1. I want to start by saying I think 60,670 is a very appropriate capacity for our program if we keep improving ... probably even on the small side. With that said...
2. This count reinforced my belief that we have way too many seats in two areas - the Horseshoe and East Main underneath the overhang. Regarding the Horseshoe, we have more seats in the Horseshoe than the entire East Balcony! That simply shouldn't add up, given the aesthetics. The Horseshoe seats are truly packed in there, and you get the worst of both worlds - it takes up a ton of our usable capacity, but it still looks small and aesthetically weak. Regarding the seats under the overhang, that really has to be fixed in any future renovation ... it's a no-brainer to wall those seats off with a brick wall to match West Main's setup. If you do that and redo the Horseshoe, you end up with 10k-15k seats to mess around with in the current Horseshoe space that builds something much cooler while not adding to capacity at all.
3. Let's assume that we are able to sell an additional 2,500 seats between now and the first game vs. Toledo (and also assume the tracker is more or less correct!). That would make our opening game attendance 44,713. This would represent a nearly 20% increase from last year's first game (37,832)! It would also be our best opening attendance since Lovie's first year, where we drew 48,644.
4. Looking back at Bielema's first two seasons, this is how the attendance has shifted. In 2021, we averaged 32,233 for UTSA and Charlotte, and we averaged 39,467 for our first three Big Ten home games. In 2022, we averaged 37,706 for Wyoming and Chattanooga, and we averaged 45,297 for our first two Big Ten home games (the rest occurred way later in the year, and I am trying to incorporate some weather considerations here). Looking at those numbers and considering that the Penn State game will be WAY more hyped and marketed than any of the other Big Ten home games in the aforementioned comparisons, if we are drawing almost 45,000 for Toledo, it is all but certain that we will be pushing 55,000 for Penn State, IMO. And that is sort of the magic number to make the stadium look full, so let's hope we get there! I'll be doing my part.