Big Ten leads nation in men’s hoop attendance again

Published 8:52 am Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Big Ten led the nation in men’s basketball attendance for the 35th consecutive season according to recent figures released by the NCAA.

The Big Ten led all conferences with an average of 12,826 fans per home game, which was more than 1,500 fans more than the next-closest conference.

During the 2010-11 regular season, the Big Ten welcomed 2,475,440 fans through the gates over 193 games, marking the 19th straight year the conference has eclipsed the two-million mark in total attendance.

Seven conference schools ranked in the top 25 in average attendance, while no other conference had more than four top-25 programs.

Wisconsin ranked seventh nationally with an average of 17,230 fans per game. Illinois came in at No. 10 (15,851), followed by No. 12 Indiana (15,259), No. 13 Ohio State (15,125) and No. 15 Michigan State (14,797). Also among the top 25 were No. 17 Purdue (13,916) and No. 24 Minnesota (13,241).