It was easy to tell that there was a Hoosier Nation takeover in Atlanta for this past season’ College Football Semifinal game at the Peach Bowl and the numbers back up what everyone’s eyes saw.
“We might need to change the name of our city to ‘Indianta,’ after Hoosier fans took over Atlanta for this
year’s game,” said Gary Stokan, Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO and president in a press release. “Indiana fans came from all over the country to descend upon the ‘Capital of College Football’ and as a result, the Atlanta community saw a record- setting economic boost thanks to Hoosier nation.”
Indiana destroyed Oregon 56-22 in the Peach Bowl on their way to a 16-0 record and a national championship.
According to the release, The 2026 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl – No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 1 Indiana – generated $63.2 million in economic impact and $4.64 million in direct tax revenue, representing the largest economic impact in the Bowl’s history according to an analysis done by Dr. Bruce Seaman of the Georgia State University Department of Economics.
“Although the total attendance was only modestly higher than some other high profile games, the enthusiastic
takeover of downtown and the metro Atlanta area by Indiana fans also led, based on high response survey
results, to somewhat higher per capita per diem spending, more hotel rooms occupied and a notably higher
stated motivation for visiting the region solely because of this Semifinal game,” said Dr Seaman
Other Notes from the Peach Bowl
SECOND-HIGHEST ATTENDED BOWL GAME OF 2025-26 SEASON:
This year’s sold-out CFP Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl drew 75,604 fans to Mercedes-Benz Stadium,
making it the second-highest attended bowl game of the 2025-26 bowl season, trailing only the CFP
Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl. It represented the 26th sellout in the last 29 games for the Bowl and also
marked the fourth-highest attendance in the game’s 58-year history.
TOP-10 MOST-WATCHED COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME OF THE SEASON:
With 18 million viewers on ESPN, the 2026 CFP Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl became the seventh
most watched game of the entire 2025-26 college football season and the fourth most-viewed Chick-fil-A
Peach Bowl of all-time. More than 275.1 million viewers have now watched the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl since it began being broadcast on ESPN in 1991.