Attendance up at FHSAA state championship games; highest reported number in 15 years

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The new metro/suburban classifications in football might have just been a boon for the state’s official governing body of high school athletics.

According to attendance numbers reported through all nine state championship games between the host sites in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale, attendance numbers were up compared to 2021 by nearly 47%.

Between the four games at Gene Cox Stadium in Tallahassee and the five games at Fort Lauderdale’s DRV PNK Stadium, a combined 38,306 people attended state championship games compared to to the 26,849 fans that attended the eight state championship games between Tallahassee (3) and Fort Lauderdale (5) in 2021.

Furthermore, no game had less than 1,000 fans in attendance and the games marked the highest attendance in fans in 15 years since 52,750 attended the eight state championship games that were played at the Citrus Bowl (now Camping World Stadium) in Orlando in 2007.

Here is a breakdown of the numbers from both weekends.

TALLAHASSEE

Class 1M – 1,322 (Chaminade Madonna vs.  Clearwater Central Catholic)

Class 2S – 3,374 (Florida High vs. Cocoa)

Class 1S – 1,461 (First Baptist vs. Trinity Catholic)

Class 1R – 2,691 (Hawthorne vs. Northview)

Attendance: 8,848

FORT LAUDERDALE

Class 3M – 5,430 (St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Homestead)

Class 3S – 4,236 (Lake Wales vs. Mainland)

Class 2M – 9,704 (Miami Central vs. American Heritage)

Class 4S – 3,184 (Lakeland vs. Venice)

Class 4M – 6,904 (Columbus vs. Apopka)

Attendance: 29,458