50 largest college football stadiums
(STACKER) – While college football has reached a broader TV audience in the last several years, the average in-person attendance at games declined for six years in a row from 2014 to 2021. The slump led some schools to take desperate measures to get fans in their seats, such as the University of Pittsburgh’s offering a free beverage to any student who stayed for an entire game. But still, in 2021, the average for the 130 teams in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision dropped to 39,848 fans per game, the lowest it had been in 40 years.
In 2022, however, with the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic in the rearview mirror, FBS attendance rose 5% to 41,840 fans per game, marking the biggest year-over-year increase since 1982. This trend continued in 2023, as 95 of the 133 FBS colleges increased attendance, while only 36 experienced declines. Five of the seven schools with the biggest attendance increases in 2023 were in the South, where college football is almost a religion. They were led by Houston (41.8% increase), whose fans were excited by the program’s move to the Big 12. South Florida, Maryland, Colorado (the biggest FBS story of the season), Georgia Southern, Louisville, Tulane, Hawai’i, and Texas State also had increases of at least 20%.
But, the top 50 biggest stadiums in the country all boast seating capacities that far exceed those average attendance figures; the top eight hold more than 100,000 people, and the largest has 107,601 seats. Three Football Championship Subdivision venues made the list as well.
To find out which teams can cram the most fans into their stadiums—and to celebrate the game’s most esteemed venues—Stacker ranked the 50 largest stadiums by seating capacity, according to data from College Gridirons as of Jan. 17, 2024, and from each college’s website.
#50. Franklin Field
– College: Pennsylvania
– Capacity: 52,593
– Opened: 1895
#49. Memorial Stadium
– College: Indiana
– Capacity: 52,626
– Opened: 1960
#48. Mountain America Stadium
– College: Arizona State
– Capacity: 53,599
– Opened: 1958
#47. Autzen Stadium
– College: Oregon
– Capacity: 54,000
– Opened: 1967
#46. Bobby Dodd Stadium
– College: Georgia Tech
– Capacity: 55,000
– Opened: 1913
#45. Boone Pickens Stadium
– College: Oklahoma State
– Capacity: 55,509
– Opened: 1919
#44. Carter-Finley Stadium
– College: North Carolina State
– Capacity: 58,000
– Opened: 1966
#43. Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium
– College: Memphis
– Capacity: 58,325
– Opened: 1965
#42. Milan Puskar Stadium
– College: West Virginia
– Capacity: 60,000
– Opened: 1980
#41. Jones AT&T Stadium
– College: Texas Tech
– Capacity: 60,454
– Opened: 1947
#40. Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium
– College: Jackson State
– Capacity: 60,492
– Opened: 1950
#39. Memorial Stadium
– College: Illinois
– Capacity: 60,670
– Opened: 1923
#38. L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium
– College: Louisville
– Capacity: 60,800
– Opened: 1998
#37. Kroger Field
– College: Kentucky
– Capacity: 61,000
– Opened: 1973
#36. Davis Wade Stadium
– College: Mississippi State
– Capacity: 61,377
– Opened: 1914
#35. Ross-Ade Stadium
– College: Purdue
– Capacity: 61,441
– Opened: 1924
#34. Yale Bowl
– College: Yale
– Capacity: 61,446
– Opened: 1914
#33. Jack Trice Stadium (tie)
– College: Iowa State
– Capacity: 61,500
– Opened: 1975
#33. Scott Stadium (tie)
– College: Virginia
– Capacity: 61,500
– Opened: 1931
#31. California Memorial Stadium
– College: Cal
– Capacity: 63,000
– Opened: 1923
#30. LaVell Edwards Stadium
– College: Brigham Young
– Capacity: 63,470
– Opened: 1964
#29. Alamodome
– College: Texas at San Antonio
– Capacity: 64,000
– Opened: 1993
#28. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
– College: Mississippi
– Capacity: 64,038
– Opened: 1915
#27. Raymond James Stadium
– College: South Florida
– Capacity: 65,000
– Opened: 1998
#26. Lane Stadium
– College: Virginia Tech
– Capacity: 65,632
– Opened: 1965
#25. Kinnick Stadium
– College: Iowa
– Capacity: 69,250
– Opened: 1929
#24. Husky Stadium
– College: Washington
– Capacity: 70,138
– Opened: 1920
#23. Memorial Stadium
– College: Missouri
– Capacity: 71,168
– Opened: 1927
#22. Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
– College: Arkansas
– Capacity: 72,000
– Opened: 1938
#21. Spartan Stadium
– College: Michigan State
– Capacity: 74,866
– Opened: 1923
#20. Camp Randall Stadium
– College: Wisconsin
– Capacity: 76,118
– Opened: 1917
#19. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
– College: USC
– Capacity: 77,500
– Opened: 1923
#18. Williams-Brice Stadium
– College: South Carolina
– Capacity: 77,559
– Opened: 1934
#17. Doak S. Campbell Stadium
– College: Florida State
– Capacity: 79,560
– Opened: 1950
#16. Notre Dame Stadium
– College: Notre Dame
– Capacity: 80,795
– Opened: 1930
#15. Frank Howard Field-Clemson Memorial Stadium
– College: Clemson
– Capacity: 81,500
– Opened: 1942
#14. Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
– College: Oklahoma
– Capacity: 86,112
– Opened: 1925
#13. Jordan-Hare Stadium
– College: Auburn
– Capacity: 88,043
– Opened: 1939
#12. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
– College: Florida
– Capacity: 88,548
– Opened: 1930
#11. Memorial Stadium
– College: Nebraska
– Capacity: 90,000
– Opened: 1923
#10. Rose Bowl
– College: UCLA
– Capacity: 91,136
– Opened: 1922
#9. Sanford Stadium
– College: Georgia
– Capacity: 92,746
– Opened: 1929
#8. Bryant-Denny Stadium
– College: Alabama
– Capacity: 100,077
– Opened: 1929
#7. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
– College: Texas
– Capacity: 100,119
– Opened: 1924
#6. Neyland Stadium
– College: Tennessee
– Capacity: 101,915
– Opened: 1921
#5. Tiger Stadium
– College: LSU
– Capacity: 102,321
– Opened: 1924
#4. Kyle Field
– College: Texas A&M
– Capacity: 102,733
– Opened: 1905
#3. Ohio Stadium
– College: Ohio State
– Capacity: 102,780
– Opened: 1922
#2. Beaver Stadium
– College: Penn State
– Capacity: 106,572
– Opened: 1960
#1. Michigan Stadium
– College: Michigan
– Capacity: 107,601
– Opened: 1927
