After playing last year in an empty stadium, Stanford and Cal will be back to playing in front of a near-capacity crowd Saturday.
Stanford officials project attendance of 45,000-50,000 for the 124th Big Game, which kicks off Saturday at 4 p.m. at 50,424-seat Stanford Stadium.
Those projections would be in line with attendance for the past decade, despite stringent COVID protocols and the teams’ lackluster performances this season. Stanford will enter the game with a 3-7 record. Cal is 3-6. ( Spectators 12 and older are required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the event’s start time.)
The game drew 50,360 to Stanford Stadium in 2011, when the Cardinal was a top-10 team all season, and hovered around 50,000 for the other games between 2013-2019.
That is still a steep decline from previous decades. Attendance at the 2001 game was 71,150. In 1991, when Stanford coach David Shaw was a freshman wide receiver for the Cardinal, a crowd of 86,019 attended the Big Game. Seating capacity at Stanford Stadium was reduced to 50,424 in the 2006 remodel.
The average home attendance at Stanford this season is 33,317. A crowd of 47,236 turned out for the home opener against UCLA on Sept. 25, but has declined with each succeeding game: 31,610 for Oregon on Oct. 2; 28,014 for Washington on Oct. 30; and 26,410 for a Friday night game against Utah on Nov. 5.
Stanford hosts sixth-ranked Notre Dame in its season finale Nov. 27.
Source: www.mercurynews.com