“Southwestern University (SWU), a large state college in Stephenville,
Texas, enrolls close to 20,000 students. The school is a dominant
force in the small city, with more students during fall and spring
than permanent residents.

Always a football powerhouse, SWU is usually in the top 20 in college
football rankings. Since the legendary Phil Flamm was hired as its
head coach in 2006 (in hopes of reaching the elusive number 1
ranking), attendance at the five Saturday home games each year
increased. Prior to Flamm’s arrival, attendance generally averaged
25,000 to 29,000 per game. Season ticket sales bumped up by 10,000
just with the announcement of the new coach’s arrival. Stephenville
and SWU were ready to move to the big time!

The immediate issue facing SWU, however, was not NCAA ranking. It was
capacity. The existing SWU stadium, built in 1953, has seating for
54,000 fans. The following table indicates attendance at each game for
the past 6 years.

One of Flamm’s demands upon joining SWU had been a stadium expansion,
or possibly even a new stadium. With attendance increasing, SWU
administrators began to face the issue head-on. Flamm had wanted
dormitories solely for his athletes in the stadium as an additional
feature of any expansion.

SWU’s president, Dr. Joel Wisner, decided it was time for his vice
president of development to forecast when the existing stadium would
“max out.” The expansion was, in his mind, a given. But Wisner needed
to know how long he could wait. He also sought a revenue projection,
assuming an average ticket price of $50 in 2013 and a 5% increase each
year in future prices.

Discussion Questions

1.
Develop a forecasting model, justifying its selection over other
techniques, and project attendance through 2014.

2.
What revenues are to be expected in 2013 and 2014?

3.
Discuss the school’s options.

Southwestern University Football Game Attendance, 2007–2012”