Big Ten leads college basketball in attendance … again

Share

The Big Ten is the most-attended basketball conference in America. Again.

The NCAA released the attendance figures for the 2014-15 season on Monday, and the Big Ten paced all conferences by drawing 3,195,137 fans to its 250 men's basketball games. It's the 39th consecutive season in which the Big Ten has led the way nationally. The big number outshone the ACC, which despite holding 20 more games drew 3,069,296 fans and averaged more than a thousand fewer fans per game.

The Big Ten ranked second when it came to fans at the conference tournament, with the ACC taking that top distinction. A total of 141,159 fans took in the ACC tourney, while the Big Ten Tournament drew 118,496 fans to the United Center.

Big Ten teams also dominated the team rankings, with eight — more than half the conference — ranking in the top 25 when it came to the number of fans per game.

[MORE BIG TEN: Illini announce five non-conference games to be played in Springfield]

Wisconsin was fifth in the country, averaging 17,279. The Badgers drew 276,464 fans to their 16 home games. Indiana drew more fans than Wisconsin overall, with 309,477 taking in 19 home games. The Hoosiers averaged 16,288 per game, good for eighth in the country. Nebraska also made the top 10, ranking 10th with a 15,569 average.

Michigan State was 14th, Illinois was 15th, Ohio State was 16th, Iowa was 20th and Maryland was 25th.

Michigan came in at No. 28, Minnesota was No. 29 and Purdue was No. 32. The remaining three Big Ten teams — Penn State, Northwestern and Rutgers — ranked 56th, 72nd and 91st, respectively. Interestingly, though, Penn State had the the fifth-largest increase in attendance in the country, see a 1,787-fan increase per game. Rutgers was 15th on that list.

Check out all the data the NCAA released right here.

Contact Us