Students react to Maryland football’s 2024 attendance dips

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

The Maryland football team has wrapped up their home games for the season, finishing 3-4 at home with just one of those wins against a conference opponent.

The home slate this season brought the traditional game themes, with the classic black-out and red-out games, and for the last home game, the military theme edition game. All in hopes of bringing out the students to help fill the stands.

However, SECU Stadium did not have a standout performance for this season, with plenty of open seats not being sat in for multiple games throughout the year.

The stadium’s highest attendance this season was just over 43,000 for the homecoming game against USC, when the field rush occurred. The biggest turnout called for the biggest celebration post-game.

SECU Stadium did however experience some lows with attendance, being the last game of the season against Iowa, just cracking a bit more than 30,000 in attendance for Senior Day.

The football team played in front of an average of 36,000 fans this season, still leaving 15,763 seats vacant on average for each game. Compared to the 2023 season, this season was down in number, with last season each game averaging 40,313 fans in attendance.

Students both old and new saw both sides of the atmosphere at SECU stadium, with nearly empty student section games to a field-rushing game on homecoming for the win over USC.

Riley Parker, a sophomore student, experienced her second year of Maryland football games, this time with more of a disappointing feeling going to the games this season rather than last season.

“The turnout wasn’t nearly as good it seemed like from what I remember last season,” Parker said. “Maybe it was the teams we played last year at home, and we won more games where a little more students were out, but I’ve been to almost every game and it hasn’t been the same.”

Greg Jenkins, a freshman student, had a bit more enthusiasm when attending the games, enjoying one of the signature moments during the season on homecoming weekend.

“Rushing the field was absolutely electric and the vibes were high after that game,” Jenkins said. “It was my first game honestly for the season, and it made me want to go to more. I have seen time and time again on TV other schools rushing the field after a big win and I wanted to be included with my school on that list.”

Not everyone was in high spirits with the football games this season, or the previous seasons.

Jake Dunbar, a senior, rarely attended any of the football games this season, but when Dunbar did show up, nothing stood out from his previous years at the games.

“I stopped really caring or trying to go to the games after my sophomore year honestly,” Dunbar said. “Everyone who goes just leaves at halftime anyway, the atmosphere isn’t that great when that happens. Hopefully, it changes after I’m gone, but it’s a shame.”

Attendance has been a point of emphasis for head coach Mike Locksley, saying before the season, “To take the program to a championship level, we gotta have championship-level support.”

With new recruits coming in 2025, including four-star quarterback Malik Washington, time will tell if attendance can turn around.