BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Military Bowl announced its crowd Thursday for San Jose State-Bowling Green at 17,835, the lowest reported attendance by any bowl in seven years.

With almost a third of the bowls played so far, bowl attendance continues what has been an ongoing decline in recent years. The announced crowds for the first 11 bowl games declined 7 percent from those same games last year and were down 10 percent from 2010.

No bowl felt the impact more than the Military Bowl in Washington D.C.. The bowl is contractually supposed to pair Army against an ACC team, but Army wasn't bowl-eligible and the ACC didn't have enough eligible teams to fulfill its bowl tie-ins. So California's San Jose State (118th nationally in average attendance) played Ohio's Bowling Green (107th in attendance) on a cold day in the nation's capital.

They played before the smallest announced bowl crowd since the Hawaii Bowl reported 16,134 for Nevada-Central Florida in 2005, the first year the bowl didn't feature Hawaii. The Military Bowl had averaged 28,738 fans per game over the previous four years.

"We knew the attendance might not be the greatest, with a West Coast team and a cold, windy day," Military Bowl President Steve Beck said in a statement. "That's not what we're about. We're about more than that."

In other early bowl games this season, the Hawaii Bowl's crowd of 30,024 for SMU-Fresno State was its lowest since the 2005 game.

The Holiday Bowl's listed crowd of 55,507 for Baylor-UCLA was its smallest since 1997, when the game drew 50,761 for Colorado State-Missouri. The Holiday averaged 62,290 fans per game from 2000 to 2009, but dropped to 56,580 in the past three years.

The Las Vegas Bowl's reported crowd of 33,217 for Boise State-Washington was its smallest since 2004, when there was 29,062 for Wyoming-UCLA. After six straight years with crowds exceeding 40,000, the Las Vegas averaged 34,469 the past two years.

The New Mexico Bowl reported its smallest crowd in the game's seven-year history, drawing 24,610 for Arizona-Nevada. The Little Caesars Bowl also set a record-low in its 16-year history with 23,310 for Western Kentucky-Central Michigan.

There have been a couple improved bowl attendance numbers.

For the second straight year, the New Orleans Bowl announced a record crowd in its 12-year history, this time reporting 48,828 for East Carolina against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl listed a crowd of 29,243 for Utah State-Toledo, the game's highest since 30,112 for Boise State-Boston College in 2005.

Bowl figures usually come from actual game attendance, including media members and other non-paying attendees. The Military Bowl says its crowd number was paid attendance.

E-mail: jsolomon@al.com. Follow @jonsol

Updated at 12:17 p.m. with comment from Military Bowl and that its crowd figure was paid attendance.