How bad is Purdue football attendance? Ticket sales are good, barely half show up, and it matters

WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue football coach Barry Odom made turning Ross-Ade Stadium into a palpable, visceral home field advantage a key part of his rebuild project.

Almost two years into his tenure, boosting attendance remains a chicken-before-the-egg proposition. Filling the 61,441-seat stadium – or approaching that number – would help achieve that raucous home environment and make the Boilermaker brand more attractive in recruiting.

Winning, though, typically must precede more butts filling seats.

"No. 1, I think it's a a very unique stadium," Odom said Oct. 12, prior to the last home game against Washington on Oct. 16. "And when you can capture a home-field advantage, the noise stays in the stadium. And then you look at 18,000 students that will be there early and be loud. That's a game-changer.

"And then the most important thing − and our players are starting to understand this − we have to give them a reason to be loud and be on their feet. They can change the outcome of a game when you get it the way it should be."

According to an athletic department spokesperson, Purdue's announced gameday attendance is for tickets allotted – all tickets sold, comp tickets, etc. This season, that number has been around 80% of capacity, an average of 50,231 for five home games. It ranged from 48,559 against Minnesota on Oct. 10 to 52,273 against Notre Dame on Sept. 26.

Anecdotally, the actual number of fans in the stadium appeared to fall well short of those numbers. An IndyStar public records request confirmed that eyeball estimate. Purdue has averaged 31,778 tickets scanned over the first five games.

That would be less than 52% of Ross-Ade's capacity and about 63% of the number of tickets allotted.

IndyStar also requested season ticket sales numbers via public records request on June 18. That request remains unfulfilled.

The known numbers help frame the importance of Saturday's game against Maryland. In theory, attendance should increase, due to its designation as homecoming, a favorable fall weather forecast and Purdue being favored by a touchdown.

As of Thursday evening, though, secondary market vendors SeatGeek and StubHub both included hundreds of listings for tickets under $20. The cheapest available tickets were $7.

The benefits of a victory, though, would also extend beyond keeping the team mathematically alive for bowl eligibility. At 3-5, the win total of the last two seasons combined has already been matched. More wins could help create the momentum and fan confidence required to fill more sets next season.

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Purdue student section helping prop up football attendance

While attendance in Ross-Ade overall has been spotty, that has not been true of the student section. While Odom's 18,000 estimate could not be verified, the student section has been robust and engaged throughout the season. The only noticeable dip came against Minnesota on Oct. 10, during the university's fall break.

Jacob Cloyes, president of the Ross-Ade Brigade, the official student section, said membership dropped from around 3,500 last season to 2,800 this season. However, not all student ticket holders are RAB members. Cloyes said he has noticed an uptick in overall student attendance, as well as in how many students stay for the entire game.

Cloyes said he was discouraged last season when much of the student section emptied out while a close home loss to Rutgers was still in the balance. At the same time, he felt a double overtime home loss to Wake Forest earlier this season helped grow interest and instill new hope for better game day experiences ahead.

That enthusiasm showed up after back-to-back victories over Illinois and Minnesota. Both the announced attendance (50,941) and ticket scans (33,703) for the next home game against Washington were the highest non-Notre Dame figures this season.

"Performance really dictates how much student attendance is," said Cloyes, a senior from Franklin, Tennessee, whose parents are Purdue alums. "People sorta left, but after that (Wake Forest) game, people were more engaged because we put up a fight at least."

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Ross-Ade Brigade membership costs $20 and includes a T-shirt, access to a pregame tailgate with food, early entry into the stadium and one group road trip per season. This season's road destination was Illinois, where RAB members watched Purdue win its first Big Ten game since 2023 in person.

Cloyes said other factors play a role in game-day attendance. He believed it helped that the season opener against Indiana State was on a Friday, for example, and that the opener came during the second week of classes rather than the first.

Purdue has lost its last two games, and Saturday's 12:30 p.m. kickoff is not typically a strong driver of student attendance. Aries Tickets – a student ticket marketplace which requires mandatory student email verification – listed tickets for as little as $9 for Saturday's game.

Cloyes does see the final four games as a chance to drive interest for next season.

"I think if we can go into next year with momentum and keep a lot of key pieces, next year is going to be exciting," Cloyes said. "It would help for sure, winning one more at least. I think we need at least one more to prove ourselves."

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Purdue football attendance crucial for athletic department's financial goals

Purdue scanned 39,705 tickets for the Notre Dame game on Sept. 26 – almost 18% more than for the other four home games. That was the last time, for the foreseeable future, the program will benefit from that reliable source of ticket sales and attendance. The teams were scheduled to play through 2028, including a game in Ross-Ade that season, but earlier this week Purdue announced the series was on pause.

The impact of football attendance touches the entire athletic department. Football ticket sales accounted for 9.1% of the athletic department's $150.5 million in revenue in 2024-25 – the last year for which itemized figures were available. As the department incurs more costs due to revenue sharing with athletes – and as the university now acts as a backstop for any athletics budget shortfalls – revenue generation has become an urgent topic for first-year athletic director Tommy McClelland.

Football enthusiasm also impacts the entire campus. Its position at the start of the school year can help set a tone for the entire campus. Traveling to bowl games can endure as a lasting memory of one's college experience.

Odom said the team talked in preseason camp about the importance of the football program "driving that train." It's a responsibility he said he embraces.

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"I want the people that go to school here and care about this university, the 600,000 living alumni, I want them to be proud of our football team and they walk around with a 'P' on their chest and they're proud of what we're doing on Saturday nights," Odom said.

He wants more of them walking around Ross-Ade Stadium, too. Securing the wins to draw them there is merely another part of an ongoing process.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How bad is Purdue football attendance? Ticket sales are good, barely half show up, and it matters