Two 2011 Texas High School State Championship Games Have Outdrawn Every Bowl Game

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Bowl fever!

Catch it!

Or don’t.

And most of y’all are choosing not to catch it.

So far there have been eight bowl games played. (Don’t worry, there are still 27 more). The highest attended of any of these games? The New Orleans Bowl which brought in 42,841. The second highest attended bowl game? Last night’s Independence Bowl which announced a crowd of 41,728.

Putting those numbers in perspective, two Texas high school state championship games drew more fans than every bowl game thus far.

Southlake Carroll and Fort Bend Hightower brought in 42,896 for their game on December 17th. That same day Aledo and Manvel bested that number with the fifth largest crowd to ever see a Texas high school football game — 43,369. So more people watched both of these games in person than any of the eight bowl games.  

Thanks to @sjkz on Twitter for the initial tip. I verified the attendance numbers at the Dallas Morning News’ high school sports Twitter feed.

Maybe you’re thinking, well, that number’s not bad for the Independence Bowl.

Yeah, that was the announced attendance. Look at the actual crowd via a photo from @tarheelfootball. That’s the official account of North Carolina football. Along with the photo was this satiric comment. “Rain seems to have kept a few people away.”

There my be more people at my CLE on conference realignment tomorrow.

The eight bowls are averaging 31,430 announced attendance thus far. But that’s announced attendance, a figure that is probably 50% inflated from the number that are actually there. (And that might be kind). So in reality college football has chosen to end its season with at least twenty games that will struggle to bring in 20,000 people.

What a ridiculous system.

I know what y’all are all thinking the bowls need to spice up attendance. (Aside from, you know, actually mattering).

And I agree completely.

Runaway golf carts.

I can’t stop watching this video.

And, by the way, my new favorite part is the fat guy who just falls down on his own as the golf cart passes.

Did he faint?

In the meantime, there are plenty of good seats available for every game but the BCS title game.

Send along the best pictures you can find of the stands and we’ll add more photos here. The Beef O’Brady’s Bowl only announced 20,072 for that game. I can’t even imagine what those photos look like.

Written by Clay Travis

Clay Travis is the founder of the fastest growing national multimedia platform, OutKick, that produces and distributes engaging content across sports and pop culture to millions of fans across the country. OutKick was created by Travis in 2011 and sold to the Fox Corporation in 2021.

One of the most electrifying and outspoken personalities in the industry, Travis hosts OutKick The Show where he provides his unfiltered opinion on the most compelling headlines throughout sports, culture, and politics. He also makes regular appearances on FOX News Media as a contributor providing analysis on a variety of subjects ranging from sports news to the cultural landscape. Throughout the college football season, Travis is on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports breaking down the game and the latest storylines.

Additionally, Travis serves as a co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour conservative radio talk program syndicated across Premiere Networks radio stations nationwide.

Previously, he launched OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio that included interviews and listener interactions and was on Fox Sports Bet for four years. Additionally, Travis started an iHeartRadio Original Podcast called Wins & Losses that featured in-depth conversations with the biggest names in sports.

Travis is a graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School. Based in Nashville, he is the author of Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top, and Republicans Buy Sneakers Too.