On Saturday American football celebrated by far the largest crowd in history. Still far behind association football, the American branch seems to be the only one still growing in crowd size.

You may recall that we recently added a stadium that isn’t entirely consistent with our website’s criteria. While Bristol Motor Speedway is not formally a football stadium, it’s the world’s largest fully enclosed sports venue and has had football traditions reaching as far back as 1961, when there was a field inside the racetrack.

Last weekend the tradition was brought back to life after 19 days of preparations. Bristol Motor Speedway hosted football again after over 400 truckloads of sand and rocks were brought inside the racetrack to create basis for temporary football field. Laid under new, hovering giants screens the turf will only serve for two games before the building is converted back to NASCAR configuration.

© Earl Neikirk

But before that could happen, BMS was able to hold the largest American football game in history. Last Saturday 156,990 people watched as Tennessee Volunteers defeated Virginia Tech Hokies in the exhibition clash named Battle at Bristol.

This wasn’t only the largest game in history, it exceeded the previous game by over 40,000 people! Since 2013 the record was 115,109 at Michigan Stadium, rightly nicknamed The Big House.

© shutterbugluv88

There’s one more game planned at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend before it’s converted again to a racetrack. While there’s no certainty if American football would be played here in the future, it’s worth noting that American football is now second only to association football in terms of record attendance. And it’s the only football code still on the rise. Check out all-time records in other major football codes below:

Place	Football code	Stadium	Record	Time
1	Association football	Maracana	199,854	16/06/1950
2	American football	Bristol Motor Speedway	156,990	10/09/2016
3	Australian football	Melbourne Cricket Ground	121,696	26/09/1970
4	Rugby union	ANZ Stadium	109,874	15/07/2000
5	Rugby league	ANZ Stadium	107,558	26/09/1999
6	Gaelic football	Croke Park	90,566	24/09/1961
7	Canadian football	Montreal Olympic Stadium	69,093	09/09/1977