As the Louisville football team has trudged to a 2-4 start this season, the results have shown with empty seats in Cardinal Stadium.

While the announced attendance in the first four home games of the season has averaged 50,975 fans, the average number of tickets scanned has been 34,968, according to figures obtained by the Courier Journal via open-records request.

There were 35,785 tickets scanned for Friday night’s game against Georgia Tech, down from 38,496 on Sept. 29 against Florida State and 42,976 on Sept. 15 against Western Kentucky.

Louisville drew 22,615 fans in a driving rainstorm for the home opener against Indiana State.

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Fan presence has been a recurring problem at Louisville and across college football, where per-game attendance dropped by 3 percent nationwide last season, according to the NCAA. Louisville’s average this season of 34,968 is down from 37,775, the average tickets scanned through the first four home games of 2017.

Athletic director Vince Tyra said by phone Thursday that Louisville values both the tickets scanned (for fan engagement) and the tickets sold (for financial reasons) figures.

Tickets scanned can be an indicator of how tickets might sell in the future. Low stadium attendance creates concerns about the ability to retain season ticket holders the next season.

“With the investment that was made in the stadium expansion, you would hope that we would see a lift in what we’re seeing today," Tyra said. "... There is a national trend in attendance, the drops that we’re seeing, and we’re a part of that. But I think it would have been certainly more helpful if the Florida State game had more value this time around than it had two years ago. Because they’re not having the season that they want and we’re not having the season that we’d like.”

Just before this season’s home opener, Louisville completed a $63.25 million expansion project on Cardinal Stadium. That expansion added about 5,700 seats to the north end zone, pushing the capacity to around 60,800.

The stadium’s average tickets scanned (34,968) is about 57.5 percent of that capacity.

Louisville has three home dates left this season: against Wake Forest on Oct. 27, against NC State on Nov. 17 and against Kentucky on Nov. 24.

“I think the biggest (factor) is you have to figure out the right value for your fans," Tyra said. "Whether it’s getting creative in pricing, whether it’s getting creative at the concession stand like we’ve done, I just think you’ve got to be engaged with your fan base. They vote with their wallet, and we've got to deliver not only a great product on the field but a good product overall so that they have a good fan experience for the full day.”

Last season, the number of tickets scanned dropped every home game throughout the fall, with one exception. There were 46,224 scanned for Clemson on Sept. 16; 34,014 for Kent State on Sept. 23; 38,317 for Murray State on Sept. 30; 32,544 for Boston College on Oct. 14; 31,893 for Virginia on Nov. 11 and 19,715 for Syracuse on Nov. 18.

Jake Lourim: 502-582-4168; jlourim@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @jakelourim. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jakel.