Exclusive | USC footballs actual shocking attendance figures for first home games reveal discrepancy
Eyeballing the small crowds at USC’s first two home football games led to all sorts of guesses about how many fans were actually there.Was the Coliseum one-third full? Half full?Most people realized that the announced crowds inside the 71,349-seat stadium weren’t an actual count of attendance, providing no definitive answers.The school announced a crowd of 51,144 for the season opener against San Jose State – the smallest crowd of the Lincoln Riley era – followed by 53,014 for the game against Fresno State on Friday evening.The actual counts were significantly smaller, according to information obtained by the California Post.Only 35,585 people scanned through the gates for the San Jose State game, based on a tabulation kept by the Los Angeles Fire Department.That’s 15,559 fewer fans than what USC announced as “tickets out,” which is a count of tickets sold but does not include others on site such as stadium staff, band members and credentialed media.The scan count rose to 45,833 for the Fresno State game – an increase of 10,248 from the opener and only 7,181 fewer than the announced figure.
Pleasant temperatures in the 70s certainly helped Friday after fans at the opener baked in a game-time temperature of 94 degrees, with the heat index soaring considerably higher.A USC football spokesperson declined to comment on the attendance figures.The relatively tiny crowds focused as much attention on the stands as the field.The Trojans faced ridicule on social media as well as from a handful of college football coaches who questioned their fans’ commitment.“Not to take any shots because I have a lot of respect for USC and Lincoln Riley, but man it’s really awesome to be playing in Lubbock, Texas, in front of 60,000,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said last week.“And it’s going to be warm.
It’s going to be every bit as warm as it was Saturday.“The great thing is we’ve got some really tough people in west Texas that love their football.The...