The SWAC tops FCS in 2015 football attendance

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Southwestern Athletic Conference was once again best attended football league in the NCAA Div. I- Football Championship Series (FCS). An improvement by an average of 42 fans, the SWAC averaged 12,823 in attendance at each of its 51 home football contests.

The SWAC outnumbered the Missouri Valley Conference by 1,907 in attendance, despite playing 10 less total games in its league. The Big Sky Conference finished third with an average of 9,977.

In 37 of the last 38 years, the SWAC has been the FCS leader in attendance. This average includes neutral site games such as the Magic City Classic (63,874), the highest single-game attendance figure in 2015, the Bayou Classic (62,507), and the State Fair Classic (51,328). These contests were three of the highest attended games in the country among the FCS level.

Five programs out of the SWAC finished in the top 30 with Southern placing eighth with an average of 18,310. Jackson State was next with a 15th place finish at 13,252, followed by Alcorn State holding down the 18th spot at (12,343). Alabama State finished in 24th (10,290) while Grambling State averaged an attendance of 10,035 at its home contests for the 28th best average among FCS leaders.

The SWAC and the MVC were once again the only two conferences with an average of over 10,000 fans per game with a total attendance average 653,962 and 654,948 respectively.

Alcorn State and Grambling State played in front of the third most attended SWAC Football Championship crowd in league history with 40,352 on hand. That total marked the most since the league moved the game to Houston’s NRG Stadium and the largest audience since 2007.

2015 National Football Collge Attendance

2015 NCAA DIVISION I FCS HOME ATTENDANCE TEAM LEADERS
Rank School G Attendance Average

1. Montana 7 168,975 24,139
2. Jacksonville St. 8 164,781 20,598
3. Yale 4 82,189 20,547
4. James Madison 7 136,483 19,498
5. Montana St. 6 115,032 19,172
6. Liberty 5 94,950 18,990
7. North Dakota St. 9 166,472 18,497
8. Southern U. 4 73,239 18,310 
9. Delaware 6 94,954 15,826
10. South Carolina State 5 78,147 15,629 
11. Florida A&M 4 60,240 15,060 
12. North Carolina A&T 5 74,940 14,988 
13. Youngstown St. 6 89,125 14,854
14. Tennessee State 4 58,481 14,620 
15. Jackson State 5 66,258 13,252

Rank School G Attendance Average 
16. South Dakota St. 6 77,394 12,899
17. Harvard 5 63,994 12,799
18. Alcorn State 5 61,716 12,343 
19. McNeese St. 6 70,150 11,692
20. UNI 6 69,293 11,549
21. Mercer 6 64,150 10692
22. The Citadel 6 64,070 10,678
23. Eastern Ky. 4 41,400 10,350
24. Alabama State 5 51,449 10,290 
25. Chattanooga 6 60,910 10,152
26. Western Caro. 5 50,593 10,119
27. Missouri St. 5 50,182 10,036
28. Grambling 3 30,105 10,035 
29. Eastern Wash. 5 47,886 9,577
30. Lamar 5 46,818 9,364

COURTESY SWAC MEDIA RELATIONS