FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-6               3/15/99

Total paid attendance for all NFL games increased in 1998 for the second year in a row and was the highest ever in the 79-year history of the league, the NFL announced today.

NFL paid attendance of 19,741,493 rose by nearly 700,000 over 1997 (19,049,886) for all games played during the 1998 season and topped the previous record of 1995 when 19,202,757 fans attended NFL games.

The 1998 season marked the third time in NFL history that the 19-million attendance mark was reached.

The 1998 NFL regular-season total paid attendance of 15,364,873 for an average of 64,020 per game was also an all-time record. It was the first time the NFL averaged 64,000 fans per game.

A total of 3,553,735 tickets were sold for 64 preseason games for an average of 55,527. Twelve postseason games produced a sale of 822,885 tickets, including 74,803 for Super Bowl XXXIII.

The Kansas City Chiefs led the NFL in regular-season paid attendance for the fifth consecutive year with a total of 629,209 for eight games. Seventeen other teams topped the half-million paid total at home: New York Jets (623,878), New York Giants (623,593), Washington (599,553), Denver (597,481), Miami (581,784), Carolina (574,116), Detroit (571,381), Jacksonville (564,156), Buffalo (560,378), San Francisco (546,507), Baltimore (541,504), San Diego (535,261), Chicago (526,293), Philadelphia (519,162), St. Louis (511,183), Tampa Bay (506,363), and Minnesota (505,150).

Twenty-two teams drew more than one million paid attendance home and away during the regular season, led by the Chiefs (1,160,272). The others were: Denver (1,152,277), New York Jets (1,133,871), Miami (1,128,059), New York Giants (1,101,160), Detroit (1,094,877), Washington (1,089,108), San Francisco (1,086,447), Dallas (1,070,750), Carolina (1,064,925), Jacksonville (1,061,418), Buffalo (1,060,157), Seattle (1,028,141), San Diego (1,025,414), Philadelphia (1,020,680), Baltimore (1,017,812), Green Bay (1,016,811), Tampa Bay (1,016,046), New England (1,012,963), Pittsburgh (1,012,289), Minnesota (1,005,974), and Atlanta (1,001,119).