The Celebration Bowl, which featured a memorable postseason finish, held its own among FBS bowls in attendance.
With one major bowl game left to play — the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between TCU and Georgia at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles next Monday — the HBCU title game will rank in the top 15 most-attended event of the 2022-23 bowl season.
The Celebration Bowl tilt between Jackson State and North Carolina Central played at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta drew a game-record 49,670 fans on Dec. 17.
That figure was higher than the Holiday Bowl, Sun Bowl, Citrus Bowl, Duke’s Mayo Bowl and 24 other bowls featuring FBS schools.
The Celebration Bowl was only immediately surpassed in attendance by the Liberty Bowl (52,847), Texas Bowl (53,251), Cotton Bowl (55,329), and Sugar Bowl (60,437).
As of Wednesday, the most-attended bowls have been the Rose Bowl (94,873), Peach Bowl (79,330), Fiesta Bowl (71,723) and Gator Bowl (67,383). The only other bowls with attendance figures above 60,000 were Orange Bowl (63,912), Alamo Bowl (62,730) and Cheez-It Bowl (61,520).
The growth of the Celebration Bowl since its inception in 2015 has cemented itself as a staple of the HBCU and college bowl season.
“We are just getting started,” Celebration Bowl executive director John Grant told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The Rose Bowl is 103 years old. We are only seven. If we can be where we are at seven, imagine where we can be at 50? At 103? We are at that point, you get to year five or six and you start the see the business turn. This is our Super Bowl.”
