With the world in a holding pattern, college football is very much in doubt for the 2020 season. Should it occur as planned, attendance will either be non-existent or severely limited.
Despite college football attendance numbers showing a significant decrease over the past five seasons, the SEC has held steadfast with an average attendance of 72,773 (impressive considering Vanderbilt’s 26,000 per game average severely weighs the average down). 8 of the conference’s 14 schools found themselves in the top 15 in the nation in 2019.
SEC Attendance Rankings 2019
| 1. Texas A&M | 101,608 |
| 2. Alabama | 101,117 |
| 3. LSU | 100,842 |
| 4. Georgia | 92,817 |
| 5. Tennessee | 87,864 |
| 6, Auburn | 85,765 |
| 7. Florida | 84,684 |
| 8. South Carolina | 77,962 |
| 9. Mississippi State | 56,182 |
| 10. Missouri | 54,160 |
| 11. Arkansas | 53,759 |
| 12. Kentucky | 53,127 |
| 13. Ole Miss | 48,223 |
| 14. Vanderbilt | 26,431 |
While schools like Ole Miss, Kentucky and Arkansas saw numbers drop notably from 2018 to 2019, Missouri actually experienced the most growth in the conference, a 2,694 per game increase from the year prior.
Surprisingly, it was the Big 10 which held the top three spots nationally as Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State averaged over 106,000 fans between the three. Despite this, the SEC blew away the other power five conferences in average attendance.
Figures By Conference 2019
| SEC | 72,723 |
| Big 10 | 65,065 |
| Big 12 | 57,467 |
| ACC | 48,243 |
| Pac-12 | 46,080 |
Perhaps the most surprising attendance stat from all of 2019 came from the University of Kansas, which averaged a shockingly low 19,424 fans in 2018. They showed the nation’s highest increase as they jumped to 33,875 in 2019 after hiring former LSU national championship winning coach Les Miles.
