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The best and worst of college football’s 2022 attendance trends

By John Scimeca

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 26: General view of fans during a college football game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Michigan Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 26: General view of fans during a college football game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Michigan Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) /
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CORVALLIS, OR – OCTOBER 15: Linebacker Ron Stone Jr. #10 of the Washington State Cougars reacts with his team after a tackle during the first half of the game against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium on October 15, 2022 in Corvallis, Oregon. (Photo by Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)
CORVALLIS, OR – OCTOBER 15: Linebacker Ron Stone Jr. #10 of the Washington State Cougars reacts with his team after a tackle during the first half of the game against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium on October 15, 2022 in Corvallis, Oregon. (Photo by Ali Gradischer/Getty Images) /

The worst Power 5 college football program

The distinction of the worst Power 5 college football program in terms of home attendance belongs to Washington State out of the Pac-12. The Cougars had 26,185 fans per home game in 2022, the lowest figure of any Power 5 program. The relatively diminutive Martin Stadium has a listed capacity of 32,000 and is larger than only one other Power 5 school — Wake Forest.

Washington State has actually put together back-to-back winning seasons from 2022 and 2021, going 7-6 in both years after losses in the LA Bowl and the Sun Bowl, respectively. Only four other Pac-12 teams have finished with records better than .500 during the past two years.

The controversial separation with former head coach Nick Rolovich over a statewide mandate for government employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 led to first-year boss Jake Dickert taking over to begin last season.

The second-place finisher in this category belongs to Northwestern, which drew 28,697 home fans per contest last year.

During the past five years, Duke (24,915) has had the lowest average number of home fans of all college football power-5 conference schools.

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