The Celebration Bowl continues to make its mark during the madness that is college football bowl season.
With the conclusion of the college football playoff semifinals, the official attendance numbers have been counted. According to ESPN, the Celebration Bowl is among the top 15 in attendance, with 41,108 observers witnessing Florida A&M defeat Howard for the Black College National Championship.
That number is good enough for 14th among all bowl games, ahead of the Gator Bowl (40,132) and slightly behind the Duke’s Mayo Bowl (42,925).
Top 15 Highest Attended #BowlGames this year.
– Celebration Bowl is once again Top 15
– Fiesta Bowl disappoints
– Texas Bowl impresses pic.twitter.com/hLI7x9lZhd— Penalty Talk (@PenaltyTalk) January 3, 2024
The attendance figures are good news for ESPN, the MEAC and SWAC, and Cricket, especially after people were concerned about this season’s game being the lowest television-rated matchup in its history and with more than 8,000 fewer people than the 2022 contest between Jackson State, then led by Deion Sanders and North Carolina Central.
Even with that, 2023’s attendance is 20-25 percent higher than the attendance of the pre-pandemic Celebration Bowls that featured North Carolina A&T and Alcorn State (31,672 in 2018 and 32,968 in 2019).
