Spring game attendances have been released for most schools in the BCS conferences and to no surprise, Penn State crushed the local competition.
↵The Nittany Lions reportedly drew about 60,000 fans to their game. West Virginia came in second with 8,000 and Pitt was last drawing only about 4,600. The Panthers have struggled to draw a good attendance for their annual Blue-Gold game in recent memory and this year was no exception. Hoping to improve local ties in the area, the university again played the game at North Hills High School. While hosting the scrimmage at a local high school may help shore up ties with coaches, I've long maintained that Pitt needs to go all out in making the game a bigger event. Earlier this year over at Cardiac Hill, I mentioned some things they could do that might help.
↵But the biggest thing Pitt can do, of course, is win. As long as the team is in the middle of the pack in terms of major college football, the interest level is going to reflect that. Playing in a town with three professional sports teams, Pitt is always going to have issues in attracting interest. Penn State football is really the only game in town in central Pennsylvania, but the reason they've been successful in drumming up interest in their spring game is because they've won. Pitt needs to do the same if they hope to improve attendance for their scrimmage.
↵For more on Pitt football, check out SB Nation's Pitt blog, Cardiac Hill.
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