College football -- across all divisions -- drew more than 49 million fans to games in 2016.
Overall attendance increased by 257,891 from 2015 season to 49,315,857 fans at home games, neutral-site games and postseason games in 2016, according to the annual report produced by the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
The Football Bowl Subdivision (which includes the likes of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State) drew 38,073,667 spectators for an average of 43,612 fans per game.
Here are five stats that relate to teams in Georgia:
Bulldogs among top 10 draws
Georgia football drew an average attendance of 92,746 fans per game in 2016. It ranks ninth overall in average attendance among all FBS programs. The top 10 attendance draws were Michigan (110,468); Ohio State (107,278); Texas A&M (101,917); Alabama (101,821); LSU (101,231); Tennessee (100,968); Penn State (100,257); Texas (97,881); and Nebraska (90,200).
The Bulldogs also were one of 12 teams to draw more than a million fans (1,030,318) to the stands.
Tech slays
Credit: Rob Foldy
Credit: Rob Foldy
Georgia Tech’s TaxSlayer Bowl win over Kentucky drew 43,102 to Camping World Stadium in Orlando and about 1,921,104 viewers on TV and online streaming services.
Panthers attendance leap
Credit: Jason Getz
Credit: Jason Getz
Georgia State was among 13 teams experiencing an average attendance increase of at least 15 percent. The Panthers saw an increase of 46 percent in their final season at the Georgia Dome.
Division II stars
Fort Valley State, an HBCU college south of Macon, was among the top five Division II draws in average attendance with 8,850 fans at home games.
SEC still rules them all
Credit: David Barnes
Credit: David Barnes
The SEC led all FBS conferences in average attendance for the 19th consecutive year with 77,507 fans per home game, with 7,518,208 total fans attending SEC games - including the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome - in 2016.
The top-five conferences for average attendance included the SEC (77,507), Big Ten (66,151), Big 12 (57,531) Pac-12 (50,073) and ACC (49,734).
About the Author