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Student Attendance Drops At College Football Games

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And the college football season has begun. Many students are responding with the old college cheer, it goes something like this.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Meh.

INSKEEP: David, you're supposed to let out some kind of enthusiastic cheer.

GREENE: Meh.

INSKEEP: Well, I guest that fits because our last word in Business today is armchair quarterbacks. Many students ignore college football games.

GREENE: Unbelievable. According to The Wall Street Journal, student attendance at games has gone down on average 7 percent since 2009. Rising ticket prices are blamed along with TV, more people apparently watch from the armchair at home.

INSKEEP: The home-field advantage is becoming a home-screen advantage, which is not so great for the home teams since your fans' shouts are harder to hear when they are at home.

GREENE: Schools also worry that less attendance means less school pride and also smaller alumni donations later.

INSKEEP: And that's the Business News on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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