Gator Bowl crowd.jpg

This was the Gator Bowl crowd at kickoff for a bowl rematch between Georgia and Nebraska. (Photo by Seth Emerson of The Macon Telegraph)

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- The final year of the Bowl Championship Series didn't alter a trend: For the third straight postseason, college football's announced bowl attendance produced its lowest average in more than 30 years.

Attendance at this season's 35 bowls averaged 48,989, down less than 1 percent from a year ago when the games averaged 49,222, according to an analysis by AL.com of reported figures. This was again the lowest average since 1978-79, when 15 bowls averaged 48,404 fans. College football goes to 39 bowls next season.

Bowl attendance decreased for the fourth straight season and is down 7.5 percent since an average of 52,961 in 2009-10, the last season with 33 bowls. Crowds for bowls declined this year despite the national championship game being played at the Rose Bowl, which is one of the largest bowl venues.

Regular-season attendance for previously-existing Football Bowl Subdivision schools increased 1 percent this season. However, the FBS crowd size hasn't returned to where it was about five to 10 years ago.

Twenty of the 35 bowls reported attendance decreases this season, compared to 17 that had declines in the 2012-13 bowl season.

Seven bowls in 2013-14 decreased by more than 5,000 fans from 2012-13: Fiesta, Cotton, BBVA Compass, Heart of Dallas, Texas, Poinsettia and Famous Idaho Potato. Eight bowls increased by more than 5,000: BCS Championship Game, Sugar, Gator, New Orleans, Buffalo Wild Wings, Pinstripe, Las Vegas and Military.

In an unusual occurrence, the 100th Rose Bowl outdrew the BCS Championship Game, which was played at the same stadium. Stanford-Michigan State drew 95,173 for the Rose Bowl's largest crowd since Michigan-Washington State in 1998. Auburn-Florida State had 94,208. Some Auburn fans were unable to travel to California due to canceled flights. Other bowl highs and lows:

* The Sugar's crowd of 70,473 for Alabama-Oklahoma was up 30 percent from Louisville-Florida last year. Still, Alabama-Oklahoma was the 10th-smallest crowd in the Sugar's 65-year history. Four of the game's 10 smallest crowds occurred in the past five years.

* The Fiesta saw 65,172 for Baylor-UCF, down 8 percent from last year. It was the Fiesta's smallest crowd since Penn State-Texas in 1997. Three of the past four Fiesta crowds were under 70,000 after the game averaged 74,266 from 1999 to 2010.

* The Cotton's attendance of 72,690 was its smallest since Auburn-Nebraska in 2007. The Cotton had averaged 83,520 over the previous five years.

* For the fifth straight year, the Orange was under 73,000 fans (72,080). The Orange averaged 75,673 between 2001 and 2009.

* For the second straight year, the Chick-fil-A was under 69,000 thanks to 67,946 for Texas A&M-Duke. The bowl averaged 73,359 from 2006 to 2011.

* The Gator reported 60,712 for Nebraska-Georgia, up 24 percent from last year. Still, it was the third-smallest Gator crowd in the past 14 years.

* The Outback drew 51,296 for LSU-Iowa, marking the third in five games the bowl was under 52,000. The Outback averaged 63,486 from 2001 to 2009.

* South Carolina-Wisconsin produced the smallest Capital One crowd (56,629) since Clemson-Oklahoma in 1989. The Capital One averaged 64,812 from 2003 to 2008.

* Perhaps the biggest winner was the New Orleans Bowl, which finished 12th in attendance (54,728) with a very regional matchup of Tulane vs. Louisiana-Lafayette. The New Orleans drew more fans than several traditionally higher-drawing bowls, such as the Outback, Holiday and Music City.

* Birmingham's BBVA Compass Bowl drew an announced crowd of 42,717 for Vanderbilt-Houston, down 28 percent from Ole Miss-Pittsburgh last year. Still, this year's game ranked 21st out of 35 bowls and was on par with most previous SEC bowls in Birmingham.

Next season, conferences and a selection committee play a bigger role in deciding bowl matchups. Conferences plan to take a greater role in picking teams for games they control. Also, the highest-profile bowls -- the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Chick-fil-A and Fiesta -- will be played on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1. That could help travel over the New Year's holiday since many fans attending BCS bowls have to take off work.

"I'd say geography, best matchups and avoiding rematches are the three things the committee will look at" for the three rotating playoff bowls in non-semifinal years, Hancock said. "The optimum would be paring No. 5 vs. No. 6 and so on, but that's influenced by other factors."

It remains to be seen how the non-playoff bowls will be impacted by the playoff. Starting next year, there will be a greater delineation in value between the top six bowls and 33 other games.

2013-14 College Football Bowl Attendance