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As expected, the SEC posted some of its best attendance figures of the year in the final weekend of the regular season. The six SEC home teams in Week 14 all hit at least 99.4 percent capacity in their respective stadiums, including three sellouts and one crowd exceeding capacity.
The Ole Miss Rebels actually hit 102.5 percent of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium’s capacity for Sunday’s Egg Bowl showdown with Mississippi State. The game marked the second time this season Ole Miss has exceeded capacity at a home game. The other was an Oct. 4 showdown with Alabama, and Ole Miss was victorious in both games.
Georgia sold out its game against Georgia Tech, but unfortunately the home crowd left disappointed after a win by the visiting Yellow Jackets. Nevertheless, Bulldog fans were among the most loyal fans in the SEC this season, selling out all seven of UGA’s home games in 2014.
Missouri also sold out its home game against Arkansas, then clinched the SEC East title in front of a capacity crowd. Alabama drew a sellout crowd for its thrilling Iron Bowl win over Auburn Saturday night.
Texas A&M was one of two home teams that did not sell out its home finale, but it did draw the largest crowd of the weekend with 105,829 fans. The Aggies did reach 99.4 percent capacity inside Kyle Field, falling just short of Vanderbilt’s 99.5 percent capacity crowd for its home finale against Tennessee. The Commodores were a mere 200 fans shy of a sellout crowd.
Here are the complete attendance figures from the final weekend of the regular season:
| Teams | Home Stadium | Attendance | Capacity | Capacity % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auburn at Alabama | Bryant-Denny Stadium | 101,821 | 101,821 | 100.0% |
| Georgia Tech at Georgia | Sanford Stadium | 92,746 | 92,746 | 100.0% |
| Arkansas at Missouri | Faurot Field | 71,168 | 71,168 | 100.0% |
| Mississippi State at Ole Miss | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium | 62,068 | 60,580 | 102.5% |
| LSU at Texas A&M | Kyle Field | 105,829 | 106,511 | 99.4% |
| Tennessee at Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt Stadium | 40,350 | 40,550 | 99.5% |
With the regular season officially in the books, LSU drew the most total fans of any team in the SEC, and it had the largest average crowd at nearly 105,000 per game. In fact, the Tigers average crowd actually exceeds Tiger Stadium’s capacity.
Alabama had the second-most total fans of any team in the SEC, and it was the only school besides LSU to draw more than 700,000 fans this season. Auburn joins Georgia and LSU as the only other team to sell out every home game this season.
Vanderbilt was the only team in the conference to have eight home games this season, but its stadium has the smallest capacity, skewing its total attendance figures compared to the rest of the SEC. Texas A&M and Florida were the only SEC schools to host six games this season (Florida would have hosted seven had the Idaho game not been canceled).
The Aggies have the largest stadium capacity in the SEC, and they still posted more total fans than nine schools in the conference. The Gators drew the eighth most fans in the SEC, but had they hit their average attendance for the game against Idaho they’d have drawn the more than 600,000 fans.
Here’s a rundown of every team’s total attendance figures for the 2014 season:
| Team | Home Stadium | # Home Games | Total Attendance | Average Attendance | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Bryant-Denny Stadium | 7 | 710,736 | 101,534 | 101,821 |
| Arkansas | D.W.R. Razorback Stadium | 7 | 399,124 | 66,521 | 72,000 |
| Auburn | Jordan-Hare Stadium | 7 | 612,157 | 87,451 | 87,451 |
| Florida | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium | 6 | 515,001 | 85,834 | 88,548 |
| Georgia | Sanford Stadium | 7 | 649,222 | 92,746 | 92,746 |
| Kentucky | Commonwealth Stadium | 7 | 403,002 | 57,572 | 67,606 |
| LSU | Tiger Stadium | 7 | 712,063 | 104,909 | 102,321 |
| Mississippi State | Davis Wade Stadium | 7 | 427,892 | 61,127 | 61,337 |
| Missouri | Memorial Stadium | 7 | 456,996 | 65,285 | 71,168 |
| Ole Miss | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium | 7 | 430,829 | 61,547 | 60,580 |
| South Carolina | Williams Brice Stadium | 7 | 569,664 | 81,381 | 80,250 |
| Tennessee | Neyland Stadium | 7 | 698,276 | 99,754 | 102,455 |
| Texas A&M | Kyle Field | 6 | 630,735 | 105,123 | 106,511 |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt Stadium | 8 | 274,063 | 34,258 | 40,550 |
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
