1998 NCAA Football Attendance by Conference

 

Division I-A and I-AA Conferences and Independents
Rank Conference Total
Teams
Games 1998
Attendance
Ave. Per
Game
Change
in Ave.
Change
in Tot.

1.

Southeastern (I-A)

12

73

*5,059,534

*69,309

Up 3,452

Up 54,408

2.

Big Ten (I-A)

11

65

4,354,383

66,991

Dn 783

Dn 389,828

3.

Big 12 (I-A)

12

71

*3,661,740

*51,574

Up 297

Up 21,048

4.

Pacific-10 (I-A)

10

60

3,024,262

50,404

Up 2,212

Up 132,740

5.

Atlantic Coast (I-A)

9

51

2,330,879

*45,704

Up 824

Dn 2,905

6.

Big East (I-A)

8

48

*1,914,957

39,895

Up 3,872

Up 257,901

7.

I-A Independents#

7

38

1,114,978

29,342

Dn 1,260

Up 13,314

8.

Western Ath. (I-A)

16

91

2,594,194

28,508

Dn 1,479

Dn 164,623

9.

Conf. USA (I-A)#

8

44

*1,239,052

*28,160

Up 7,089

Up 438,345

10.

Big West (I-A)#

7

37

631,791

17,075

Dn 696

Dn 25,720

11.

Mid-American (I-A)

12

61

1,022,567

16,763

Dn 1,188

Dn 108,372

12.

Southwestern (I-AA)#

9

38

516,042

13,580

Dn 1,840

Dn 100,742

13.

Mid-Eastern (I-AA)

9

41

466,929

11,389

Up 1,203

Up 39,135

14.

Ivy (I-AA)

8

40

445,801

11,145

Up 3,846

Up 161,151

15.

Southland (I-AA)

8

44

460,335

10,462

Up 2,014

Up 71,742

16.

Southern (I-AA)

9

50

483,003

9,660

Up 205

Dn 8,677

17.

Gateway (I-AA)

7

39

366,029

9,385

Dn 352

Dn 33,192

18.

Atlantic 10 (I-AA)#

11

59

533,945

9,050

Up 1,112

Up 57,651

19.

Ohio Valley (I-AA)

8

42

365,046

8,692

Up 2,374

Up 99,701

20.

Big Sky (I-AA)#

9

49

398,690

8,137

Dn 92

Dn 29,197

21.

I-AA Independents#

15

79

572,625

7,248

Dn 269

Dn 36,248

22.

Patriot (I-AA)

7

40

*239,275

5,982

Up 1,351

Up 63,283

23.

Pioneer (I-AA)#

5

27

103,882

3,847

Dn 242

Up 1,649

24.

Metro Atlantic (I-AA)

9

44

*75,134

*1,708

Up 203

Up 5,885

25.

Northeast (I-AA)

5

24

36,189

1,508

Dn 34

Dn 825

               

-

I-A Neutral Sites

-

12

725,880

60,490

--

--

               

-

I-AA Neutral Sites

-

15

492,937

32,862

--

--

               

-

Division I-A#

112

651

*27,674,217

42,510

Up 425

Up 108,258

-

Division I-AA#

119

631

5,555,862

8,805

Up 687

Up 343,814

               

-

I-A & I-AA Combined

231

1,282

33,230,079

25,920

Up 648

Up 452,072

-

Division II#

149

747

2,443,660

3,271

Dn 38

Up 94,218

-

Division III#

215

1,015

1,817,339

1,790

Up 44

Up 86,939

  ALL NCAA TEAMS *595 *3,044 *37,491,078 12,316 Up 22 Up 633,229

By Percentage of Capacity:

Div. I-A: 79.1 percent--Southeastern 99.9, Big Ten 90.8, Big 12 83.7, Atlantic Coast 79.2, Pacific-10 75.3, Big East 71.7, Mid-American 66.8, Big West 66.3, Conference USA 61.3, Western Athletic 58.8, I-A Independents 50.2.
Div. I-AA: 53.6 percent--Southland 71.8, Atlantic 10 66.6, Southern 61.7, Metro Atlantic 61.4, I-AA Independents 57.6, Gateway 57.6, Ohio Valley 56.2, Big Sky 53.6, Patriot 47.2, Mid-Eastern 38.3, Northeast 35.5, Pioneer 35.3, Southwestern 33.7, Ivy 33.3.

# Did not have same lineup in 1998 as in 1997.

@ New conference

* Record high for this conference.

+ The 1998 figures used for comparison reflect changes in conference and division lineups to provide parallel, valid comparisons.

Division II and III Conferences and Independents
Rank Conference Total
Teams
Games 1998
Attendance
Ave. Per
Game
Change
in Ave.
Change
in Tot.

1.

Southern Intercoll. (II)#

11

57

399,277

7,005

Up 1,374

Up 100,839

2.

North Central (II)

10

56

293,177

5,235

Dn 8

Up 15,316

3.

Lone Star (II)#

15

79

314,437

3,980

Up 168

Up 7,469

4.

Old Dominion (III)

6

30

112,329

3,744

Up 650

Up 19,519

5.

Gulf South (II)

10

52

190,901

3,671

Dn 528

Dn 6,433

6.

Mid-America Inter. (II)

10

55

195,102

3,547

Dn 302

Dn 1,213

7.

Central Inter. (II)

9

41

141,960

3,462

Dn 238

Dn 20,832

8.

Midwest Intercoll. (II)#

12

58

182,003

3,138

Up 418

Up 7,894

9.

Pennsylvania (II)

14

74

226,181

3,057

Up 22

Up 16,782

10.

Minnesota Intercoll. (III)

10

43

120,836

2,810

Up 421

Up 8,575

11.

Amer. Southwest (III)

6

30

83,544

2,785

Up 146

Up 4,370

12.

South Atlantic (II)

8

40

104,466

2,612

Up 20

Dn 12,163

13.

New Eng. Small Coll. (III)

10

40

104,029

2,601

Up 7

Up 267

14.

Columbia FB (II)@

3

13

32,271

2,482

--

--

15.

Wisconsin (III)

8

39

93,426

2,396

Dn 161

Up 1,357

16.

Ohio Athletic (III)

10

51

119,717

2,347

Up 65

Up 3,335

17.

Michigan Intercoll. (III)

6

26

59,996

2,308

Up 6

Dn 2,156

18.

Indiana Collegiate (III)

7

35

71,839

2,053

Up 150

Up 5,223

19.

Middle Atlantic (III)

11

54

109,817

2,034

Up 232

Up 10,694

20.

Div. II Indep.#

12

57

110,439

1,938

Dn 161

Dn 4,995

21.

Iowa Intercoll. (III)

9

46

84,797

1,843

Dn 168

Dn 7,731

22.

West Va. Intercoll. (II)

8

36

64,665

1,796

Up 231

Up 6,776

23.

Southern Collegiate (III)

5

26

46,482

1,788

Up 60

Up 8,465

24.

Northern Sun (II)

7

30

51,648

1,722

Up 83

Dn 7,373

25.

Centennial FB (III)

8

40

68,649

1,716

Up 247

Up 11,359

26.

North Coast (III)

9

45

75,705

1,682

Up 123

Up 2,425

27.

New Jersey (III)

6

31

51,271

1,654

Dn 209

Up 4,704

28.

Rocky Mountain (II)

9

43

70,349

1,636

Dn 207

Dn 21,790

29.

University Ath. (III)

5

24

38,607

1,609

Up 24

Up 579

30.

Northwest (III)@

4

17

27,288

1,605

--

--

31.

Atlantic Central FB (III)@

6

29

46,341

1,598

Up 317

Up 13,047

32.

Illinois & Wisconsin (III)

8

35

55,825

1,595

Up 58

Up 500

32.

Upstate Colleg. (III)

5

21

33,500

1,595

Dn 201

Dn 11,398

34.

Southern Calif. (III)

6

27

39,761

1,473

Up 463

Up 9,458

35.

Freedom FB (III)

7

33

47,849

1,450

Dn 267

Dn 10,522

36.

Presidents' Athletic (III)

6

25

35,879

1,435

Dn 456

Dn 17,061

37.

Div. III Indep.#

28

140

189,301

1,352

Dn 113

Dn 1,129

38.

Eastern FB (II)

11

56

66,784

1,193

Dn 50

Dn 568

39.

Midwest (III)

10

49

49,364

1,007

Dn 26

Up 801

40.

New England FB (III)

14

66

56,022

849

Up 139

Up 8,484

41.

St. Louis (III)

5

23

15,403

670

Dn 115

Dn 3,434

@ New conference.

# Did not have the same lineup in 1998 as in 1997.

$ Rochester is a member of both the University Athletic Association and the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Conference. Case Reserve is a member of both the University Athletic Association and the North Coast Athletic Conference. Their attendance figures are included in each conference figure but counted only once for division totals.

+ The figures used for comparison reflect changes in conference and division lineups to provide parallel, valid comparisons.