The University of Tennessee led all Division I schools in combined attendance for football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball during the 2025-26 athletic year, according to an April 27 announcement from the university.
This marks the third straight year that Tennessee has topped both overall and average attendance nationally across these three sports. The university recorded a total of 1,181,715 fans attending 37 home events, outpacing second-place Texas A&M by over 138,000 attendees.
Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Danny White said, “The power and passion of Vol Nation are unrivaled and there is simply nothing like it in sports. Once again, Vol Nation proves beyond a doubt that the absolute best fans in the country are right here on Rocky Top. On behalf of every student-athlete, coach, and staff member at Tennessee, thank you to the best fan base in all of sports for making Knoxville unmistakably ‘America’s College Sports City.'”
Tennessee also led Division I schools with an average attendance figure of 31,938 per event—nearly 6,000 more than Texas A&M—and was the only institution to rank top-15 nationally in cumulative or average attendance across all three major sports. In football alone, Tennessee hosted seven home games with a total attendance of 713,405 at Neyland Stadium. For men’s basketball, they drew over 327,000 fans across seventeen games at Food City Center; five of those games ranked among the top twelve single-game regular season attendances nationwide this past season.
The Lady Volunteers attracted more than 141,000 fans for their thirteen home contests. Their average crowd size placed them fourth nationally among women’s programs.
Looking ahead to future seasons or other sporting events such as baseball or volleyball at Tennessee venues may see continued high levels of fan engagement.
