Premier League crowds this season
are on course to average more than 36,000 fans per match, the
highest average gate per game in the top division since 1951,
according to an Independent analysis of attendances.
Crowds in England's highest division grew steadily in the 1990s but
reached a peak in the 2002-03 season with an average gate of 35,400
per game. Since then they have dropped slightly amid fears that
high ticket prices and saturation TV coverage (among other reasons)
might be permanently harming the popularity of the game. However,
our research suggests the Premier League is on course for the
highest average gates for 57 years. Sunderland's return to the top
division has helped: they have attracted 42,695 people per game, an
average gate only bettered by Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle
and Liverpool. But the growth goes way beyond Wearside, with 17 of
the Premier League's 20 clubs seeing either year-on-year rises or
stable levels close to capacity.
The reasons are as varied as the clubs ticket price initiatives,
new facilities, a winning Swede at Manchester City, progress at
Aston Villa but the upward trend also reflects the increasing
primacy of league football, for the clubs and their fans. With FA
Cup fourth-round weekend approaching, only 11 Premier League clubs
are still involved in that tournament, the lowest number at this
stage since the Premier League began in 1992. The FA Cup also draws
fewer people through the turnstiles. Thirteen Premier League clubs
played a third-round match at home, and not a single one got a Cup
gate higher than their average league gate. Five clubs saw drops,
of between 30 and 40 per cent, compared with league gates.
Yet the Premier League's live audiences this season have been
remarkable even by their own standards, and perhaps due to
increased competition at both ends of the table. Whatever, current
top-flight crowd levels are approaching double the numbers recorded
at the nadir in the early 1980s, when hooliganism was rampant and
fewer than 19,000 people watched each match.
With almost two-thirds of this season played, the average Premier
League gate this season is 36,020. Manchester United have the
highest average (75,612) and Wigan the lowest (18,515).
The three clubs with the biggest year-on-year rises are
unsurprisingly those who played in the Championship last season:
Sunderland's gates have leapt 51 per cent, Derby's are up 35 per
cent and Birmingham's 25 per cent. But there have been sizeable
hikes elsewhere, notably at Aston Villa (up 12 per cent),
Manchester City (up nine per cent), Blackburn (up eight per cent)
and even at ailing Fulham (up seven per cent). Some clubs have been
unable to improve because they were virtual sellouts last year and
still are (Manchester United, Arsenal), while Wigan, Newcastle and
Tottenham are among others on the up, in the stands at least.
Only three clubs have seen falls, with Middlesbrough and Reading
dropping by small numbers. Bolton are the biggest losers, down 13
per cent. At Villa Park, average league gates are up to 39,901,
Villa's highest average for 58 years. "It's down to a combination
of factors," a spokesman said. "Fundamentally, people are being
drawn back by the football, the feel-good factor of Martin O'Neill,
what he's building on the pitch, and Randy Lerner's
chairmanship.
Villa pricing initiatives include various junior offers, and new
reductions for students and the armed forces. Lerner, never one to
blow his own trumpet, also deserves praise for heavy investment in
facilities for the fans' benefit, and not necessarily ones that
inflate his bottom line. The most significant was the multi-million
pound refurbishment of the historic Holte Pub, now club-run as a
restaurant and bar. On match days, it is run as a members-only
hospitality venue, with the twist that groups of season-ticket
holders are chosen to attend each week, partially at Lerner's
expense.
Blackburn were among the first clubs to launch a drive to sell
cut-price tickets, with the rationale that new TV income should be
used to lower prices. It has worked, no doubt helped by a team
doing well, although there is still more than 25 per cent of spare
capacity on many match days.
Dan Johnson, the Premier League spokesman, said: "Price is a
factor. Last season 16 Premier League clubs reduced or froze their
prices, but equally important is the quality of the football. Many
commentators have described this year's competition as one of the
most open and compelling yet."