MHSAA postseason attendance remains near 1.4 million

Attendance at Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason tournaments remained near 1.4 million spectators for the third straight school year in 2024-25. An overall attendance record in baseball and several additional all-time bests for specific tournament rounds helped keep totals among the highest in recent history.
In total, MHSAA Tournament events drew 1,397,574 spectators at competitions for which admission is charged. That figure includes all MHSAA-sponsored sports except golf, skiing and tennis, for which single tickets are not sold during postseason play.
The total attendance represented a decrease of 3.6 percent from the 2023-24 school year. Even so, it marked the third-highest overall attendance over the past eight school years.
Attendance at girls postseason events totaled 453,320 spectators during the 2024-25 school year. That figure was a 3.9-percent decrease from the record-setting total in 2023-24 but still ranked second-highest over the last eight years.
Boys postseason attendance totaled 944,254 spectators, a decrease of 3.4 percent from the previous year. Baseball, however, set an overall tournament attendance record with 65,150 spectators.
Baseball also established attendance records at the District level with 38,086 spectators and at the Quarterfinals with 7,517. Attendance increased from the previous year at every round of the baseball postseason.
Overall attendance totals also increased from 2023-24 in ice hockey, team wrestling, gymnastics, boys soccer and girls swimming & diving postseason tournaments. Ice hockey set records at both its Semifinals (7,758 spectators) and Finals (7,857).
Boys soccer established a District-round attendance record with 18,219 spectators. Team wrestling also set a Finals attendance record with 11,604 fans.
Football remained the most-attended MHSAA Tournament sport, drawing 361,139 spectators during the playoff series. That figure represented a decrease of just over a half-percent from the previous year but included the highest Finals turnout (44,535) since the 2019-20 season.
Boys basketball ranked second overall in attendance with 251,668 spectators. It was followed by girls basketball (145,313) and girls volleyball (110,927).
Track & field drew 41,418 spectators, while softball attracted 47,763. Both sports posted their second-highest attendances on record after setting all-time highs during the 2023-24 school year.