NCAA football attendance slips a bit

Published Feb. 22, 2010 9:05 p.m. ET

foxsports

Attendance at NCAA football games was down slightly in 2009 compared with the record 2008 season.

The NCAA reported Monday that almost 48.3 million fans attended games at the 630 NCAA schools, including home, neutral-site and postseason games. That's down about 1 percent from the 48.8 million in 2008.

NCAA associate director of statistics Gary K. Johnson said crowds were bound to level off after years of increases. He said the economic downturn could have been a factor.

Average attendance at Football Bowl Subdivision games was 46,281.

Michigan led the nation with an average crowd of 108,933. Penn State, Ohio State and Texas also averaged better than 100,000 a game. The Southeastern Conference led all leagues in attendance, at 76,288 a game.

Division II and Division III saw slight increases in attendance.