The 2024 college football season is underway with Week 1 in the books for the Big 12 Conference. There were 16 games across the league from Thursday to Saturday night, with the conference going 14-2 overall. The lone losses were Houston vs. UNLV and West Virginia against Penn State.
But across the Big 12, passionate fanbases showed out to kick off a new season of college football.
Here are the attendance numbers for each Big 12 team in Week 1.
BYU: 63,712
West Virginia: 62,084
Texas Tech: 60,229
Iowa State: 56,148
Utah: 52,210
Oklahoma State: 52,202
Kansas State: 51,240
Colorado: 49,438
Arizona State: 48,108
Arizona: 44,748
UCF: 44,206
Baylor: 42,272
Cincinnati: 37,654
Houston: 25,750
Kansas: 20,829
The only team not listed here was TCU because the Horned Frogs played on the road to open the season vs. Stanford.
Given BYU’s struggles last year going 5-7 and 2-7 in the Big 12, with expectations not all that high in 2024, it was a nice surprise to see the Cougars lead the way in attendance, especially given their opponent (Southern Illinois). But it’s a reminder that BYU has one of the best and most passionate fan bases in the country. If Kalani Sitake can turn the program into a Big 12 contender, Provo is going to be going nuts.
Most of these games were a sell out, or close to it, but obviously capacity plays a factor as well, and BYU leads the Big 12 in that category. LaVell Edwards Stadium has a capacity of 63,470.
Also note, Kansas opened its season at Children’s Mercy Park, home of the MLS team Sporting KC, as their on-campus stadium undergoes a renovation. That stadium’s capacity is right around 21,000 for a soccer match.
Week 2 of the college football season is right around the corner with several marquee match ups for the Big 12 Conference. Expect many full houses across the league.
