With more students than ever participating in high school sports, one would assume the number of fans watching them compete would also continue to rise.

That depends on the season and the sport, according to numbers released by the Utah High School Activities Association this month.

"We had a great fall, an average winter and a poor spring," said assistant director Rob Cuff of the figures, which tally the number of people who attended playoff games in 2006-07. "A lot of things affect those numbers, including which schools are playing and where the playoffs are held."

Football numbers were up from last year to 54,265 fans attending in 2006-07. Just more than 51,100 fans attended football playoff games in 2005-06. Both years, 3A through 5A football playoffs were held at the University of Utah.

Boys basketball numbers were down from 67,586 in 2005-06 to 56,894 last year. The playoffs were held at the E Center for 4A and 5A in 2005-06, while last year's playoffs were held at Weber State.

Girls basketball numbers were up slightly with 30,706 fans attending the playoffs last year. That's an improvement of about 400 fans over the previous year, but down nearly 3,000 from three years ago. 4A and 5A playoffs were held at UVSC and SLCC.

Wrestling numbers were down almost 2,000 spectators, while the number of people who watched the volleyball playoffs was up by nearly 1,000 fans. Drill-team attendance was up by almost 2,000 fans, while swimming was up about 100 spectators. Girls soccer was up by more than 2,000 fans with the playoffs at Juan Diego for the second straight year.

Boys soccer, which is played in the spring, saw a decrease from 7,600 fans in 2006 to 5,976 fans in 2007. Again, the larger schools played at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper.

Softball attendance was the worst in five years at 7,303, as was baseball at 12,972 spectators. There were issues with where the baseball playoffs could be held at the last minute, and that may have played some role in the poor numbers, which were down from 16,806 in 2006.

Overall boys basketball was the best attended sport with 56,894 fans in the stands, and on the girls side, girls basketball was the best attended with 30,706 paying to watch the teens compete.

The total number of spectators watching all high school sports that charge an admission fee for playoff games was down 226,952 in 2006-07 from 239,252 in 2005-06.

Participation totals were also released at the Board of Trustees meeting, and the number of students participating in sanctioned sports and activities continues to grow. In 2006-07, 112,015 student-athletes participated in UHSAA activities. Last year 81,870 teens participated in athletics, although that number might be inflated as some students could be counted twice as they participate in more than one sport. The most popular sport was football with 7,823 students participating, and for the girls it was track and field with 3,788 competing.