2014 FCS Conference Attendance Averages

[Teal2018]

The NCAA just released the 2014 season's attendance figures for football. Here is the conference rankings for FCS school's attendance.

1. SWAC 12,781
2. MVFC 10,807
3. Big Sky 9,508
4. Ivy 9,202
5. MEAC 8,765
6. CAA 8,667
7. SoCon 8,204
8. SLC 8,025
9. OVC 7,452
10. Big South 6,848
11. Patriot 5,914
12. Pioneer 3,282
13. NEC 2,152

Here is a link to the document http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2014.pdf

[GAD]

Number 1 againxawesomex

[Ivytalk]

And the Ivies are 4th out of 13! With Harvard-Yale in New Haven this year, the average league attendance will go up some.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

The NCAA just released the 2014 season's attendance figures for football. Here is the conference rankings for FCS school's attendance.

1. SWAC 12,781
2. MVFC 10,807
3. Big Sky 9,508
4. Ivy 9,202
5. MEAC 8,765
6. CAA 8,667
7. SoCon 8,204
8. SLC 8,025
9. OVC 7,452
10. Big South 6,848
11. Patriot 5,914
12. Pioneer 3,282
13. NEC 2,152

Here is a link to the document http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2014.pdf

Interesting that 3 out of the Top 5 are not playoff participants in 2015.....

[melloware13]

Good to know that even in a terrible attendance year for Delaware that we're ahead of 14 FBS schools (mostly MAC)

[DFW HOYA]

Some quick thoughts:

1. Bringing up the end of the line: St. Francis PA, 1,273 per game. To be fair, the town of Loretto only has 1,302.

2. Holy Cross wins the Patriot attendance race at 6,748 per game...and if this was a winning team, 10,000 a game would not be unheard of. And for all its success this year, Fordham (4,663) finished fifth of seven.

3. Apparently, the Yankee Stadium game was not figured into Lafayette's 6,054 average.

4. Emptiest stadium in town? Franklin Field, where the Quakers managed just 8,720 per game. In 1984, the Harvard-Penn game drew 38,810. In 2014? 5,386.

[Go Green]

And the Ivies are 4th out of 13! With Harvard-Yale in New Haven this year, the average league attendance will go up some.

You think that the game for second place will be that well-attended?

[Go Green]

4. Emptiest stadium in town? Franklin Field, where the Quakers managed just 8,720 per game. In 1984, the Harvard-Penn game drew 38,810. In 2014? 5,386.

Penn sucked in 2014.

[Teal2018]

One school who had awful attendance was Monmouth. I get they don't have a big fan base but 1,832! That is terrible for a school who is trying to rise in the FCS.

[KPSUL]

Good to know that even in a terrible attendance year for Delaware that we're ahead of 14 FBS schools (mostly MAC)
http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20713&stc=1

Where's the other 15,362 fans?

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Good to know that even in a terrible attendance year for Delaware that we're ahead of 14 FBS schools (mostly MAC)
http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20713&stc=1

Where's the other 15,362 fans?

[Mattymc727]

A pretty decent year for UNH considering the old stadium didn't even have enough seats for the average....

[UAalum72]

Some quick thoughts:

1. Bringing up the end of the line: St. Francis PA, 1,273 per game. To be fair, the town of Loretto only has 1,302.But they're less than 20 miles from Altoona. xrolleyesx

Of course they're also 65 miles from State College, which is a lot of competition.



3. Apparently, the Yankee Stadium game was not figured into Lafayette's 6,054 average. It should be since "Conference attendance includes home games and neutral site contests between two teams in the same conference."

The NCAA also seems to have forgotten to include Stony Brook anywhere in the data.

[The Eagle's Cliff]

The NCAA just released the 2014 season's attendance figures for football. Here is the conference rankings for FCS school's attendance.

1. SWAC 12,781
2. MVFC 10,807
3. Big Sky 9,508
4. Ivy 9,202
5. MEAC 8,765
6. CAA 8,667
7. SoCon 8,204
8. SLC 8,025
9. OVC 7,452
10. Big South 6,848
11. Patriot 5,914
12. Pioneer 3,282
13. NEC 2,152

Here is a link to the document http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2014.pdf

Had to look this up just to see the difference in two years....Wow!

2012 NCAA DIVISION I FCS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
Total 2012 Change
Rank Division I FCS Teams Games Attendance Average In Avg.
1. Southwestern Athletic 10 50 654,847 13,097 153
2. Southern 9 51 652,927 12,802 -18
3. Colonial # 11 62 753,589 12,155 -18
4. Missouri Valley # 10 59 *652,770 11,064 -760
5. Big Sky # 13 73 719,166 9,852 -1,276
6. Mid-Eastern Athletic 11 55 509,427 9,262 -1,323
7. Southland 8 41 365,246 8,908 -530
8. Ohio Valley 9 46 399,027 8,675 591
9. Ivy 8 41 347,071 8,465 -966
10. Big South 7 40 *271,054 6,776 -308
11. Patriot League 7 37 200,651 5,423 60
12. Pioneer FB League 10 55 168,393 3,062 -199
13. Northeast # 9 44 *115,084 2,616 134
*Conference record. # Different alignment than in prior year.

[PAllen]

There's no way the Yankee Stadium game was included in Lafayette's numbers. That game alone would account for more than their listed total attendance. I wonder if that game and the HBCU classics were factored in at all. Still a sad time to be a team in the NE.

[centennial]

There's no way the Yankee Stadium game was included in Lafayette's numbers. That game alone would account for more than their listed total attendance. I wonder if that game and the HBCU classics were factored in at all. Still a sad time to be a team in the NE.
Some simple arithmetic will prove one way or another. I do remember doing the calculation for SWAC before and don't remember it being that high(around 10.5k), so an educated guess is that it does include the classics.

[BEAR]

Interesting numbers but they don't tell the story on why the attendance numbers what they were. For example you can look UCA's early season numbers and they typically fill the stadium. But as deer season hits the attendance even at SEC stadiums shrinks. Just a sad fact. It's a cultural regional thing I guess. But I'm glad at least our homecoming had 11k at it.

[MR. CHICKEN]

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20713&stc=1

Where's the other 15,362 fans?

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http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20713&stc=1

Where's the other 15,362 fans?

......JUST 'BOUT EVERAH HOME GAME LAST YEAR......WAS PLAYED IN BAD WEATHER.......DUH DEL STATE GAME...WAS PLAYED ON UH SUNDAY....FROM SATURDAY NIGHT'S...STORMS.....:(.....BRAWK!

[Go...gate]

One school who had awful attendance was Monmouth. I get they don't have a big fan base but 1,832! That is terrible for a school who is trying to rise in the FCS.

Monmouth will do better as they upgrade Kessler Field. If they join the Patriot League for football, they will also draw better as Kessler Field is an easy drive for a lot of PL alums who live in New Jersey. On the other hand, Villanova's home football attendance is very consistent with the rest of the PL.

Colgate only a 4,844 average. When and if we ever do renovations at Andy Kerr, I predict that the visiting stands will be reduced in capacity. Hard to continue to maintain a visitors' side that does not fill up very often.

[FUBeAR]

SoCon by School
School G Attendance Average
1) Chattanooga 6 60,879 10,147
2) Mercer 7 70,002 10,000
3) Western Caro. 6 57,150 9,525
4) Citadel 6 57,031 9,505
5) Wofford 5 38,820 7,764
6) Furman 6 43,375 7,229
7) Samford 6 32,016 5,336
8) VMI 5 26,314 5,263

[PaladinFan]

SoCon by School
School G Attendance Average
1) Chattanooga 6 60,879 10,147
2) Mercer 7 70,002 10,000
3) Western Caro. 6 57,150 9,525
4) Citadel 6 57,031 9,505
5) Wofford 5 38,820 7,764
6) Furman 6 43,375 7,229
7) Samford 6 32,016 5,336
8) VMI 5 26,314 5,263

Tough to see Furman that far down. Was not too terribly long ago they averaged nearly double that amount. That's what losing will do to ya.

[caribbeanhen]

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20713&stc=1

Where's the other 15,362 fans?

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http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20713&stc=1

Where's the other 15,362 fans?

I've heard Delaware stadium has connectivity issues so it's not like anyone under 40 is going to be there...haha

[PaladinFan]

Interesting numbers but they don't tell the story on why the attendance numbers what they were. For example you can look UCA's early season numbers and they typically fill the stadium. But as deer season hits the attendance even at SEC stadiums shrinks. Just a sad fact. It's a cultural regional thing I guess. But I'm glad at least our homecoming had 11k at it.

I think attendance is taking a hit everywhere. Even Nick Saban chided his student section for leaving games. Michigan was literally giving away tickets.

[Catatonic]

I think attendance is taking a hit everywhere. Even Nick Saban chided his student section for leaving games. Michigan was literally giving away tickets.

I wish the NCAA would adopt a uniform policy for counting attendance. A lot of major colleges sell out games and use tickets sold to count attendance rather than counting actual number of people through the turnstiles. Season tix holders stay away in droves when cupcake games are scheduled.

[PaladinFan]

I wish the NCAA would adopt a uniform policy for counting attendance. A lot of major colleges sell out games and use tickets sold to count attendance rather than counting actual number of people through the turnstiles. Season tix holders stay away in droves when cupcake games are scheduled.

Not sure how they manage the feat in the SoCon. I often read those attendance numbers with a significant grain of salt.

[nwFL Griz]

I wish the NCAA would adopt a uniform policy for counting attendance. A lot of major colleges sell out games and use tickets sold to count attendance rather than counting actual number of people through the turnstiles. Season tix holders stay away in droves when cupcake games are scheduled.

My Canes are especially guilty of this. They averaged in the 40k range for attendance last year (don't know exact numbers), but having watched every game, I can assure you the actual average of people through the gate had to be less than 20K.

[Ivytalk]

You think that the game for second place will be that well-attended?

I have no idea how many fans Dartmouth-Yale will draw.

[walliver]

Had to look this up just to see the difference in two years....Wow!

2012 NCAA DIVISION I FCS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
Total 2012 Change
Rank Division I FCS Teams Games Attendance Average In Avg.
1. Southwestern Athletic 10 50 654,847 13,097 153
2. Southern 9 51 652,927 12,802 -18
3. Colonial # 11 62 753,589 12,155 -18
4. Missouri Valley # 10 59 *652,770 11,064 -760
5. Big Sky # 13 73 719,166 9,852 -1,276
6. Mid-Eastern Athletic 11 55 509,427 9,262 -1,323
7. Southland 8 41 365,246 8,908 -530
8. Ohio Valley 9 46 399,027 8,675 591
9. Ivy 8 41 347,071 8,465 -966
10. Big South 7 40 *271,054 6,776 -308
11. Patriot League 7 37 200,651 5,423 60
12. Pioneer FB League 10 55 168,393 3,062 -199
13. Northeast # 9 44 *115,084 2,616 134
*Conference record. # Different alignment than in prior year.

It's amazing what losing Elon did to our numbers.


I feel there is more in play in the SoCon than simply losing ASU and GSU attendance numbers. Furman's and the Citadel's numbers are way down from their peaks. FU's numbers can be blamed on a poor year, but the Citadel's numbers are more worrisome. The Bulldogs, even during bad seasons, traditionally were among the top attendance schools in I-AA/FCS.

To some extent, I suspect it is a loss of rivalries. ASU and GSU did bring their own fans to games, but also created fan interest that brought out the other schools' fans also. VMI generates little interest to SoCon fans outside of Charleston. Mercer is still the new kid. ETSU will have to rebuild their fanbase and rivalries.

There may also be demographic changes affecting attendance longer-term.

[PaladinFan]

It's amazing what losing Elon did to our numbers.


I feel there is more in play in the SoCon than simply losing ASU and GSU attendance numbers. Furman's and the Citadel's numbers are way down from their peaks. FU's numbers can be blamed on a poor year, but the Citadel's numbers are more worrisome. The Bulldogs, even during bad seasons, traditionally were among the top attendance schools in I-AA/FCS.

To some extent, I suspect it is a loss of rivalries. ASU and GSU did bring their own fans to games, but also created fan interest that brought out the other schools' fans also. VMI generates little interest to SoCon fans outside of Charleston. Mercer is still the new kid. ETSU will have to rebuild their fanbase and rivalries.

There may also be demographic changes affecting attendance longer-term.

Furman has had a series of poor seasons. There is a whole new generation of students that have never known Furman as the national power it was 10-15 years ago.

Furman drew between 12-13k pretty regularly during those years, so they've seen a significant drop. Hard to rekindle that fire with anything other than winning.

I think you see those numbers fluctuate more in the FCS than elsewhere, because (especially in the south) there is always competition for eyeballs with the big flagship schools. Mercer this season moved a game to get around the start time of a Georgia game, which is the first time I can remember something like that happening. Even App State's attendance was relatively paltry (15k or so) before they started winning national titles.

At the FCS level, fans come out for winning. Fans are not going to turn out for loyalty. They would rather watch Clemson play on TV than sit through Furman losing. They will sit through Furman winning, though, regardless of what Clemson's doing.

[unigriff]

take away montana..and the big sky wouldn't be close to the top 5...Montana says...you're welcome Big Sky.

[GetEmGriz]

take away montana..and the big sky wouldn't be close to the top 5...Montana says...you're welcome Big Sky.

Exactly! xnodx

With Montana - Avg Attendance = 9,508
Without Montana - Avg Attendance = 8,060

[TexasTerror]

Number 1 againxawesomex

When including home games only, the SWAC is 2nd.

Alabama A&M 4 33940 8,485
Alabama State 6 76182 12,697
Alcorn 7 85873 12,268
Grambling 3 29,073 9,691
Ark-PB 5 30,036 6,007
Jackson State 7 99,933 14,276
Miss Valley St 5 23,741 4,748
Prairie View 3 14,135 4,471
Southern 6 92,493 15,146
Tx Southern 6 25,906 4,318
TOTALS 52 511,312 9,832


Some simple arithmetic will prove one way or another. I do remember doing the calculation for SWAC before and don't remember it being that high(around 10.5k), so an educated guess is that it does include the classics.

The conference numbers include the Classics (see SWAC numbers). The individual schools do not include neutral site or Classics (whether its SHSU-SFA in Battle of Piney Woods or Bayou Classic or whatever).

I agree with others, that I wish there was consistency in how to count this stuff - but each can spin it their own way!

[dbackjon]

take away montana..and the big sky wouldn't be close to the top 5...Montana says...you're welcome Big Sky.

Take out NDSU, and the MVFC averages less than the Big Sky.

Bison say - you're welcome, MVFC

[GAD]

When including home games only, the SWAC is 2nd.

Alabama A&M 4 33940 8,485
Alabama State 6 76182 12,697
Alcorn 7 85873 12,268
Grambling 3 29,073 9,691
Ark-PB 5 30,036 6,007
Jackson State 7 99,933 14,276
Miss Valley St 5 23,741 4,748
Prairie View 3 14,135 4,471
Southern 6 92,493 15,146
Tx Southern 6 25,906 4,318
TOTALS 52 511,312 9,832



The conference numbers include the Classics (see SWAC numbers). The individual schools do not include neutral site or Classics (whether its SHSU-SFA in Battle of Piney Woods or Bayou Classic or whatever).

I agree with others, that I wish there was consistency in how to count this stuff - but each can spin it their own way!
Most are conference games, how do you feel neutral site games should be counted?

[GAD]

5 SWAC schools in the top 30, 4 in the top 15
3 Louisiana schools in the top 30

[AmsterBison]

Meh, self-reported attendance is as accurate as self-reported, um, "package" size.
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

[biobengal]

take away montana..and the big sky wouldn't be close to the top 5...Montana says...you're welcome Big Sky.

Thank you, Montana... wait, what? Why should I care if the BSC averages 9,500, 8,000 or any other number?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Thank you, Montana... wait, what? Why should I care if the BSC averages 9,500, 8,000 or any other number?

Shhh... it's a secret indicator of FCS at-large bids.