How Tennessee Vols fans once again proved they're the best in college athletics

Tennessee Vols fans can officially call themselves the most passionate fans in college athletics. 

At least they were this past season for home games. 

According to UTSports.com, no program in the nation hosted more fans for games across football, men's basketball, and women's basketball than Tennessee this past season (2023-24). 

1,161,218 people attended Tennessee's 38 home events for football, men's basketball, and women's basketball. 

The next closest total to Tennessee was LSU which drew 96,000 fewer fans across 44 home events. 

"The unwavering support of our fans is what makes Knoxville 'America's College Sports City' and gives us the best fan base in all of sports," said Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White in a statement. "We appreciate our fans' passion and dedication, which powers our student-athletes to achieve their goals and turns every home game into a truly unforgettable experience."

From UTSports.com: Of the top 35 in the combined attendance national rankings, only one school had fewer home events across the three sports than Tennessee. Thus, Tennessee paced the nation by a healthy margin in average attendance with a 30,558 mark in those three sports. That figure put the Volunteers over 3,500 in front of second-place Michigan and upwards of 5,000 ahead of third-place South Carolina.

Tennessee finished as the lone school in the top 10 in overall attendance in football, men's basketball and women's basketball, while no other institution placed even top-15 in all three. It was also the only one top-10 in average attendance in all three, with just Nebraska also finishing top-15 in all three.

A total of 713,405 fans attended Tennessee's seven home football games, an average of 101,915 per contest. Those tallies ranked third and fourth, respectively, on a national level. Additionally, of the 12 highest single-game home attendances in the SEC, seven of them were at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee, which sold out all its home games, was one of 24 schools to max out capacity in 2023.

The Volunteers drew 314,617 fans for their 16 home men's basketball games, good for an average of 19,664. Tennessee placed fourth in the country in each category. In addition, Food City Center at Thompson-Boling Arena hosted the nine highest single-game attendances in the SEC this year, each ranking top-24 nationally. Furthermore, eight of the top 17 such single-game crowds, including four of the top six, were Tennessee home games, both the most of any school in the nation. The Volunteers set a venue single-season record with eight sellouts, four of which were over the listed capacity.

Beyond attending home games, Tennessee fans are also known for traveling extremely well for away games. Ironically, Vols' fans traveling to away games likely inflated home attendance figures for a few rival programs.