Whether it’s due to the downturn in the economy or other factors, fewer fans attended college football games in 2009 than they did in 2008, the Associated Press is reporting.
It was the first time in five years that total attendance from all divisions of football had been lower than the previous. In fairness, the NCAA did set a record in 2008 with 48.8 million fans attending games at their 630 member institutions.
That number dropped one percent for 2009, down to 48.3 million fans.
Div. 1-A schools saw a drop of just over 400,000 fans from the previous year, but still averaged over 46,000 fans per game for their 120 schools.
As they have the biggest stadiums in the nation, it makes sense that three Big Ten schools -- Michigan (108,933), Penn State (107,008) and Ohio State (105,261) -- led the country in average attendance. The only other school to average over 100K was Texas at 101,175.
For the 12th straight season, however, the SEC led all conferences in average attendance, with five of their schools holding spots in the Top Ten. SEC games averaged 76,844 fans, followed by the Big Ten (71,769) and the Big 12. (62,875).
