FBS home attendance saw a slight uptick during the ’13 regular season (excluding neutral-site games), with 123 schools averaging 45,192 fans, according to analysis of recently released NCAA data. That figure is up from 44,970 fans last year, which remains the low mark over the last decade. The ’08 season remains the high mark all-time for FBS schools with 46,456 per game.
|
FBS HOME ATTENDANCE TREND (EXCLUDES NEUTRAL SITE, BOWL GAMES)
|
|
SEASON
|
TOTAL TEAMS
|
GAMES
|
AVERAGE
|
|
'13
|
123
|
782
|
45,192
|
|
'12
|
120
|
763
|
44,970
|
|
'11
|
120
|
759
|
45,498
|
|
'10
|
120
|
755
|
45,912
|
|
'09
|
120
|
757
|
45,545
|
|
'08
|
119
|
751
|
46,456
|
|
'07
|
119
|
749
|
46,328
|
|
'06
|
119
|
745
|
45,828
|
|
'05
|
117
|
670
|
45,628
|
|
'04
|
118
|
711
|
45,704
|
|
|
|
|
|
SOUTHERN COMFORT: Among FBS conferences, the SEC led the way with 75,674 fans per game among its 14 member schools. That figure was relatively flat compared to ’12. Among the conferences seeing sharp drops at the gate were the American Athletic Conference and Conference USA -- which both lost key schools to realignment. AAC attendance was down 14% year-over-year as Syracuse and Pittsburgh joined the ACC. Conference USA attendance was down 16%, as UCF, Houston, Memphis and SMU all left for the AAC. Joining C-USA in ’13 were FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and UTSA. On a positive attendance note, the MAC had an 8% increase in attendance after a sharp drop last season.
|
ATTENDANCE AMONG FBS CONFERENCES (EXCLUDES NEUTRAL SITE, BOWL GAMES)
|
|
RANK
|
CONFERENCE
|
'13
|
'12
|
'11
|
'10
|
'09
|
|
1
|
SEC
|
75,674
|
75,538
|
75,832
|
76,719
|
76,288
|
|
2
|
Big Ten
|
70,431
|
70,040
|
71,439
|
72,106
|
71,769
|
|
3
|
Big 12
|
58,899
|
59,004
|
63,265
|
62,975
|
62,875
|
|
4
|
Pac-12
|
53,619
|
53,679
|
52,249
|
53,819
|
54,186
|
|
5
|
ACC
|
49,982
|
49,910
|
51,406
|
51,493
|
51,249
|
|
6
|
AAC
|
33,712
|
39,185
|
43,766
|
45,028
|
44,804
|
|
7
|
Mountain West
|
26,080
|
25,888
|
29,035
|
34,464
|
33,202
|
|
8
|
Conference USA
|
21,510
|
25,639
|
26,509
|
28,454
|
26,600
|
|
9
|
Sun Belt
|
19,859
|
19,766
|
19,193
|
17,969
|
16,463
|
|
10
|
MAC
|
16,739
|
15,526
|
17,033
|
15,609
|
15,317
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
YOU’RE MY BOY, BLUE! Michigan led all schools for the 16th straight season with 111,592 fans per game, which was down slightly from an FBS-record 112,525 fans per game last season. Penn State ranked fifth among all schools, but had its lowest average since the ’01 expansion of Beaver Stadium. Tennessee ranked sixth this season and saw attendance rise 6% from ’12, which was the school’s lowest figure since the ’96 expansion of Neyland Stadium. Several other programs with traditionally strong attendance saw a drop in '13, including LSU (lowest since ’02), Florida (lowest since ’04) and USC (lowest since ’02). South Carolina came up just short of the school record of 82,614 set in ’01 (
THE DAILY).
|
TOP 15 SCHOOLS IN FBS ATTENDANCE IN '13 (EXCLUDES NEUTRAL SITE, BOWL GAMES)
|
|
RANK
|
SCHOOL |
'13
|
'12
|
'11
|
'10
|
'09
|
|
1
|
Michigan |
111,592
|
112,252
|
112,179
|
111,825
|
108,933
|
|
2
|
Ohio State |
104,933
|
105,330
|
105,231
|
105,278
|
105,261
|
|
3
|
Alabama |
101,505
|
101,722
|
101,821
|
101,821
|
92,012
|
|
4
|
Texas |
98,976
|
100,884
|
100,524
|
100,654
|
101,175
|
|
5
|
Penn State |
96,587
|
96,730
|
101,427
|
104,234
|
107,008
|
|
6
|
Tennessee |
95,584
|
89,965
|
94,642
|
99,781
|
99,220
|
|
7
|
Georgia |
92,746
|
92,703
|
92,613
|
92,746
|
92,746
|
|
8
|
LSU |
91,418
|
92,626
|
92,868
|
92,718
|
92,489
|
|
9
|
Florida |
87,440
|
87,597
|
89,061
|
90,511
|
90,635
|
|
10
|
Texas A&M |
87,125
|
87,014
|
87,183
|
82,477
|
76,800
|
|
11
|
Auburn |
85,657
|
82,646
|
85,792
|
86,087
|
84,614
|
|
12
|
Oklahoma |
84,722
|
85,243
|
85,161
|
84,738
|
84,778
|
|
13
|
South Carolina |
82,401
|
80,001
|
79,131
|
76,668
|
75,369
|
|
14
|
Clemson |
82,048
|
79,429
|
78,234
|
75,786
|
74,214
|
|
15
|
USC |
73,126
|
87,945
|
74,806
|
79,907
|
84,799
|
