College football attendance sees increase in consecutive seasons for first time since 2008

College football in 2023 enjoyed its highest average attendance since the 2017 season

By Dennis Dodd Mar 11, 2024 at 11:44 am ET• 4 min read

College football attendance increased in 2023 by a number that's likely equivalent to the crowd attending an average game-day tailgate: 27. It's small growth but a rise nonetheless as the average attendance ticked up from 41,840 fans per game in 2022 to 41,867 last season. 

That rise continues to shatter long-standing fallacies. In court filings the past few years, the NCAA has preached that player compensation would be the death of the amateur model. As a result, fans would stop watching and attending games. Rollicking tailgates would be reduced to Kool-Aid socials!  

Well, drink up, loyal tailgaters. The truth has proved to be the exact opposite.

The 2023 attendance figure is college football's highest since 2017, based on official NCAA records. In fact, FBS attendance has risen across consecutive seasons for the first time since 2008. Not since the all-time record of 46,971 fans per game that same year has the sport been more popular in the stands and the living room. TV ratings last season were arguably the highest ever, depending on preferred metrics. 

In 2022, average attendance rose for the first time in eight years. The per-game increase of 1,992 fans was the second-highest in history, and it also contributed to the largest year-over-year increase in 40 years. (The NCAA has been keeping attendance figures since 1978.)