw a decrease. We'll take a closer look in a bit, but here are the raw numbers, thanks to AL.com and the NCAA.
I wouldn't get too fired up about TCU's number. The increased sales are great to see for the Frogs, but they opened a new stadium and opened the upper deck of the new stadium, offering a greater capacity. They sold out each game this season, and I'd expect that to continue. Interest in the team is up, but not THAT far up. TCU's 37 percent increase is one of the nation's best. USC saw an increase of 18 percent, UCLA saw a 21 percent increase, and Cal moved into a new stadium and saw a 48 percent increase after playing off campus in 2011. Nevada also saw a 49 percent increase and Louisiana-Monroe saw a 61 percent increase. Kent State added 54 percent as well.
Texas Tech enjoyed a season in which it didn't go 5-7, and that showed in the attendance. West Virginia was a little surprising. They had some weather issues this season, and the five-game losing streak took its toll, but we'll see if they get that number up next year if the team is a bit better.
Props to Baylor. No RG III, no problem. Attendance still held strong. Baylor's a small school, but that's pretty impressive, especially with the rough start in Big 12 play.
Kansas made a lot of efforts to drum up fan interest, but you can't compete with wins. I'm guessing that Rice loss cost KU a whole lot of fans once Big 12 play began.