Last year, Penn had arguably its most successful football season in history. The team went undefeated on its way to a second consecutive Ivy League title.
Despite the Quakers' success, the average attendance at Franklin Field in 2003 was 12,073 -- the worst the school has seen since 2000.
In 2002, Penn drew an average of 14,136 and in 2001 an average of 12,176 fans came to Franklin Field.
And if last Saturday's despicable attendance of 8,419 against Dartmouth is any indication, expect this season to also be a disappointment at the box office.
These numbers do not surprise me, for Penn football has a number of factors working against it that no amount of marketing or on-field success can negate.
Here are the top five reasons why the attendance at Penn football games will always be a letdown:
1. No I-AA playoffs
The Ivy League stubbornly refuses to allow its football teams to participate in the Division I-AA playoffs. This is the only sport where an Ancient Eight squad cannot participate in an NCAA postseason tournament.
Now there are many reasons why this rule is hypocritical and just plain stupid, but in terms of attendance, the main drawback of this ban is that most of Penn's games just don't matter.
The most the Quakers can play for is an Ivy League championship, which these days is not something Penn fans hope for, it's something they expect.
The team's non-conference schedule is nothing more than an Ivy League tune-up. Penn's season-ending game against Cornell often has no significance at all.
If Penn was allowed to participate in the I-AA playoffs, however, every game would have heightened importance.
A win over a top-ranked school, such as Villanova, would help Penn's seeding in postseason play. A loss against Cornell in the final game, while it may not affect the Ivy title race, would be significant to playoff seeding.
2. Franklin Field
There are a lot of great things about Franklin Field, but let's admit it, it's a horrible venue for Penn football in 2004.
The large track, while perfect for the Penn Relays, separates the fans from the game, making the spectators feel detached.
The enormity of the stadium, with a listed capacity of 52,958, makes even the most vociferous of fans feel dwarfed. Only 23.6 percent of the seats have been filled this season.
While I am not advocating that Penn knock down Franklin Field, if the Quakers had a smaller stadium where fans sat right on top of the action, fans would feel like they could make a difference at the game like they do at the Palestra.
3. Penn doesn't play great teams
Fans love underdogs, and Penn rarely is one.
The Quakers play only one team that is ranked higher than them all season -- current No. 15 Villanova.
Last year, Penn also played only one higher-ranked team, Lehigh.
Since we have to play all the Ivy League teams, most of which are pretty bad, why not play three really good teams in non-conference play? Since we've already determined that the games don't matter, let's make those three games a big challenge.
Heck, even Dartmouth has a harder non-conference schedule than we do. The Big Green played two teams in the top 25 this season.
And even if Penn played all the best teams in I-AA, who really cares? Can anyone name a player on current No. 1 Southern Illinois? Would anyone get excited for a showdown with No. 3 Georgia Southern?
In basketball, the best teams in all of Division I play Penn -- schools you've heard of, like Wisconsin and Michigan State. The athletes that you've seen on SportsCenter often end up diving into your lap at the Palestra.
It's worth coming out to see if the Quakers might just upset one of those teams, and if they don't, it's OK. At least you got to see one of those great players you read about in Sports Illustrated.
Now I am not advocating that Penn go out and schedule Michigan, but hypothetically, if it did, you can bet that we'd sell out Franklin Field.
4. No football rival
In basketball, we've got Princeton. In football, we've got nobody.
If Penn was winless in basketball, people would still show up to watch us play Princeton. Last year's Penn-Princeton game sold out the Palestra, despite the fact that it had no effect on the Ivy title race and that it was over spring break.
Harvard and Yale have proven that a good rivalry is often more profitable than a good team.
Unfortunately, to start a rivalry as storied as that in "The Game" takes decades.
5. Philadelphia
College football just isn't popular in this city.
Maybe it's just that college football is not popular in the Northeast in general.
The top-drawing college football team in a northeast city is Boston College, which has the 51st-best average attendance in the nation.
That's bad. Two schools in Utah draw significantly more fans.
Maybe northeast cities offer too many other forms of entertainment.
But college football has been proven to be popular in and around other cities in the nation. Half of the top 10 biggest metropolitan areas in America support a major college football team.
In Philadelphia, a city that goes crazy for college sports, like Big 5 basketball, and football -- in the Eagles -- you'd think college football would be immensely popular. But in a city with four major professional sports teams and a vibrant Big 5 basketball culture, football often gets lost in the shuffle.
