Leading the way in both 2013 and 2014 was Louisiana. The Ragin' Cajuns have been able to find a great band of supporters in Lafayette and around to the tune of 25,976 per game in 2014, an drop of 201 per game from the 25,775 in 2013. Louisiana had fewer overall fans in 2014 but had only 5 home and neutral games compared to 6 in 2013. Both years, the Ragin' Cajuns broke 129,000 fans on the year.
Another team to really embrace college football in the Sun Belt is Arkansas State. The Red Wolves were stabilize their per game attendance with 24,861 in 2013 and 24,913 in 2014. That is only an decrease of 52 people per game but that added up to 314 fewer tickets sold. Arkansas state led the Sun Belt in overall attendance with 149,477 total fans in 2014, just down from 149,163 in 2013.
Coming up from the FCS level, many teams struggle to bring a significant fan base and struggle for many years after the transition. Appalachian State was not one of those programs in bringing a healthy 23,166 fans in an NCAA transition year after leading the FCS in 2013 with 24,894 per game. While a loss of 10,000 overall tickets sold is a disappointment, the Mountaineers should see that number creep back to the 25,000 range with a good 2015 year, their first bowl-eligible season.
Also mired in a transition season, Georgia Southern actually saw their attendance numbers spike by 6,274 per game from 14,828 to 21,102. Those high numbers were in part to an excitement of the first year in FBS but also due to the excellent play of the Eagles that included a Sun Belt crown though they were not eligible for a bowl due to NCAA transition rules. Despite playing one fewer home game than in 2013, the Eagles improved from 88,968 total tickets sold in 2013 to 105,510 in 2014. That is one of the single biggest jumps and the 6,274 per game would have ranked them eighth in the nation in increase.
Another recent FBS graduate saw 2014 improve attendance numbers with Texas State jumping from 18,062 per game in 2013 to an impressive 20,598 per game in 2014, ranking the Bobcats 22nd in the nation in attendance increase at 2,536. During that time, Texas State has become closer to earning their first FBS bowl trip and moved from 108,371 overall tickets sold to 123,589.
Louisiana-Monroe was another Sun Belt team to see their attendance increase from 17,035 in 2013 to 18,108 in 2014, an increase of 1,073 per game. The increase is interesting to see and plays in contrast to a tough 2014 season that saw the Warhawks struggle to a 4-8 season. Just over 5,000 extra tickets sold will definitely help the bottom line for a program like ULM.
South Alabama, Troy, and Georgia State were the three other Sun Belt teams to keep their attendance over 15,000 per game in 2014. South Alabama saw their total rise in proportion to an excellent 2014 season that saw them end up in the Camellia Bowl. The Jaguars saw 15,926 pass the turnstiles in 2013 but that number jumped to 17,445 in 2014, a rise of 1,519 fans per game. Those extra fans helped South Alabama break the 100,000 season attendance total with 104,669 in 2014.
Troy had a disappointing season on the field and in the box office with a losing record of 3-9 and a drop in attendance from 18,906 in 2013 to 16,767 in 2014, a decrease of 2,139 per game for the Trojans. Luckily for Troy, 6 games were being on home or neutral sites and the overall attendance was actually up just over 6,000 due to only 5 games at home or neutral sites in 2013.
Georgia State has been an excellent case study for attendance with their location and stadium both showing the ability to put up huge numbers. While those categories are both in the Panthers favor, the vicinity of two big time college programs in Georgia Tech and Georgia keeps the fan base from rapidly expanding. As a transition school in 2013, Georgia State brought in 15,577 per game. That number dropped by 571 to 15,006 in 2014 with the Panthers struggling to only one win. Unless Georgia State is winning, it is hard to pull in a 20,000+ crowd with all of the other college football options nearby.
FBS nomads Idaho and New Mexico State both saw their attendance numbers drop significantly from 2013 to 2014, their first season as Sun Belt programs. In 2013, Idaho brought in 14,744 fans per game, not good but impressive considering they were an independent program with rumors swirling that they would end up stepping down to the FCS level. With more solid footing in the Sun Belt, fans stayed away from the Vandals and Idaho saw their attendance drop 1,858 fans to 12,886 per game. Those numbers have to increase for Idaho to become financially viable at the FBS level.
Rounding out the Sun Belt with the lowest 2014 attendance numbers was New Mexico State. The Aggies pulled in 16,050 fans in 2013 as an independent but saw those numbers drop to 12,269 in 2014 as a member of the Sun Belt. That drop of 3,781 fans per game shows that New Mexico State badly needs a conference like the Mountain West to accept them into membership to foster conference rivalries that can increase the attendance to at least 15,000 per game.
With the new additions of Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, New Mexico State and Idaho, the Sun Belt ended the 2014 season with an average attendance conference wide of 18,980 in 63 games played. Those numbers put the Sun Belt 9th in overall conference average attendance with only the MAC trailing with 15,431 per game. The Sun Belt was only 1,475 per game behind Conference USA and would have overtaken them if Idaho and New Mexico State would have held to their previous year's attendance.
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