May 14, 2009

Lexington, Ky. – Just as fans routinely pack Rupp Arena to watch the Wildcats play, Kentucky annually leads the nation in average attendance. The NCAA’s recently compiled attendance figures from this past season reveal that in 2008-09, for the 13th time in 14 years, UK’s average crowd of 22,239 led all of Division I men’s basketball.

It marks the 21st time in the 33-year history of Rupp Arena that Kentucky has had the top attendance figure. A total of 422,547 fans passed through the turnstiles for 19 Wildcat games during the 2008-09 season. Syracuse, with an average crowd of 21,044, was second, followed by North Carolina (21,035), Tennessee (20,483) and Louisville (19,397).

Nationally, 27.7 million attended Division I men’s games last season, an average of 5,378 per game. The Southeastern Conference was second among all conferences in average attendance, drawing 11,625 fans, behind only the Big Ten’s 12,519 average.