Penn State Records Highest Football Attendance Since 2008

The Lions ranked second nationally in average attendance at more than 107,000 fans per game.

Penn State delivered a big year for football ticket sales at Beaver Stadium, recording its highest home attendance under head coach James Franklin and its best figures since 2008.

The program announced a seven-game Beaver Stadium attendance total of 751,650 fans, the most since Franklin became head coach in 2014. Penn State averaged 107,379 fans per home game, the fifth-best average in program history and its best since the Big Ten championship season of 2008.

Penn State's attendance figures include tickets sold and distributed. Actual attendance at Beaver Stadium, particularly for weather-impacted games against Northwestern and Maryland and the home finale against Michigan State, were lower. Penn State does not release actual attendance.

"I want to thank the fans," Franklin said after the team's 35-16 win over Michigan State to close the regular season. "This is always a challenging week for us over Thanksgiving break. Obviously we're down 45,000 students. This is always a challenging weekend because of that, but we get unbelievable support.

"...  It’s special. You know, even today, most programs in the country would die for the attendance that we get on this Thanksgiving weekend. So that was awesome."

Michigan led the nation in average attendance at 110,246 fans per game. Penn State was second, followed by Ohio State (104,663).

According to The Athletic, Penn State sold nearly 92,000 season tickets in 2022. That includes more than 20,000 student season tickets.

Here is Penn State's announced attendance for each home game of the 2022 season:

• Ohio                     107,306
• Central Michigan 106,624
• Northwestern      105,524
• Minnesota            109,813
• Ohio State            108,433
• Maryland              108,796
• Michigan State     105,154

No. 11 Penn State (10-2) will face No. 8 Utah in the Rose Bowl in Jan. 2 in Pasadena. ESPN will televise.

PENN STATE FANS: Looking for Rose Bowl tickets? SI Tickets is your one-stop shop for tickets to a variety of Penn State sporting events, from football to basketball, hockey to volleyball. Need tickets to the Penn State game? Check out SI Tickets.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.