The NCAA shared its official men’s basketball attendance data for the 2018-19 season Thursday, and the numbers proved that Thompson-Boling Arena elevated its standing as one of the nation’s biggest and brightest stages for college hoops.
Tennessee ranked fourth nationally in average home attendance, drawing 19,034 fans per game last season. And UT’s total home attendance of 342,615 fans—spanning 18 games—ranked third in the country.
Tennessee sold 13,074 season tickets last season. That number by itself, without any single-game ticket sales factored in, would have been good enough to give UT the 22nd-highest average home attendance nationally.
The NCAA’s data also showed that Tennessee boasted the fourth-highest average attendance increase from 2017-18 to 2018-19, as home crowds at Thompson-Boling Arena grew by an average of 2,824 fans last year.
Taking all games into consideration—home, road and neutral-site—a total of 621,136 fans watched the Vols in-person last season. That also ranked fourth among all Division I teams.
Vol fans have become known for their “Feed the Floor” mantra, which has helped bolster Tennessee’s homecourt advantage in tangible ways. The Vols will enter the 2019-20 season tied for the nation’s longest active home win streak at 26 games. The Big Orange were a perfect 18-0 on Rocky Top last season.
In total, more than 24.6 million fans attended 5,364 Division I games featuring 351 teams last season. The average Division I attendance for 2018-19 was 4,593.
Among conferences, the SEC ranked second in average attendance (11,527) and third in total attendance (2.8 million) last season.
Fans interested in being a part of the action at Thompson-Boling Arena this coming season are encouraged to click HERE.
TOTAL HOME ATTENDANCE
Rank School Games Total
1. Syracuse 19 417,852
2. Kentucky 18 390,510
3. TENNESSEE 18 342,615
4. UNC 16 315,436
5. Indiana 21 319,335
AVERAGE HOME ATTENDANCE
Rank School Games Total
1. Syracuse 19 21,992
2. Kentucky 18 21,965
3. UNC 16 19,715
4. TENNESSEE 18 19,034
5. Wisconsin 15 17,170
LARGEST AVG. ATTENDANCE INCREASE
Rank School 2018-19 2017-18 Increase
1. Memphis 14,065 6,225 7,840
2. Marquette 15,611 12,323 3,288
3. Cincinnati 11,256 8,081 3,175
4. TENNESSEE 19,034 16,210 2,824
5. Pittsburgh 6,749 4,117 2,632
TOTAL ATTENDANCE – ALL GAMES
Rank School Total
1. Kentucky 664,559
2. Virginia 647,934
3. Michigan State 638,448
4. TENNESSEE 621,136
5. Syracuse 618,344
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