HBCUs, especially the SWAC, rank atop the FCS in 2018 attendance

Jackson, Miss. – Despite all of the coaching issues surrounding the football team including its current search for a head coach, Jackson State finished atop the FCS in home attendance for the 2018 regular season.

The Tigers averaged 24,770 people per home game this season. JSU’s highest attendance among home games came against Alabama A&M (W.C. Gordon Classic – 30,472) in the Tigers first home game of the season and against Mississippi Valley State (JSU’s homecoming  – 29,500).

Tiger Nation,

We finished 2018 with an average attendance of 24,770 per game, which is No.1 in FCS!

Thank you!#TheeILove pic.twitter.com/XWKJIp6ur5

— Jackson State Athletics (@GoJSUTigers) November 23, 2018

Big Sky member Montana finished second in attendance with 24,677 people.

Seven other HBCUs rounded out the top 20 schools for average home attendance. They include Southern (4), Florida A&M (7), Alabama State (10), North Carolina A&T (11), Alabama A&M (13), South Carolina State (19) and Tennessee State (20).

Not to mention, the 2018 Bayou Classic — the annual Southern-Grambling showdown — drew the largest crowd for the FCS season with 67,871 people attending the game in New Orleans.

The Bayou Classic drew the largest crowd of the #FCS season:
Grambling-Southern (New Orleans): 67,871
Alabama A&M-Alabama State (Birmingham, Ala,): 65,906
Bethune-Cookman/Florida A&M (Orlando, Fla.): 52,142
Grambling-Prairie View A&M (Dallas): 47,921
Harvard-Yale (Boston): 34,675 pic.twitter.com/qMhR4zCoNf

— FCS Football (@FCS_STATS) November 25, 2018