NCAAB attendance

Big Ten, Kentucky Continue D-I Basketball Attendance Streaks; Creighton Up Big

Published May 15, 2012

NCAA D-I men’s basketball teams averaged 4,994 fans per game during the regular season in ’11-12, down slightly from 5,025 fans per game last year, according to data from the NCAA. A record 338 teams participated in D-I this past season, drawing a total of 27.7 million fans for the fourth-highest total all-time. For the seventh straight season, and for the 16th time in 17 seasons, Kentucky led the nation in home attendance with an average of 23,721 fans per game. Either Kentucky or Syracuse, which ranked second, has led the nation in home average each of the past 36 seasons. The Big Ten also led all conferences in attendance for the 36th straight year, with its average up slightly from ’10-11. Five D-I teams saw gains of 2,000 fans per game, led by Creighton, which saw its average jump by 23.4%. The school ranked sixth among all D-I teams this past season after ranking 22nd last season. Listed below are the top D-I conferences in attendance from the ’11-12 regular season, along with the top schools in average attendance during the same period (THE DAILY).

NCAA MEN'S D-I HOME BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE
RK	CONFERENCE	TEAMS	GMS	AVG.	PREV.	% +/-
1	Big Ten	12	222	12,868	12,826	0.3%
2	SEC	12	215	11,513	11,187	2.9%
3	Big 12	10	172	11,057	10,716	3.2%
4	Big East	16	288	10,881	11,323	-3.9%
5	ACC	12	209	9,876	10,266	-3.8%
6	Mountain West	8	140	7,800	9,122	-14.5%
7	Pac-12	12	221	7,143	7,808	-8.5%
8	Missouri Valley	10	164	7,064	7,187	-1.7%
9	Atlantic 10	14	218	5,556	5,249	5.8%
10	C-USA	12	203	5,428	5,679	-4.4%
RK	SCHOOL	GMS	AVG.	PREV.	% +/-	GMS ('10-11)
1	Kentucky	18	23,721	23,603	0.5%	15
2	Syracuse	19	23,618	22,312	5.9%	19
3	Louisville	20	21,503	21,832	-1.5%	21
4	North Carolina	18	20,159	19,144	5.3%	15
5	Wisconsin	18	17,181	17,230	-0.3%	16
6	Creighton	16	16,665	13,507	23.4%	22
7	Tennessee	19	16,543	18,952	-12.7%	18
8	Ohio State	20	16,511	15,125	9.2%	20
9	Indiana	19	16,462	15,259	7.9%	18
10	Kansas	17	16,445	16,436	0.1%	18
11	Memphis	20	16,234	16,768	-3.2%	19
12	BYU	16	15,424	18,714	-17.6%	14
13	Marquette	16	15,138	15,586	-2.9%	18
14	Illinois	18	14,986	15,851	-5.5%	16
15	Michigan State	18	14,797	14,797	0.0%	15