SEC led college football in 2014 average attendance for 17th straight season

The SEC set a new home and neutral site average for attendance last fall and stayed atop college football for the 17th straight season according to official 2014 figures recently released by the NCAA.

Attendance dropped nationally, but not in the SEC where an average of 77,694 fans attended home or neutral site games for their respective teams. It marked a 2,020-fan average increase from the 2013 season. The SEC’s total attendance of more than 7.7 million was 1.3 million more than the Big Ten, its next closest competitor.

Nationally, Michigan’s 15-year reign at the top for home attendance average was snapped by Ohio State’s impressive 106,296. The defending national champion Buckeyes set a new spring game record in April with 99,931 fans.

Texas A&M’s multi-million dollar renovation at Kyle Field encouraged greater attendance as the Aggies set a program record and finished No. 2 nationally with a 105,123 per game average to lead the SEC — a nearly 18 percent increase from the 2013 campaign.

2014 attendance figures by conference (total; per game avg.)

• SEC: 7,769,362; 77,694
• Big Ten: 6,419,447; 66,869
• Big 12: 3,776,610; 58,102
• Pac 12: 4,110,783; 52,702
• ACC: 4,727,318; 50,291
• American: 2,014,334; 29,193

2014 attendance figures by SEC program (top 30 teams nationally)

• Texas A&M: 105,123
• LSU: 101,723
• Alabama: 101,534
• Tennessee: 99,754
• Georgia: 92,746
• Auburn: 87,451
• Florida: 85,834
• South Carolina: 81,381
• Arkansas: 66,521
• Mizzou: 65,285
• Ole Miss: 61,547
• Mississippi State: 61,127
• Kentucky: 57,572

Brad Crawford