Football Home Attendance Ranked Sixth Nationally
2/9/2011 4:11:00 PM | Football
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - With a record-breaking average attendance figure for its home games in 2010, Georgia Southern Football again ranked among the nation's top-10 programs for attendance among Division I Football Championship (FCS) institutions with a sixth-place ranking. The Eagles' average home attendance was among the best for the seventh-straight year and for the ninth time in the last 11 seasons.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released the 2010 football attendance totals and averages for the 639 schools with programs at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and at the Division II and III levels. The full set of figures for the 2010 season is available in the attached document.
A record 49,670,895 fans attended games at all NCAA schools offering football this past year, breaking the previous high set in 2008. Attendance has increased in four of the last five years with a slight dip in attendance in 2009 that followed three straight record-breaking years. FCS home attendance was its third-highest ever at 6,031,800. The Southern Conference was second in FCS conference attendance with a league-record 13,101 fans per game in 2010, an increase of 1,078 fans per game from its 2009 total.
With six home contests, including the NCAA playoff game against South Carolina State, the Eagles finished with an average attendance of 17,627, more than double the FCS per game average of 8,702. Georgia Southern's home playoff game recorded the highest attendance of the four first-round games with 10,214 at Paulson Stadium. The 2010 season produced the highest average home attendance for the regular season at 19,110 fans per game with the previous best of 18,925 set in 2007.
Three of the five regular-season games in 2010 welcomed crowds of more than 20,000 with the contest against Wofford drawing 21,403 for 10th on the list of top home attendance figures. The Eagles opened the 2010 season versus Savannah State in front of 20,430 fans, a total which ranked 15th on the list of best Paulson Stadium crowds. Georgia Southern's homecoming win over number-one ranked and previously undefeated Appalachian State was witnessed by 20,073 fans.
The Eagles begin 2011 on the road in Birmingham, Ala., at Samford on Saturday, September 3rd.
