Attendance for Florida-Louisville is worst Sugar Bowl turnout since 1939

by Jason Lieser
Louisville dominated the Gators on the field and in the seats during its 33-23 Sugar Bowl win in New Orleans on Wednesday. The Cardinals clearly had the larger and louder turnout, and filled the Superdome with chants of “TED-DY, TED-DY, TED-DY” for QB Teddy Bridgewater after the game.

Despite good travel by Louisville, the Sugar Bowl drew just 54,178 people. That was its smallest crowd since 1939 and easily the worst attendance since the game moved to the Superdome in 1975.
The listed capacity for the dome is 72,598, and it held 78,237 for last year’s national championship game.
In its history at the Superdome, the Sugar Bowl has only had sub-70,000 crowds five times. Three of those games (2013, ’10 and ’01) involved the Gators.
Florida and Louisville each were required to purchase an allotment of 17,500 tickets for the game, which the schools tried to sell to fans and boosters. A spokesperson for the Gators said they sold roughly 7,000 of those.
Clearing out the allotment is challenging for many schools, especially because they must buy them at face value. With third-party brokers able to beat their prices, it is a tough sell.
“I think obviously right now with the economics, we’re going through a tough time in the country,” UF coach Will Muschamp said. “I think that certainly has affected everyone, not just Gator fans.
“And there’s different ways to get tickets other than going through the University Athletic Association. We’re seeing a little bit of a loophole.”

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