Even though Texas and Texas A&M are not currently battling it out on the field, that hasn’t stopped the two programs from being compared to one another.
For the first time ever, Texas A&M outdrew Texas in home attendance in 2014 as Texas’ home average dipped from the fourth most to the ninth most in the country.
For the first time, the Aggies outdrew the Texas Longhorns at the gate in terms of average attendance.
In the NCAA’s 2014 football attendance figures, Texas A&M ranked second, averaging 105,123 fans in six home games. The Aggies trailed only Ohio State, which averaged 106,296 fans in its seven home dates. As for total attendance including road and neutral-site games, the Aggies were fourth at 1,118,202 fans behind Ohio State (1,304,138), Alabama (1,268,385) and LSU (1,195,540).
Texas, meanwhile, finished eighth, averaging 94,103 at Royal-Memorial Stadium, which has a capacity of 100,119. That was a drop of 4,873 fans per game from 2013, when Texas ranked fourth in the nation. The Longhorns were 12th in total attendance at 991,551.
A&M also had the largest average attendance increase, drawing 17,998 more fans per game in 2014. That came after Kyle Field’s capacity increased from 82,600 to 109,000. The Aggie’s attendance numbers are due to drop, though, as Kyle Field’s capacity is expected to be 102,512 for the 2015 season after its west side is renovated.
With the renovations being done in College Station and the program in a slump in Austin, this isn’t much of a surprise.
If you’re Texas, this is something that can easily be fixed if you get back to your winning ways sooner rather than later, but before you can do that you have to find that little thing called a quarterback.
