The best and worst of college football’s 2022 attendance trends
By John Scimeca
There’s a clear “Big Three”
The top three college football teams in terms of attendance from 2022 are Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State — all Big Ten programs. These three schools are also the three biggest crowds on average from the past five seasons.
The Wolverines drew an average of 110,246 people to the Big House for each home game last season. The Nittany Lions had 107,379 fans per home game and the Buckeyes had 104,663 fans per home game in 2022.
It’s interesting to note the following that Penn State has retained up to today — Wisconsin and Iowa have better win-loss records than the Nittany Lions during the last decade yet don’t have comparable home crowds. In fact, both the Badgers and the Hawkeyes draw home crowds that, on average, consist of about 30,000 – 35,000 fewer fans than Penn State.
The numbers are pretty staggering to think of that many people crammed in one space to watch a college football game. Michigan is the nation’s 10th-largest state with slightly over 10 million people, yet the stadium alone becomes the state’s 6th-largest city for a few hours on certain fall Saturday afternoons.
The Wolverines have posted a combined 25-3 record during the past two seasons, including a Big Ten championship and a College Football Playoff appearance last year after defeating archrival Ohio State.