Hawkeyes football attendance climbed in 2016

IOWA CITY - The NCAA released FBS college football attendance data on Monday. Coming off a 12-2 2015 with an attractive home schedule in 2016, the Hawkeyes' numbers are up.

Iowa finished 2016 with an average home attendance of 69,656. That put the Hawkeyes No. 20 in the nation, behind No. 19 Michigan State (74,667) and just ahead of Arkansas (69,581).

The 2016 Kinnick attendance was up considerably over 2015, which lacked a top-flight home schedule compared to 2016. While hosting Wisconsin, Nebraska and with night games against Iowa State and Michigan, Iowa's home attendance climbed more than 6,500 from the 63,142 in 2015. That increase (6,514) was the eight highest among FBS schools last season.

With Iowa sneaking into the overall top 20, seven Big Ten schools ranked in the nation's top 20 in attendance. Michigan (110,468) and Ohio State (107,278) ranked Nos. 1 and 2.

In FCS attendance, Northern Iowa ranked No. 19 with 12,123 per UNI-Dome home game.

The SEC had the most fans in attendance for an average game at 77,507. The Big Ten was next with 66.151. The Big 12 was third at 57,531 per game. According to the NCAA report, Iowa State averaged 52,557 last season at Jack Trice Stadium.

The highlights for Iowa's 2017 home schedule are Ohio State, Penn State and Minnesota. It'll be the Buckeyes first trip into Kinnick Stadium since the 2010 season.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta told reporters last week that he would like Kinnick again to play host to a pair of night games in 2017.

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