Where Penn State Football Lands In The Highest-Attended American Football Games Ever
Penn State football fans don’t mess around.
On Saturday, Penn State football set a new Beaver Stadium attendance record in the White Out against USC.
With a staggering 114,419 in attendance, where does the Nittany Lions’ Week 6 loss stack up in the highest-attended American football games of all time?
1. Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee: Battle At Bristol, September 10, 2016 (156,990)
By a country mile, the most-attended American football game in history took place at Bristol Motor Speedway to start the 2016 season between non-conference regional foes Virginia Tech and Tennessee.
The idea for a game at the iconic speedway, which has since hosted the most-attended baseball game in history in 2025, had been in the works for decades until it was finalized in 2013.
Bristol had previously hosted a football game, but only 8,500 people showed up for an NFL exhibition game in 1961.
The teams for such a clash made perfect sense, as Bristol sits on the Tennessee-Virginia border. The game’s goal was to shatter records, and it did.
Fans were treated to a high-scoring duel between the No. 17 Volunteers and the unranked Hokies. Virginia Tech stormed out to a 14-0 lead early on a Sam Rogers receiving touchdown and a 69-yard scamper from Travon McMillian, but things flipped hard once the second quarter began.
A high-powered Tennessee offense — led by Josh Dobbs at quarterback — capitalized on a fumble early in the second frame, then quickly scored on a 9-yard pass to Jauan Jennings.
After a Virginia Tech punt, Tennessee went 90 yards on four plays to tie it with a Dobbs throw to Josh Malone for a 38-yard score.
By halftime, the Volunteers burst out to a 24-14 lead on a third Dobbs touchdown, this time on the ground. That’d be the closest Virginia Tech got for the rest of the night, as Dobbs hit Alvin Kamara for a 23-yard score in the third to push the lead to 31-14.
The Hokies lost five fumbles on a bizarre night, leading to frequent short fields. Dobbs only threw for 91 yards, but ran for 109, scoring five total touchdowns. Micah Abernathy recovered three fumbles for Tennessee in the 45-24 rout.
The attendance total is disputed, however.
Guinness World Records counts only 130,045 attendees because its figure is based only on scanned tickets, but the nearly 157,000 total reflects how every team (including Penn State) counts attendance by adding all sold tickets and stadium personnel.
2. Notre Dame vs. Michigan: September 6, 2013 (115,109)
Does playing a game at a venue designed for NASCAR feel like cheating? If so, here’s the real record.
The only game to ever draw 115,000 fans (so far) in a traditional football venue was Notre Dame’s visit to longtime regional rival Michigan at the Big House to open the 2013 season.
The only real explanation for why this is the most-attended non-special-event game in football history is that two massive fanbases packed the biggest football stadium in the nation.
No. 14 Notre Dame and No. 17 Michigan both had underwhelming seasons, but for one night, this was the game.
The Wolverines struck first with a quick field goal and a Devin Gardner 61-yard strike to Jeremy Gallon to make it 10-0 early, but a Notre Dame offense led by Tommy Rees tied it early in the second quarter.
Despite a couple of turnovers, Gardner was the best player on the field.
He rushed for a touchdown and hit Gallon for another score to go up 27-13 into the half, before connecting with Gallon a third time in the third quarter and clinching the game with a 4-yard throw to Drew Dileo.
Gardner’s five total touchdowns and 376 yards from scrimmage, combined with Gallon’s eight catches for 186 yards and three scores of his own, sent the home fans home happy with a 41-30 win.
3. Notre Dame vs. Michigan: September 10, 2011 (114,804)
If you thought it was odd that a basic top-20 non-conference matchup drew 115,000 fans, what about an unranked matchup two years earlier between the same two teams in the same venue?
Michigan set a record against UConn the season prior with 113,090, but this battle between two of college sports’ defining brands was notable in its own right even before the record was broken.
Michigan Stadium is old. It opened in 1927 and has been renovated seven times. Somehow, it took until the seventh renovation to add permanent lights, meaning Michigan never played a home football game at night until then.
They picked a great game to debut those lights. The first night game in the history of the Big House. College GameDay was in town. Against Notre Dame. Of course, it was packed.
This time, the Fighting Irish jumped out to an early lead, going up 14-0 on a Rees connection with Theo Riddick and a Cierre Wood 4-yard touchdown run. The Wolverines tried to claw back behind Denard Robinson, who hit Junior Hemingway for a 41-yard score in the second, but Notre Dame led 24-7 after three quarters.
Yet, it was as if the football gods wouldn’t let Michigan lose this momentous game.
Robinson ran for a 1-yard touchdown, hit Jeremy Gallon for a 14-yard score on the next drive, and then found Vincent Smith from 21 yards out with just 1:12 to go to take a 28-24 lead.
The Irish tried to play spoiler with an incredible response, as Rees led them down the field in just 42 seconds, capping it with a 29-yard touchdown to Riddick with 30 seconds left.
Trailing by three in the final seconds, Michigan just needed to get into field goal range and force overtime.
It did so, but overtime wouldn’t come. Robinson, who had a messy stat line of 11-for-24 for 322 yards, three passing touchdowns, and three interceptions to that point, found Roy Roundtree for a 16-yard, game-winning touchdown with two seconds left.
Cinema.
4. USC vs. Penn State, October 10, 2026 (114,419)
The ongoing renovations at Beaver Stadium have created some questions about the venue’s new capacity. Well, after shattering the previous stadium record set in 2022 against Ohio State by more than 3,000, we have our answer.
The official capacity when renovations finish next season is still unknown, but looking at the tarped-off areas on the under-construction second level on the west side, you have to imagine they’ll squeeze roughly another 700 people into Beaver Stadium for next year’s White Out and break the football stadium record.
Now, if only Penn State could win one of these games. The Nittany Lions are now 0-3 when attendance clears 111,000 and 0-5 in its top-five attended games ever.
Other CFB Venues To Clear 110,000
Dozens of games at Beaver and Michigan Stadiums have cleared 110,000 over the years, but it’s only happened twice elsewhere in the history of college football:
Ole Miss vs. Texas A&M: October 11, 2014 (110,633): While Kyle Field was under renovation in 2014, Texas A&M’s capacity briefly rose by over 3,000 due to temporary seating. As a result, when the Aggies hosted No. 3 Ole Miss, they shattered an all-time attendance record for an SEC school in a 35-20 loss to the Rebels.
Michigan vs. Ohio State: November 26, 2016 (110,045): The all-time record for Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Penn State fans will remember this game for clinching the Nittany Lions’ spot in the Big Ten championship game as the Buckeyes’ dominance over the Wolverines in the 21st century continued.
Highest-Attended NFL Games
Cowboys vs. Oilers: August 15, 1994 (112,376): The NFL record was set over 30 years ago in the first American football game ever played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
In a preseason contest between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers, over 112,000 fans packed into the iconic venue to watch the two Texas clubs, one of which was the reigning Super Bowl champion. The other was coming off a 12-win season led by Warren Moon.
The Oilers won 6-0 in a sluggish affair. In the decades since, eight games have been played at Estadio Azteca, but none have come close to this total because renovations in the 2010s cut capacity from nearly 120,000 to just 80,000.
Giants vs. Cowboys: September 20, 2009 (105,121): The highest-attended regular-season game in NFL history took place at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in Dallas in 2009 between two bitter rivals. It was the regular-season debut of Jerry’s World, so all the stops were pulled out to ensure it would be record-breaking.
Tony Romo and Eli Manning had an incredible duel, but the Giants spoiled the Cowboys’ big debut with a Lawrence Tynes walk-off field goal as time expired, winning 33-31.
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