Attendances at English Football Games Reach Record Highs

For the past few years, the UK has been in a ‘cost of living’ crisis, which in theory has caused many singletons, couples and families to tighten their belts and cut down on their spending – typically, ‘leisure’ spend is the category most hit in tough economic times.

But the data suggests that one thing that is non-negotiable, cost of living crisis or otherwise, is watching our favourite football clubs in action.

The Championship in particular is in a boom moment, witnessing record numbers of fans turning out during the 2023/24 season – more than 120 million people watched games in the second-tier; an increase of 22% on 2022/23, and the highest aggregate number recorded in more than a century.

Remarkably, it makes the English Championship the second most-watched division in Europe behind the Premier League.

“The 2023-24 numbers are tangible proof that our competitions now rank among some of the most exciting and popular in European football,” said EFL chief executive Trevor Birch.

“It really is a remarkable feat when you consider the quality of players and football on show across the continent.”

It seems unlikely, but not impossible, that this phenomenon is exclusive to the Championship. So are football attendance numbers on the way up in English football, and how do those crowd figures compare with other key European leagues?

Premier League Attendances

Using average attendance perhaps isn’t always the greatest measure of the perceived popularity of a football league.

For context, here’s the average attendance of the three teams that were promoted into the Premier League for 2023/24:

And here’s the average attendance of the three sides relegated from the Premier League into the Championship in 2023/24:

So despite being relegated and playing at a lower level, Leeds, Leicester and Southampton still recorded higher attendances (for the most part) than EPL sides Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton Town.

It’s testament to the popularity of that trio of clubs, while also a nod towards the apathy – that tends to creep in when teams are losing plenty of games – and smaller capacity venues of the three promoted sides.

So if average attendance isn’t a particularly useful measure, how can we instead compare and contrast attendance numbers?

One of the easiest ways is a calculation that reveals the percentage of each stadium filled on matchday. So, we know that the average attendance in the Premier League in 2023/24 was 38,557, with Manchester United recording the best average (73,534 fans per game) and Bournemouth (11,098) the lowest, with the other 18 clubs slotting in somewhere in between.

We can then add all up the stadium capacities for each of the Premier League’s clubs, before dividing that figure by 20 to get an average capacity.

So, in 2023/24, the maximum capacity at the 20 home stadia combined was 793,286, which divided by 20 gives us an average EPL capacity of 39,664.

Now, we can take that 39,664, compare that to the average attendance of 38,557, and conclude that the average uptake of all available tickets in 2023/24 was 97.2% – an extraordinarily high figure, and proof positive that the Premier League ‘product’ remains as popular today as its ever done.

But how does that compare to recent seasons?

Premier League Average Attendances

So this is the raw data, which shows the fluctuations in average capacity (reflecting the size of the stadia of the clubs that are promoted/relegated from one season to the next), and the average attendance for the Premier League in each season. You’ll note that we’ve eliminated the limited season of 2020/21 from the data.

You’ll notice immediately that there aren’t many free seats available at Premier League games from one week to the next, which when you consider the rise in inflation since 2018/19 – reflected in increased ticket prices – is somewhat surprising.

And it confirms our original mindset: that watching football games in person is not impacted by economic conditions. Fans will continue to support their teams regardless of cost-of-living crises and other such issues.

Here’s a separate consideration, showcasing the average attendance as a percentage of average capacity:

The image provides the perfect chronological visual: more fans, as a percentage of the average stadia capacity, are watching Premier League games now than they were pre-2020.

Indeed, the lowest percentage of attendance to capacity was recorded in 2018/19.

Conversely, in 2023/24, when the cost of living crisis was, in theory, at its worse, the number of football fans attending EPL games actually increased!

As if to hammer home the point, here’s the average UK inflation rates year on year:

• 2023 – 7.3%
• 2022 – 7.9%
• 2021 – 2.5%
• 2020 – 0.99%
• 2019 – 1.74%

Although inflation isn’t a bullet-proof measure of fiscal circumstance, as a general rule the higher the rate of inflation, the more expensive goods and services are to buy – meaning that people should have less money to spend.

And yet, there’s a very clear inverse relationship between inflation and Premier League match attendances.

Quite why this is remains unclear, and you won’t find many authorities on the subject able to explain why people are still forking out on expensive EPL tickets at a time when they should have less money to spend – apart from our original hypothesis, which confirms that attending Premier League games is a hobby that goes far beyond financial concerns….these are a necessity for many, alongside food, drink, toiletries and household bills.

As the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said, ‘some people think football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it’s much more important than that.’ He wasn’t wrong, it seems.

The Best (and Worst) Supported Premier League Teams

We can use a similar sort of calculation as the one above to determine the popularity of each Premier League club.

Of course, this is far from being an exact science, but the closer a team is to filling 100% capacity of their stadium on a weekly basis, evidently the more in demand tickets are. In contrast, if a club’s capacity percentage drops to 90% or lower, evidently there’s a lack of popularity there – tickets can be acquired openly for any given game.

Some of the basic laws of sport would dictate that the more successful you are out on the pitch, the more likely it is that people want to watch you play – therefore, we would expect the EPL’s best teams to have a attendance capacity ratio near to 100%.

However, we also know that there’s rarely any logic to the unrequited love of a football fan. Just because their team is losing a lot, that won’t stop them from turning out to watch their favourite teams on a weekly basis – whoever called supporting a football team a religious experience wasn’t kidding.

Anyway, here’s a look at the seat percentages for the Premier League in 2023/24 – remember, it’s the average weekly attendance as a percentage of the available capacity per stadium.

Premier League Average Attendances in 2023/24

There are some caveats to be aware of. We’ve put an asterisk next to the name of Liverpool, for the simple reason that construction work on their Anfield home saw the number of fans attending their games early in 2023/24 reduced – hence why their percentage is so low here. Otherwise, tickets to Liverpool games are like gold dust.

It should also be pointed out that different clubs have their own percentages when it comes to match tickets handed out to hospitality clients and VIPs. Without the commitment of supporting the club, it’s more likely that these individuals are prone to not turning up at the game – hence the occasional empty seats at even the most successful of clubs.

But even with those accepted anomalies, we can still draw some conclusions about the popularity of Premier League clubs in 2023/24. The best supported was West Ham, who despite playing at the mammoth London Stadium could well do with an expansion to their capacity – a testament to the enduring (and durable) nature of their fanbase.

Four other clubs had a capacity percentage of 99% or greater: Newcastle United, Arsenal, Brighton and Brentford. Each could lay claim to be knocking on the door of the Premier League’s best supported clubs.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sheffield United were propping up the rest with the lowest capacity percentage taken – but then, for a team that conceded a mammoth 104 goals in the season, which is a Premier League record that may never be matched, that perhaps comes as no surprise.

As you scroll through the data, there are some surprises in the rankings of the clubs. Even at first glance, it appears as if results on the pitch play no real part in how loyal a team’s supporters are – the chart below confirms as much:

Premier League Attendance Versus League Position

As you can see, there’s no real correlation between Premier League finishing position and the percentage number of seats taken for home games.

West Ham, Newcastle United, Brighton, Brentford and Everton all have fanbases that are essentially immune to what is happening on the pitch – they continue to sell out, or almost sell out, every single one of their home matches despite not being classed as anything close to being the best teams in the division.

Setting Liverpool aside for the reasons detailed above, the biggest surprises are Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea. The raw data confirms that they struggle to sell out their respective grounds for home games, despite being amongst the Premier League’s elite (albeit Chelsea’s 2023/24 campaign was very much one of two halves).

One of the possible reasons for this is that the fanbases of Man City, Tottenham and Chelsea are not ‘local’ – that is, their supporters have to travel long distances to attend home games from neighbouring towns and cities (or in the case of Spurs and Chelsea, other London boroughs).

Contrast that to the localised fanbases of Brighton, Brentford and Everton in particular, you get a flavour of how being geographically-linked to a club can be vital in them selling out their stadium’s full capacity.

Kings of Europe

We pondered way back at the start of this article how ticket sales for the Premier League stack up against the other major competitions in Europe – specifically, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

Remember, the average attendance in the Premier League per stadium capacity was 97.2%, which is a figure that no doubt would have been higher but for Liverpool’s Anfield renovation work – well over 98%, in fact.

La Liga

In Spain’s La Liga, the average attendance was 29,017 – almost 10,000 fans per game less than the number in the Premier League. But what does that equate to as a percentage of stadium capacity? Well, it’s interesting because the total capacity at La Liga grounds in 2023/24 was little over 702,000; approximately 100,000 less than the maximum number of fans that could attend EPL games.

In terms of a percentage, that works out to around 82.5%, which is a surprisingly low number. There is a theme of poor attendances in Spanish football, perhaps as much to do with economic conditions as much as anything. Even at champions Real Madrid, their average attendance was 72,061 – the Bernabeu Stadium holds 81,044 at full capacity.

Serie A

Over in Italy’s Serie A, the picture is equally bleak.

The average attendance in 2023/24 was 30,916 – more than La Liga, less than the Premier League. But as a percentage of the available total stadium capacity, that works out to just 79.6%, which is remarkably low for such a high grade of football.

The likes of Lazio, Fiorentina and Verona were all considerably below capacity – in the case of Lazio, their average attendance of 43,716 in the 73,261 Stadio Olimpico will be a great concern.

Bundesliga

The landscape for football fans in Germany is much rosier. The 50+1 ownership system ensures that fans don’t become disillusioned with decision-makers at their club, and that is showcased in some outstanding shows of support at home games – which includes Borussia Dortmund’s infamous ‘Yellow Wall’.

The numbers stack up too. An average attendance of 39,507 squashed into an average stadium capacity of 40,934 – a percentage return of 96.5%.

Ligue 1

Over in France, Ligue 1 has been dogged by violence inside and outside of stadia for a number of seasons now – has that affected crowd numbers?

The answer seems to be no, for the most part. The average attendance in 2023/24 was 27,023, with an average stadium capacity of 32,329 – an overall capacity take-up of 83.5%.

So when the question turns to what is the best supported of the ‘big five’ leagues in Europe, the answer is – unequivocally – the Premier League.