Last week I posted an article that discusses the various drivers of fan attendance at bowl games. If you haven’t read it yet please check it out. I also gave the attendance figures for each of the bowl games that had been played (which was only about half of them), and below I list the final figures for all of this season’s 34 bowl games in order of attendance (winning team listed first):
1.) BCS National Championship (Alabama vs. Texas): 94,906
2.) Rose Bowl (Ohio State vs. Oregon): 93,963
3.) Gator Bowl (Florida State vs. West Virginia): 84,129
4.) Cotton Bowl (Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma State): 77,928
5.) Chick-fil-a Bowl (Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee): 73,777
6.) Fiesta Bowl (Boise State vs. TCU): 73,227
7.) Texas Bowl (Navy vs. Missouri): 69,441
8.) Orange Bowl (Iowa vs. Georgia Tech): 66,131
9.) Sugar Bowl (Florida vs. Cincinnati): 65,207
10.) Alamo Bowl (Texas Tech vs. Michigan State): 64,757
11.) Holiday Bowl (Nebraska vs. Arizona): 64,607
12.) Capital One Bowl (Penn State vs. LSU): 63,025
13.) Liberty Bowl (Arkansas vs. East Carolina): 62,742
14.) Music City Bowl (Clemson vs. Kentucky): 57,280
15.) Champs Sports Bowl (Wisconsin vs. Miami): 56,747
16.) Sun Bowl (Oklahoma vs. Stanford): 53,713
17.) Meineke Car Care Bowl (Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina): 50,389
18.) Independence Bowl (Georgia vs. Texas Tech): 49,653
19.) Outback Bowl (Auburn vs. Northwestern): 49,383
20.) PapaJohns.com Bowl (Connecticut vs. South Carolina): 45,254
21.) Insight Bowl (Iowa State vs. Minnesota): 45,090
22.) Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force vs. Houston): 41,414
23.) Emerald Bowl (USC vs. Boston College): 40,121
24.) Las Vegas Bowl (BYU vs. Oregon State): 40,018
25.) GMAC Bowl (Central Michigan vs. Troy): 34,486
26.) Poinsettia Bowl (Utah vs. California): 32,665
27.) Hawaii Bowl (Southern Methodist vs. Nevada): 32,650
28.) Little Caesars Bowl (Marshall vs. Ohio): 30,311
29.) New Orleans Bowl (Middle Tenn. St. vs. Southern Miss): 30,228
30.) St. Petersburg Bowl (Rutgers vs. Central Florida): 29,763
31.) Humanitarian Bowl (Idaho vs. Bowling Green): 26,726
32.) New Mexico Bowl (Wyoming vs. Fresno State): 24,898
33.) EagleBank Bowl (UCLA vs. Temple): 23,072
34.) International Bowl (South Florida vs. Northern Illinois): 22,185
There are two main items I want to point out. First, how in the hell was the Texas Bowl, a game which contained exactly zero top 25 teams, the 7th most attended bowl game? Second, the poor fan turnout at the International Bowl only solidifies the fact that football belongs on this side of the border. As is the standard here at That Fan, we salute the team at the top of the list, which just so happens to be the National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide! Bama fans, here is your gift (okay, it’s really a gift for all of you!):
Related posts:
I think it’s relevant to point out that a bowl game must average 25k attendance over a 3 year period (or 70% capacity) to maintain their certification from the NCAA. The listed attendance above is best case the paid attendance, it certainly isn’t actual attendance.
Here is one account of a bowl game that reported nearly 25k, however the media outlets estimated actual attendance of 15k. http://www.abqjournal.com/sports/live/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4024
From many of the games I watched, I think this is a common theme in many of these bowl games (dare I even say the Orange Bowl).
Travis – thanks for the link…great to know!
[...] college football bowl television ratings…at some point I’m going to line this up with my college football bowl attendance stats and see what trends I spot. [The Wiz of [...]