Wisconsin football was already facing an attendance deficit in 2025. Before the Maryland game, attendance was down 10% or about 7,600 fans in each of the first two home games. Camp Randall has yet to have attendance above 70,000 on the year, and those aren't numbers Wisconsin football has seen for 30+ years. 1992 is the last time there has been this low attendance in the first three home games.
The Big Ten schedule was supposed to revive some of the interest. A losing season in 2024 and then two not very exciting opponents in Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee. However, the reported attendance for Maryland, the first Big Ten game, was only 68,547. Though many reporters and even fans are skeptical that many fans actually showed up.
The reports before kickoff were that the number of fans in the stands was paltry and underwhelming. A few photos of the stadium were posted on social media. See an example below:
Camp Randall at kickoff vs. Maryland. pic.twitter.com/KczJPCl1u6
— Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) September 20, 2025
It's pretty sparse here, to say the least. https://t.co/GWZJap1z3d
— Christian Borman (@christianborman) September 20, 2025
The attendance won't get any better with the product Luke Fickell has on the field
Related: Luke Fickell isn’t the only one Wisconsin fans are passionately calling to be fired
As the game went on, the stands didn't fill up; they actually emptied. As Wisconsin headed into the locker room down 20 points to Maryland, boos rained down. Many fans were already headed for the exits. By the end of the game, it was pretty abysmal in terms of who stayed to watch the Badgers embarrass themselves.
The most discouraging thing I saw in the Wisconsin vs Maryland wasn’t even the game. It was this picture, that was taken in the 4th quarter with 9 minutes left to go.
— Vince Biegel (@VinceBiegel) September 20, 2025
I’ve never seen @CampRandallStdm this empty during a game in my lifetime.
I feel for the fans….. pic.twitter.com/Gwxuihnh3t
It's hard to imagine any improvement in the attendance, and the average may only dip even further. The next game is against Iowa, which may be able to generate some interest as it's the homecoming game and against a football rival. However, the product on the field is bad, and it's hard for fans to want to show up and watch a bad product.
If Wisconsin doesn't do something soon, the apathy of the fanbase and the lack of support could kill a program that's already on life support.