The final weekend of the regular season saw a wide range of attendance figures throughout the B1G. The holiday weekend seemed to overshadow the rivalry aspect of the last games of 2014. And with the exception of Wisconsin where temps were in the 20's, it was, well, football weather in Big Ten Country.
Attendance 'Round the Big Ten: The final football weekend
In speaking with someone at Maryland, they anticipated their smallest crowd of the year. The Thanksgiving weekend, most students home on the break, it just didn't add up to a big crowd. They were right. It was by far the smallest crowd of the year in College Park, costing the Terps over 2,000 off their season average attendance. Two sellouts highlighted the weekend, one because it was THE rivalry in AA and the other because it meant something in Madison.
And based on % capacity at or over 100%, there were 21 sellouts this season in the B1G according to my records. How schools calculate a sellout may be different. The Big Ten record book noted 30 sellouts last season, with two fewer schools.
School | Attendance | Capacity | % Capacity | Result | Opponent |
Ohio State | 108,610 | 104,944 | 103.49 | W 42-28 | Michigan |
Wisconsin | 80,341 | 80,321 | 100.02 | W 34-24 | Minnesota |
Iowa | 66,897 | 70,585 | 94.78 | L 37-34 | Nebraska |
Penn State | 99,902 | 107,282 | 93.12 | L 34-10 | Michigan State |
Indiana | 40,079 | 52,929 | 75.72 | W 23-16 | Purdue |
Maryland | 36,673 | 54,000 | 67.91 | L 41-38 | Rutgers |
Northwestern | 31,137 | 47,130 | 66.07 | L 47-33 | Illinois |
Total attendance was not a big surprise. The big boys drew the biggest crowds to the biggest stadiums.
Tomorrow we'll take a final look at the conference football totals as well as averages by school.
RU Hoops: Attendance
Two games for the men and two for the women. Does anyone know we're playing?
Men | Opponent | Attendance | Result |
11/23/14 | St. Francis-Brooklyn | 4,117 | W 76-73 |
11/25/14 | Saint Peter's | 3,913 | L 68-50 |
Season Total | 17,956 | ||
Season Average | 4,489 |
Women | Opponent | Attendance | Result |
11/28/14 | Colgate | 1,428 | W 60-44 |
11/30/14 | Davidson | 1,518 | W 100-44 |
Season Total | 5,959 | ||
Season Average | 1,490 |
Last year, the men averaged 4,425 at home for 20 games. The women averaged 1,649 for 15 dates. Got some work to do. It will be interesting to see what happens when the B1G schedule kicks in.
Now, with the smallest arena in the Big Ten, and without a recent history of success, we've decided to do comparisons with a similar program, the Wildcats of Northwestern. And this is how they've opened the season:
Nothwestern Men | Opponent | Attendance | Result |
Nov. 14 | Houston Baptist | 6,372 | W, 65-58 |
Nov. 20 | North Florida | 5,783 | W, 69-67 |
Nov. 22 | Elon | 6,315 | W, 68-67 (OT) |
Season Total | 18,470 | ||
Season Average | 6,157 |