The Dirks Group presents: FCS Attendance Facts & Insights from 2024 Season

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Sources: NCAA Stats / Hero Sports / SCPP

In the chart below, please find a list of 129 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) programs, their conference affiliation, average attendance (2024), and the percent to which they fill their respective stadium’s capacity. This season (2025/26 academic year) the University of New Haven is beginning the transition from DII to the FCS , which will bring the subdivision’s total to 130 active or in transition programs.

That said, it should be noted that 136 teams are currently active or in transition within the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) As a result, there are, at the writing of this blog, 266 colleges & universities participation in college football @ the DI level!

In the FCS, the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) lead the way, as far as game attendance plays out on Saturday afternoons & evenings. The SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) & the MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) have ten (10) programs in the top twenty (20) and twelve (12) in the top twenty-five (25). Jackson State has led the way for the past several years, including 2022, where JSU topped out at an impressive, 42,000!

As a reference point, in 2022, Jackson State’s 42,000 outdrew the SEC’s Vanderbilt 23,458; Big 12’s: TCU 39,529 (The Frogs played for the National Championship in 2022, UGA 65 TCU 7) & Kansas 28,413; Big Ten’s: Maryland 38,069, Illinois 35,347, & Northwestern 30,796; ACC’s: Duke’s 15,424, Wake Forest 28,721, Syracuse 32,4651, Boston College 34,782, & Georgia Tech 37,733,

In the FCS, there are 13 conferences, three of them to not play in / for the FCS Championship (IVY League, MEAC, SWAC) for specific reasons of their choosing. That leaves 10 conferences competing for the championship, of which, the conference champ get an automatic bid, accounting for ten (10) of the twenty four participants in the tourney! This leaves 14 at-large bids! The three (3) best conferences in the FCS, based on how these bids are awarded are: the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), Big Sky (B-Sky) & Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). In the 2024 FCS Tournament, the Big Sky placed 5 teams in the field, the MVFC & the CAA both placed 4 of their programs in the 24 team playoff. In other words, these three conferences accounted for 54% of the tourney’s participants.

Now let’s take a peek on how making the playoff impacts or impacted attendance?

The Big Sky had 4 of the 5 teams in the tourney in the FCS attendance top 25. Montana (2), MT State (3), Idaho (16), UC Davis (19), with only Northern AZ (43) was outside the top 25. Sacramento State (12) was the lone top 25 attending team in the B-Sky that did not make the FCS tourney.

The MVFC had two (2) of its four (4) participants who made the playoffs and were also ranked among the top 25 attending programs, South Dakota State (6) & North Dakota State (16). While Illinois State (36) & South Dakota (43) made the tourney, yet struggled to get people through the gates with attendance rankings well outside the top 25. That said, North Dakota (21) & Northern Iowa (25) were two Valley teams that did well at the gate, yet failed to make Tournament.

The CAA placed four (4) teams in the tourney of which, shockingly, none were a top 25 attending program! New Hampshire was the highest ranked Coastal team @ 48th, Richmond was 57th in stadium attendance, Rhode Island was 72nd & Villanova was 73rd. It should be noted that Delaware (8), a CAA program, was ineligible for the tournament do to its moving to the FBS for the 2025 season & that William & Mary (31) had more fans in their stands than any of the CAA teams who qualified (won the conference) or were selected (at-large).

Finally, it is my sad duty to report, that of the 19 teams playing in the Northeast Conference (NEC) (8) and the Pioneer Conference (11) only one team managed to stay under the 100 attending mark; Central Connecticut stumbled across the finish line at 97th. Needless to say the two weakest conferences, in terms of ‘Tails in Chairs” … were the NEC & Pioneer!

Rk /	Team & Conference /	Avg. ATN /.	% of Capacity
1	Jackson / SWAC	27,213	68.03
2	MT / B-Sky	25,845	102.49
3	MT State / B-Sky	21,899	123.19
4	Tarleton St. / UAC	19,147	79.78
5	AL State / SWAC	18,868	71.2
6	SDSU / MVFC	18,504	95.68
7	S-ern U / SWAC	18,463	64.78
8	DE / CAA	17,329	95.86
9	FL A&M / SWAC	17,043	86.81
10	NDSU / MVFC	16,789	89.78
11	N-folk St. / MEAC	14,544	48.48
12	Sacramento / B-Sky	14,047	66.27
13	SC State / MEAC	13,962	63.47
14	NC A&T / SWAC	13,265	61.7
15	H. Cross / Patriot	12,084	51.42
16	ID / B-Sky	11,500	71.87
17	Alcorn / SWAC	11,408	50.7
18	Grambling / SWAC	11,334	57.82
19	UC Davis / B-Sky	11,266	103.84
20	Harvard / IVY	11,079	36.54
21	N Dakota / MVFC	10,284	83.72
22	McNeese / MEAC	10,269	57.66
23	Citadel / SoCon	10,225	88.92
24	TX S-ern / SWAC	10,225	46.48
25	N-ern IA / MVFC	10,135	62.99
26	E. TN St / SoCon	9,881	128.43
27	AL A&M / SWAC	9,803	46.68
28	MO State / MVFC	9,663	55.22
29	Prairie V. / SWAC	9,448	62.99
30	Ab. Christ / UAC	9,356	103.95
31	W & M / CAA	9,088	78.03
32	NC Cent. / MEAC	8,989	89.89
33	Y-town / MVFC	8,974	43.5
34	W’ Car. / SoCon	8,601	62.37
35	Mercer / SoCon	8,576	84.08
36	IL State / MVFC	8,564	64
37	M-ray St. / MVFC	8,332	52.07
38	Furman / SoCon	8,289	51.81
39	Beth-Cook / SWAC	8,085	84.21
40	S-ern IL / MVFC	8,052	53.68
41	North AL / UAC	7,905	55.61
42	Weber St. / B-Sky	7,850	47.95
43	N-ern AZ / B-Sky	7,611	76.11
44	Cal Poly / B-Sky	7,445	67.22
45	S Dakota / MVFC	7,364	80.92
46	Chat. / SoCon	7,343	35.53
47	Central AR / SLC	7,298	72.98
48	New Hamp. / CAA	7,278	66.07
49	ID State / B-Sky	7,215	60.12
50	NW State / SLC	7,045	44.11
51	TN T. / BSC-OVC	6,885	83.45
52	AR-PB / SWAC	6,883	47.47
53	Lamar / SLC	6,706	41.91
54	Elon / CAA	6,532	58.06
55	Austin Peay / UAC	6,320	63.2
56	Stony Brook / CAA	6,267	50.95
57	Rich. / CAA	6,139	70.57
58	E. WA / B-Sky	6,061	70.48
59	SE MO / BSC-OVC	6,022	60.22
60	Penn / IVY	6,009	11.55
61	E KY / BSC-OVC	5,994	29.97
62	Brown / IVY	5,972	29.86
63	Cornell / IVY	5,918	27.53
64	Nicholls / SLC	5,909	56.28
65	Lehigh / Patriot	5,831	36.44
66	MS Valley / SWAC	5,717	54.44
67	Columbia / IVY	5,626	33.09
68	Howard / MEAC	5,525	77.97
69	M-head / Pioneer	5,514	55.14
70	Albany / CAA	5,392	63.43
71	Princeton / IVY	5,364	17.88
72	Rh. Island / CAA	5,352	103.54
73	Villanova / CAA	5,313	44.28
74	Yale / IVY	5,310	8.26
75	Towson / CAA	5,288	47.22
76	TN St / BSC-OVC	5,253	35.02
77	Merrimack / IND	5,236	149.59
78	E. IL / BSC-OVC	5,231	52.31
79	Maine / CAA	5,189	51.89
80	VMI / SoCon	4,850	48.5
81	SF Austin / SLC	4,499	30.87
82	S. Heart / IND	4,368	109.2
83	Samford / SoCon	4,281	63.89
84	Dartmouth / IVY	4,274	38.86
85	E TX A&M / SLC	4,265	42.65
86	S-ern UT / UAC	4,173	49.1
87	Hampton / CAA	4,148	34.57
88	SE LA / SLC	4,099	55.39
89	Campbell / CAA	4,013	72.97
90	Lafayette / Patriot	3,912	29.79
91	L-wood / BSC-OVC	3,861	64.35
92	UT Tech / UAC	3,819	38.19
93	Morgan / MEAC	3,803	38.03
94	UTM / BSC-OVC	3,789	50.52
95	Char. S / BSC-OVC	3,708	92.71
96	Wofford / SoCon	3,679	28.3
97	Central CT / NEC	3,600	65.46
98	IN State / MVFC	3,434	26.9
99	G-town / Patriot	3,404	136.15
100	G-W / BSC-OVC	3,365	39.58
101	DE State / MEAC	3,333	46.34
102	W. GA / UAC	3,282	33.84
103	Dayton / Pioneer	3,264	29.68
104	St. Tom / Pioneer	3,220	64.09
105	Butler / Pioneer	3,199	56.65
106	Drake / Pioneer	3,188	21.9
107	N-ern CO / B-Sky	3,115	36.64
108	M-mouth / CAA	2,888	68.75
109	W. IL / BSC-OVC	2,851	17.42
110	Marist / Pioneer	2,805	56.1
111	Presby. / Pioneer	2,628	40.43
112	Wagner / NEC	2,620	79.4
113	S Diego / Pioneer	2,559	44.19
114	Portland / B-Sky	2,547	33.51
115	David. / Pioneer	2,507	55.72
116	Colgate / Patriot	2,338	22.88
117	Bryant / CAA	2,252	51.18
118	St Francis / NEC	2,145	61.3
119	R. Morris / NEC	2,096	69.87
120	Duquesne / NEC	2,029	92.23
121	Fordham / Patriot	1,962	28.03
122	Incarnate W. / SLC	1,907	31.79
123	H. Christion / SLC	1,876	37.52
124	Valpo / Pioneer	1,840	36.79
125	Stonehill / NEC	1,709	71.19
126	Stetson / Pioneer	1,515	25.25
127	Bucknell / Pioneer	1,352	10.32
128	Long Island / NEC	1,224	17.49
129	Mercyhurst / NEC	1,183	51.42