The Michigan Wolverines gridiron football team (and their fans) once again can boast of having the highest average attendance in all of American collegiate sports. The school is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is 44 miles west of Detroit, and has a population of around 114,000 (2000 census figure). The Ann Arbor campus has an enrollment of 42,042 (26,083 undergraduate students).
The Wolverines play in Michigan Stadium, which was built in 1927. It’s original capacity was 72,000; today it seats 107,501, and will be expanded to 110,000 by 2010. The stadium was standing room only last year… the Wolverines drew 110,264 per game in 2007, at 102.6% capacity.
Michigan played 8 games there last season, and were 5-3, the first loss coming to the tiny Appalachian State, Mountaineers, of Boone, North Carolina. Perhaps the Wolverines never fully recovered from that loss (one of the all-time biggest college football upsets. Below is a Sports Illustrated cover from last September- Click on the icon…
Michigan finished 9-4, and were ranked #18 in the final 2007 AP Poll.
Thanks to the NCAA site, for the attendance figures: {Click here for article; Click here for all 119 teams’ attendance figures (Note: numbers 120-138 on the list are from games teams played at alternate or secondary locations) [pdf file]}.
Thanks to CBS Sports site and Elite Deals site. Thanks to the [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania] Patriot-News site. Michigan map originally from Wikipedia.
It is pretty amazing that Michigan can consistently pull in that kind of attendance. I wonder if they have any plans to expand in the near future.
[site: http://www.golf-tickets.com/
Answer: Like my little write-up said, they plan to expand to 110,000 in 2010, but they probably could fill 120,000 or so, if it were feasible in such an old facility.
Comment by TheGolfMan — October 1, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Michigan is actually doing some renovations right now and will increase capacity by 2011, I think. Despite it’s age Michigan Stadium was built with
the future in mind. Michigan Stadium’s size is not entirely apparent to outside observers, as it is constructed partially below grade, leaving only the upper 20 rows (in most sections) visible from the outside. The stadium’s original capacity was 72,000, but Yost made certain to install steel footings that could allow for expansion up to 200,000 seats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Stadium
Answer: Thanks very much for the info.
Comment by Ethan — October 6, 2008 @ 9:30 am
Michigan has always been able to pull big numbers. The only thing that holds them back from more people going is that the stadium cant hold anymore. If it were bigger trust me the crowd would be bigger. You could probably add another 25% of seats and it would still be full.
Comment by lists — October 14, 2008 @ 12:37 pm