The 8 College Football Teams With The Biggest Stadiums

College football is almost a religion for the fans who live and die with the successes and failures of the teams they root for, and millions of people flock to the stadiums that serve as de facto churches on Saturdays during the fall.

Anyone who’s attended a college football game in a packed house filled with rowdy fans knows there’s something incredibly unique about the energy you get to experience in that kind of environment.

That’s especially true when you’re talking about a venue with a six-figure capacity—a feat the eight college football teams who can brag about not only having some of the biggest stadiums in the country but on the entire planet have earned the right to boast about.

1. Michigan: 107,601

There’s a reason Michigan Stadium is known as “The Big House,” as it’s not only the biggest venue college football has to offer but the third-largest in the world behind India’s Narendra Modi Stadium (132,000) and the 114,000-seat behemoth in Pyongyang, North Korea.

The stadium was designed to facilitate the multiple expansions its undergone since opening all the way back in 1927 (it held 82,000 spectators at the time) and first surpassed the 100,000 threshold in 1956.

The school has routinely been able to pack in more fans than the official listed capacity, and the 115,109 who attended the game between Michigan and Notre Dame and 2013 set an NCAA record (it was technically broken when 156,990 spectators watched Tennessee face off against Virginia Tech in 2016, although that showdown was held at Bristol Motor Speedway).

2. Penn State: 106,572

Beaver Stadium, the venue Penn State calls home, held 46,284 people when it was constructed at its current location in 1959 (if you’re curious, the name doesn’t refer to the animal but rather  James A. Beaver, who served as the governor of Pennsylvania from  1887 to 1891 and was the university’s president from 1906 to 1908).

It’s been expanded multiple times since then, with the most recent overhaul being completed in 2011 to bring the stadium to its current capacity (the current attendance record of 111,030 was set when the Buckeyes hosted (and lost to) Ohio State in 2024).

However, Beaver Stadium currently undergoing a renovation slated for completion prior to the start of the 2027 season that could lead to it dropping a few spots on this list; athletic director Patrick Kraft has declined to specify a firm number (a member of the board of trustees hinted close to 1,000 seats could be lost) but has promised it will remain in The 100K Club.

3. Ohio State: 102,780

Ohio Stadium was designed to fit 66,210 fans before it hosted its first game in 1922, and there were concerns the Buckeyes would never be able to generate enough interest to fill every seat.

Those worries turned out to be firmly unfounded, and the school slowly but surely added more seats over the decades before “The Shoe” underwent a massive renovation at the turn of the millennium to surpass the 100,000-seat mark.

Another round of upgrades increased that number to 104,851 in 2014, although it was reduced to the current total prior to the start of the 2019 season.

The attendance record of 110,045 was set when the home team prevailed over Michigan in the thrilling installment of The Game where the Buckeyes won in double overtime in 2016.

4. Texas A&M: 102,733

Kyle Field is known for being one of the most imposing stadiums college football has to offer, and Texas A&M prides itself on “The 12th Man” used to describe the massive crowd credited for firming up home-field advantage for the Aggies.

The literal field has been in use since 1904, but the stadium that surrounds it wasn’t constructed until 1927 and was able to fit more than 37,000 fans with the help of temporary seating installed a couple of years later.

There were continual expansions prior to the dramatic overhaul that got underway in 2013 to temporarily increase capacity to 106,511 in 2014 before it fell to the number it currently sits at.

The 2014 season also marked the high point for attendance, as 110,633 fans watched the Aggies lose to Ole Miss.

5. LSU: 102,321

Tiger Stadium held a comparatively paltry 12,000 fans when it opened up in 1924, but it didn’t take long for that number to start ticking upward thanks to the steady stream of upgrades it received in the ensuing decades.

In 2014, the latest renovation increased capacity at Death Valley from 92,542 to 102,321, which remains the official max and is subsequently the record for the many sellouts LSU has managed to rack up since then.

 

6. Tennessee: 101,915

The stadium originally dubbed Shields-Watkins Field hosted its first game in 1921 and could only hold 3,200 fans at the time. However, that number had ballooned to over 30,000 by the end of the 1930s and only continued to grow during the remainder of Robert Neyland’s tenure as head coach.

The venue was renamed Neyland Stadium in his honor in 1962 and was subjected to further expansion before the capacity surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time following the conclusion of the 1995 season (it peaked at 104,079 in 2000 before eventually being reduced).

The current attendance record was set in 2004 thanks to the 109,061 people who watched Tennessee take on Florida in a game where the Volunteers walked away with a 30-28 win.

7. Texas: 100,119

27,000 people could fit into what is now Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium when it was opened in 1924, and it’s safe to say it’s undergone more than a few changes over the past century.

There have been more than a dozen renovations that have impacted the capacity at a stadium that first welcomed more than 100,000 fans for the first time in 2009.

The current attendance record was set in 2024, as 105,215 gathered in Austin for the showdown between Texas and Georgia where the Longhorns fell to the Bulldogs by a score of 30-15.

8. Alabama: 100,077

Alabama played its first game at Denny Stadium (named after the school’s president at the time) in 1929 when it had a capacity of 12,000. By the time it was renamed Bryant-Denny Stadium in honor of Bear Bryant, that number had risen to over 60,000 and only continued to climb as more construction projects were taken on.

The venue reached its peak capacity of 101,821 in 2010 (which remains the attendance record), but it dropped a spot in the rankings a decade later when it was reduced to the current one.