Showing that football is a huge deal in California, the Fresno State Bulldogs again led the Mountain West with 34,876 tickets sold per game in 2014. The 34,876 was a drop of 2,041 per game from the 36,917 Fresno State averaged in the season. The Bulldogs were able to secure one sellout of Bulldog Stadium in a loss to Big Ten power Nebraska. Fresno State was the only MWC team to bring in 30,000+ in every home game. Even with the loss of over 2,000 per game, the Bulldogs still pulled in over 200,000 tickets sold again with 209,257.
Even with yet another berth and win in a BCS Bowl game, Boise State also saw a drop in attendance from 2013 in similar numbers to Fresno State. The Broncos averaged an impressive 34,366 per game in 2013 but could only muster 32,504 fans in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl winning season. The biggest surprise for the Broncos was an attendance of only 26,101 in the MWC Championship Game, a game that put Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Overall, Boise State had one extra home game and pulled in 227,526 total in 2014, up from 206,198 in a six game home schedule of 2013.
Making three Mountain West teams with over 200,000 in total tickets sold in 2014, San Diego State saw a drop in average attendance but not to the levels of Boise or Fresno. The Aztecs dropped from 33,224 in 2013 to 32,406 per game in 2014, a decrease of 818 tickets sold per game. Even with that drop, the Aztecs had one extra game (7) than in 2013 (6) that was able to push the overall tickets sold number to 226,406. Those numbers saw San Diego State miss out on overtaking Boise for second in the conference by 98 per game.
Even though one of the service academies where attendance is always good, Air Force was not immune to the drop in numbers with an average attendance of 32,652 in 2013 but only 28,161 in 2014. That drop of 4,491 per game really hurt the overall attendance numbers in addition to one fewer game counted into the statistics. Homecoming versus Idaho saw San Diego State bring in an impressive 46,293 that was approximately 11,000 more tickets sold than any other 2014 game. With seven games in 2013, the Falcons brought in 228,562 but only 168,967 in 2014 with only six games counting for attendance figures.
Another program with historically good attendance that saw a drop in 2014 was Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors brought in 30,989 in 2013 for a six game total of 185,931 but saw the average drop to 27,541 per game in 2013. Even having Washington (36,411) and Oregon State (29,050) visit in back to back weeks, the Rainbow Warriors were unable to see a huge spike in ticket sales. The overall attendance actually increased with an extra game counting to put the overall attendance number at 192,159.
Despite hosting both Washington State and Boise State in a very good 2014 home slate, the Nevada Wolfpack were yet another Mountain West team to see attendance drop from the 2013 season. Nevada's drop wasn't as drastic as other programs with 24,939 in 2013 to 23,862 in 2014, a loss of just over 1,000 tickets sold per game. The Washington State game was a bit of a bust with only 26,023 at that game, due in large part to the game being played on a Friday night for TV purposes. Even with the loss of tickets sold, the Wolfpack were able to still draw over 140,000 fans for the entire season yet again.
In a magical season that saw Colorado State flirt with the top 25 rankings, the Rams had one of the biggest increases in average attendance from 18,600 in 2013 to 26,575 in 2014, an increase of 7,975. That increase put Colorado State in the top five nationally in attendance increase in the 2014 season. If the neutral site game versus Colorado is added to the mix, the Rams average attendance moves into the 31,000 range. The overall increase in tickets sold from 111,598 to 159,450. Those 47,000+ tickets sold are huge for any program at this level.
Though hosting five bowl teams in the 2014 season, the New Mexico Lobos were unable to even stay even with the 2013 season with a loss of 1,600 tickets sold per game. New Mexico saw Pac-12 program Arizona State (25,742) and longtime rival UTEP (25,802) bring in solid crowds but nowhere near the level hoped for heading into the season. Nearly 14,000 empty seats were not ideal for those two games. As the season progressed, attendance numbers dropped as low as 18,489 with an average of 21,937 per game, down from the 23,537 in 2013.
Handicapped by a less than ideal home slate, the Utah State Aggies saw their attendance drop by 2,796 from 23,263 per game in 2013 to 20,467 per game in 2014. Utah State's attendance will always be capped with stadium capacity at 25,513 but 2013 saw three sellouts while the 2014 season saw zero sellouts. Two of the three were versus BYU and Boise but the third was against Weber State, showing that it is possible to sell out at Utah State despite a less than ideal opponent. 2015 should see the numbers jump again with a much better home slate.
Shaking off some very poor attendance numbers late in the season, the Wyoming Cowboys were one of the few Mountain West Conference teams to actually increase in attendance from 2013 to 2014. The Cowboys saw 19,476 enter in 2013 with another 123 per game in 2014, putting the average at 19,599. Crowds of 25,243 versus Montana, 21,246 versus Air Force, and 21,226 versus Florida Atlantic helped give Wyoming a shot at breaking the 20,000 average last fall.
In the final season under head coach Bobby Hauck, the UNLV Rebels were one of the worst teams in the Mountain West Conference, only beating out San Jose State in average attendance. The Rebels saw their 2013 average of 17,212 drop to only 15,674 in 2014 with only one game (Nevada-20,151) breaking the 20,000 barrier. The 94,043 total attendance was a drop of over 25,000 fans with the 2013 season having an extra game added to the numbers.
Barely filling half of Spartan Stadium, the San Jose State Spartans struggled more than any other team in the Mountain West Conference with only 15,068 tickets sold per game in 2014, a drop from 16,362 in 2014. The Spartan fanbase never got interested in the football program with the season opening win over North Dakota bringing in a season low 10,371. The numbers never really improved significantly as only games versus Colorado State (17,887) and Hawaii (17,962) breaking the 17,000 barrier. Those numbers look worse as San Jose State only played five home games with only 75,340 total tickets sold in 2014.
Overall, the Mountain West Conference held steady at seventh in conference attendance rankings, just behind the American Athletic Conference. The conference average of 25,254 was a drop of 826 fans per game from 2013 with the MWC still unable to break the two million fan barrier but still within the range to do so in 2015.
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