College football attendance rose in 2022 with largest year-over-year increase since 1982

Seemingly everything college football was up in 2022: ticket prices, NIL riches, coaching salaries, your blood pressure if you were a Miami fan. Add attendance to the conga line of increases. In 2022, FBS attendance rose for the first time in eight years.

If you’ve paid attention to the sport’s waning attendance figures, that’s big deal. Official NCAA data shows that average FBS attendance increased 5% last season to 41,840 fans per game. While that sounds like a modest increase, it’s significant as it indicates the second-highest per game rise (1,992) in history. (The NCAA has been keeping attendance figures since 1978.)

Not since 1982, when attendance rose an average of 9,068 per game from 1981, has there been a larger increase. The 2021 season marked the lowest average attendance (39,848) since that same year (1981).

The SEC is a good example of the somewhat-radical shift last season. The football-mad conference went from, in 2021, its lowest average attendance since 1999 to the fifth-largest figure in conference’s history last season. The SEC led the country in attendance for the 24th consecutive year.

Just don’t ask how or why. There may be some attributable explanations, but they aren’t necessarily obvious. Attendance in 2021 declined for a record seventh consecutive year and for the ninth time in the last 10 years. (Not counting 2020 when the NCAA did not keep attendance data amid the COVID-19 pandemic season.)

Perhaps 2022 marked a further recovery from the ravages of pandemic, reflected in the stands. Two years removed from the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, more fans were out and about. Perhaps it was turnarounds by non-traditional powers Kansas, Duke and Tulane (all up at least 48% from 2021).

Perhaps game day is becoming more “experiential.” That’s a code word in marketing circles for making the experience in the stands worthwhile, as close to the one at home as possible. For years, school and conference officials blamed the convenience of the 70-inch TV, the Barcalounger and the remote — hello, channel surfing. Staying at home also saved on parking and concession costs.

Or perhaps 2022 was the beginning of a new era in consuming college football. While cable subscribers are down in general, watching the real thing in person isn’t so bad after all.

• Tickets are a click away. They exist on your phone, no longer a place in your wallet. Buy,…