Lane Kiffin makes subtle dig at Tennessee's home attendance crisis

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin is familiar with the environment inside Neyland Stadium, leading the Tennessee Volunteers in 2009 before leaving for USC the following year. Now back in the SEC, he is set to make his Knoxville, Tennessee return in front of a possible sellout crowd on Saturday.

Always willing to troll his opponent, Kiffin appeared to take a subtle shot at the Tennessee attendance crisis during his Monday press conference.

“We have a lot of work to do, and we’re getting ready for a challenging place to play,” Kiffin told reporters during his opening statement. “Like someone said on the way in, it’s on schedule to be their first sellout in years. So it’s a very loud place, especially at night, and their team’s playing extremely well with two conference blowouts in a row, lighting it up on offense. This is going to be extremely challenging.”

Bringing up the possible sellout would normally seem to serve as a compliment, but his knowledge of the attendance crisis at Tennessee provides easy ammunition. His flat tone throughout the quote has brought further speculation about his purpose.

Tennessee’s athletics staff has spent the season attempting to draw fans back to Neyland Stadium in a variety of ways. In addition to beer inside the stadium, the Volunteers offer new uniforms, the possibility of a checkerboard crowd and other promotions this month. The arrival of Lane Kiffin’s high powered offense also promises to help matters.

Neyland Stadium’s attendance crisis

With a capacity of 102,455, Neyland Stadium is the fifth-largest college football venue in the United States. It is one of seven stadiums which holds more than 100,000 people. Texas A&M is the only SEC school with a higher capacity. Alabama and LSU join them in the 100,000 club, along with the three Big Ten teams at the top (Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State).

According to 247 Sports reporter Ryan Callahan, Tennessee’s last “true sellout” came on Sept. 30, 2017, more than four years ago. The crowd reached full capacity for Tennessee’s 41-0 loss against Georgia, during Butch Jones’ final season as head coach.

Shockingly, the Volunteers have not sold out any games since, despite playing rivals Alabama, Florida and Georgia at home multiple times. The attendance crisis reached a new level this season, only drawing 80,053 against Tennessee Tech. That number was the lowest since 2012 (not including 2020’s COVID-19 capacity).