Is there a better supported team in college football team than Ohio State? According to a recent study, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

According to the National Football Foundation, Ohio State led the nation in total fan attendance during the 2017 season. Last year, Ohio State played in 12 regular season games, the Big Ten Championship and the Cotton Bowl. In total fan attendance in the 2017 season — home, road, neutral and postseason games included — Ohio State attracted 1,254,160 total fans.

This announcement comes along with plenty of positive news for college football in general. According to the Gallup Poll, 56 percent of U.S. adults cited themselves as college football fans, which was a two percent increase from 2011 and more than professional baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer. Additionally, excluding the combined numbers for Olympic Sports, college football ranks second in core fans behind only the NFL, and the sport’s fan base grew by 1.4 million people in 2017, according to media outlets.

“College football will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2019, and our sport has certainly come a long way from several hundred spectators lining a wooden fence to watch the first game in 1869,” NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell said. “We saw a big shift this year in the metrics and how things are measured with the adaptation of total live audience numbers by several media outlets. The need for the switch highlights that fans truly are reveling in the vision of college football anytime, anywhere and on any screen.

“The networks, as well as the colleges, conferences and bowls, all deserve high praise as innovators who continue to break new ground within an ever-changing high-tech landscape. There is no doubt that college football fans everywhere are the big winners with options galore, thanks to the creativity and commitment of the leaders of our sport.”

Topics from the press release included:

The 2018 College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship Presented by AT&T between Georgia and Alabama on ESPN delivered the second biggest audience in cable television history , solidifying the College Football Playoff's place in history as a ratings juggernaut with the four biggest TV audiences in cable history and seven of the top 10. This year’s game produced a total live audience* of 29,932,000 viewers . The inaugural CFP game on ESPN in 2015 between Ohio State and Oregon remains No. 1 with 33,395,000 viewers.

The seven CFP games on ESPN , covering the New Year’s Six and the CFP National Championship, averaged a total live audience* of more than 17 million viewers , making it the best ever in the four years of the new system. The average marked a 10 percent increase from last year and 25 percent from the 2015 season. The seven games also averaged a 9.8 overnight, also the best ever in the four years of the new system and up 5 percent from last year.

The 355 college football telecasts on ABC, beIN Sports, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, NBC and NBCSN during the 2017 regular season averaged 1,942,000 viewers per game while reaching more than 200 million unique fans†.

The 39 postseason college bowl games on ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, FOX and FS1 at the conclusion of the 2017 season averaged 5,308,000 viewers per game (representing an 8 percent increase over last season and a 3 percent increase from two years ago) while reaching 122 million unique fans† on television. (The figures include the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl, which was played at the FCS level, but not the AutoNation Cure Bowl and the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl, both telecast on CBSSN, which is not rated by Nielsen Media.

NCAA Programs Attract More Than 47.6 Million Fans: The 666 NCAA football programs (FBS, FCS, DII and DIII) drew 47,622,196 fans at home games, neutral-site games and postseason games in 2017, according to the annual NCAA report. The number represents a 3.3 percent drop from the 2016 season, but it also represents a 29.2 percent increase since 1997 and a 148.9 percent increase from the 19,134,159 fans that the NCAA reported when they first started collecting attendance figures in 1948*. The 40 FBS bowl games this season (including the CFP National Championship, but excluding the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl at the FCS level) attracted 1,620,253 spectators to the stands (40,506 per contest). The Top Ten bowls all had attendance in excess of 57,000 fans, and eight bowl games saw increases of more than 4,000 fans. The game has benefited enormously from the commitment of every major media sports outlet, including the ABC, beIN Sports, Big Ten Network, BYUtv, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN3, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, FOX College Sports, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports Net, Longhorn Network, NBC, NBC Sports Network, Pac-12 Networks, Root Sports, SEC Network, Stadium and multiple regional and local outlets. Throughout the regular and bowl seasons, these outlets continue to capitalize on college football’s ever-increasing popularity to produce an increasingly dynamic product that engages fans on new levels.

In 2017, Ohio State was one of 12 teams to reach the 1 million mark in 2017. Here is the full list: