Camp Attendance Decline: Blip or a Long-Term Concern for the Cowboys?

It’s been noted that fan attendance at the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp out in Oxnard seems lower than in years past. Even the energy level seems subdued. Admission – while limited – is free, but that has been the case for a very long time.

Parking does cost a few bucks, but not enough to be a deterrent. Yet this season, the numbers are down.

Some have tried to explain the decline away as the result of camp being in another state (California) instead of in-state like most of the other NFL franchises. But again, out of the 65 training camps the Cowboys have held, 45 of them were held in California, either in Oxnard or in Thousand Oaks.

None of the previous 44 had any problems attracting fans. Having lived in Thousand Oaks briefly, I can attest to how packed the camps were.

So that’s probably not it at all.

Cowboys Training Camps By Year

2021-2024 River Ridge Playing Fields — Oxnard, California

2020 The Star in Frisco — Frisco, Texas

2012-2019 River Ridge Playing Fields — Oxnard, California

2011 Alamodome — San Antonio, Texas

2010 River Ridge Playing Fields – Oxnard, California

2009 Alamodome — San Antonio, Texas

2008 River Ridge Playing Fields – Oxnard, California

2007 Alamodome — San Antonio, Texas

2004-2006 River Ridge Playing Fields – Oxnard, California

2002-2003 Alamodome — San Antonio, Texas

2001 River Ridge Playing Fields – Oxnard, California

1998-2001 Midwestern State University — Wichita Falls, Texas

1990-1997 St. Edward’s University – Austin, Texas

1963-1989 California Lutheran College — Thousand Oaks, California

1962 Northern Michigan University – Marquette, Michigan

1961 St. Olaf College – Northfield, Minnesota

1960 St. John’s Military Academy – Delafield, Wisconsin

1960 Pacific (OR) University — Forest Grove, Oregon

One could point at the return of the Los Angeles Rams to the area back in 2016 as a cause. The Rams are also more recent Super Bowl winners than the Cowboys, taking Super Bowl LVI at the end of the 2021 campaign. And they train not far away at UC Irvine.

There still remains a very large contingent of Cowboys fans in the area.

So, if it isn’t “location, location, location” — the phrase commonly attributed to a British real estate tycoon named Lord Harold Samuel, not the TV show — then what is it?

It’s The Product

In the previous 24 seasons this century, the Cowboys have only finished below .500 six times.

A franchise with an overall winning track record will remain popular. Or at least it should, but with Dallas, there is a caveat in play.

Most teams with similar winning records will have that success translate into postseason success too. That’s not the case with the Cowboys. It’s a mantra every fan knows by heart. The Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since the end of the 1995 season.

It’s the same year they last won an NFC championship game, or even appeared in one.

For the last 28 years, Dallas hasn’t made it past the Divisional round; seven consecutive losses in that round. They are 5-6 in the Wild Card round over that same span.

That’s not a record that inspires any fan base. Especially considering how they lost three of their last four playoff games.

Making it worse, none of the three teams that knocked the Cowboys out made the Super Bowl that year.

All three were easily beatable teams at that, but Dallas managed to beat themselves in all three games. Too many turnovers, too many penalties, and an inability to establish a ground game. Issues that did not plague their opponents.

That lack of results when it most matters has been souring the fan base.

On the Cowboys, and on the front office. Especially the ownership. The fan base may be getting tired of the Jones’ constantly overselling and the Cowboys’ perennially under-delivering.

A Blip Or A Trend

The biggest question right now is: Is the declining attendance in Oxnard just an aberration, or is this a long-term trend?

Both Jerry and Stephen Jones recently insisted the Cowboys resold all of their season tickets for 2024, in record time and ahead of all the other NFL teams.

If they did, and continue to do so, then Oxnard 2024 fades away as a minor speed bump.

If the fan base is getting disgruntled, then it will be empty seats, a lot of them, at AT&T Stadium on game day. For many game days in a row at that.

Empty seats being broadcast on television will be the only way the Jones’ get the message to change their ways, or possibly sell the team. Maybe then we can start talking about the Cowboys during championship game and Super Bowl weeks again.