r/UnitedFootballLeague • u/BaderNader • Jun 09 '25

Discussion With the Battlehawks losing the league stopped the sale of tickets for the non TV side of the stadium

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u/poopinfinoopin DC Defenders Jun 09 '25

I think there is a misconception that college stadiums are automatically smaller than NFL stadiums. it greatly depends on the school...but the average capacity for college is 62,000 and for the NFL is 70,000. the largest NFL stadiums on the upper end of the spectrum are dwarfed by college stadiums.

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u/lokibringer St Louis Battlehawks Jun 09 '25

I mean, there's what, 10-15 college stadiums that dwarf the NFL top (~80k)? For every Clemson, Michigan, and OSU, you've got 4-5 schools in between 20-60k.

Perfectly reasonable to assume that college stadiums are smaller, especially if someone doesn't follow SEC/B1G football.

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u/Amaakaams Jun 09 '25

I get your point but I mean just looking at the Big 10. 3 100k+ stadiums. The smallest is 45k.

I live in Michigan, you'd have to be pretty far away from any major city setting to get a smaller stadium for the Panthers. Ford field is also a dome with fake grass. Upkeep for using FF would be relatively cheap compared to most of the smaller schools outdoor field. Plus you have modern amenities that would increase people's experience.

I am guessing but not going to look, I think it would hold true elsewhere as well. So it's a tight rope you could do a smaller a stadium at some small college and gain a stronger foothold in a smaller area (kind of like minor league teams in hockey and baseball) or you are going for more public attention. That means locking into larger markets.

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u/tabennett5438 Jun 09 '25

Eastern Michigan's stadium is about an hour from Detroit

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u/Amaakaams Jun 09 '25

That's an hour. Lansing is just over an hour from Detroit. Yipsilanti has a decreasing population of 20k. No one is making a trip out to Yipsy, to sit outside, on basically high school bleachers to watch the Panthers.

For cheap tickets, I'd go to Detroit, and hang out in the area. Maybe a little less with Lansing or Ann Arbor (and their stadiums are 3-4x the size). Maybe Grand Rapids, would be the right place. Big city, no Pro teams, with people who wouldn't want to make the trek to Detroit. But no real stadium close by.

Probably the absolute best option would be maybe maybe playing at Westerns stadium. Kalamazoo has 4 times the pop of Yipsy, is kind of close to several areas that would be cool to hang out at and its stadium is smallish. But even then it's still 2x-3x of general UFL games usage.

But that's the rub. When you really look at it just an edict of "go to a college where the capacity is smaller" isn't a good answer. FF is ~65k-70k is smaller than most of the big ten, and you start really taking in the foot with local filling up if you tried to go elsewhere. You also leave the amenities those stadiums supply to play in a very barebones one. Nah NFL stadiums are probably the better alternatives if you ask me.