The announced crowd of 45,615 in the 65,200-seat venue blew away the previous MAC title-game record. The vast majority of the audience was pulling for 13th-ranked WMU against Ohio, as the Broncos earned their first MAC championship since 1988 with a thrilling 29-23 victory and kept their perfect season intact at 13-0.
The previous largest crowd for the MAC title game at Ford Field was the 25,483 drawn for Central Michigan's 31-10 win over Ohio in 2006. The previous largest audience figure for any MAC championship game was 28,085 in 1998, when Marshall hosted Toledo in a campus-site matchup.
Only one of the last six MAC title games hosted by Ford Field reached 20,000 in attendance.
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2016/12/western_michigan-heavy_crowd_b.html