Ford Field? LCA? This Was the Largest Crowd in Michigan History

There's no shortage of things to do in Michigan, but that is thanks in large part to the major event venues in the state.

Michigan has seemingly always had historic venues. The Joe Louis Arena and Tiger Stadium are held in reverence to this day. Of course, few arenas around the country held a candle to the Silverdome in its heyday.

The Silverdome set a standard for incredible Michigan crowds back in 1987. On March 29, 1987, the Silverdome hosted WrestleMania III in front of 93,173 fans, which set the indoor attendance world record.

Months later on September 18,  Mass with Pope John Paul II narrowly broke that record with 93,682 in attendance.

All of these years later, the record and the stadium are gone. But other venues carry on.

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Michiganders know how to make a huge crowd. Back in April, Detroit set the NFL's three-day attendance record for the NFL Draft with over 775,000 people in attendance over the weekend.

This is similar to how Little Caesars Arena got its attendance record. Kid Rock had six shows at LCA in 2017 with a total attendance of 86,893, nearly 14,500 per show. The largest single show appears to belong to Mumford & Son's March 2019 show with 17,794 in attendance.

LCA hosts more events, but it's not built to hold more than 22,000. So it may hold some impressive records, such as the NWHL attendance record, but it'll never hold the state's attendance record of a single event.

Plenty of outsiders may turn their attention to Ford Field as the most likely candidate. 'Ford Field replaced the Silverdome, surely they made it even bigger, right?', they think to themselves.

And they're wrong, of course. However, Ford Field did set its attendance record via WrestleMania. On April 1, 2007, Detroit hosted WrestleMania 23 with 80,103 in attendance at Ford Field.

If Ford Field couldn't eclipse the Silverdome, does the record belong to an empty lot?

Well, maybe for the indoor record, but take the roof off and head southwest a bit and you'll find your answer.

But first a disclaimer: Michigan International Speedway is in that general direction and before 2005 renovations had a max capacity of 137,000 people. However, there is no indication that the track ever hosted an event at full capacity.

Okay, for the real record holder, it's Michigan Stadium. But what's more impressive is that this wasn't a concert - it was the stadium performing its primary purpose: hosting a college football game.

In 2013, the Michigan Wolverines hosted the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in front of 115,109 fans at Michigan Stadium. While there is room for debate, the game was believed to be the largest crowd to ever attend an American football game.

And yes, it was that game where Eminem stole the show.

That record was later broken by a bowl game held in a race track, which is understandably a bit frustrating.

Nonetheless, Michigan has made a habit of hosting capacity crowds. It might only be a matter of time before another record gets broken in the Mitten State.