The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events each year and dominates the sports world for the two weeks leading up to the game. And while a significant portion of North America is glued to a TV during the game, either at home or at a bar for either the game itself or the commercials, there are tens of thousands of fortunate fans who get to watch the game live at the stadium.
And while millions would like to attend the game, the total attendance is dependent on the capacity of the stadium. We take a look below at the highest and lowest attended games and break down the attendance by Super Bowl:
Which Super Bowl Had The Most Attendance?
The record for the highest attended Super Bowl game in NFL history is held by Super Bowl XIV between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams at the Rose Bowl, which had an attendance number of 103,985. The Super Bowl has had an attendance of over 100,000 just five times with four of those times coming when the game was held at the Rose Bowl, the other 100,000+ attendance game came at Cowboys Stadium at Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers when 103,219 watched the game.
Which Super Bowl Had The Lowest Attendance?
The lowest attended Super Bowl game was Super Bowl I, which was then known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, hosted at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which had an attendance of 61,946. The game, from an attendance standpoint, was considered a disappointment as the max capacity for the coliseum was over 100,000 at the time.
Interestingly, ten years prior to Super Bowl I, a regular season game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers on November 10, 1957 held the record for the highest paid attendance game in NFL history, at 102,368, which was a record until Sept. 2009 at Cowboys Stadium.
Super Bowl Attendance By Game
The average attendance of a Super Bowl game has been 77,987 over the past 47 games.
Total Super Bowl Attendance (All Games)
Considering all Super Bowls combined, a total of 3,747,914 people have attended the games. Interestingly, there is a group referred to as the “Never Miss a Super Bowl Club”, which as the title suggests is comprised of people who have attended every single Super Bowl event. As of Super Bowl XLVII, this group consisted of just three people - Steelers fan Thomas Henschel, 49ers fan Larry Jacobson and Patriots fan Don Crisman.
Super Bowl XLIX Attendance
The upcoming Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which is domed stadium with a football game capacity of 78,600, which if it sells out would make it the 17th most attended Super Bowl game in history.