Just How Full Are Premier League Stadiums?

By: Daryl | March 27th, 2008
   

Toon Army, 3rd best attenders

Over at EPL Talk, they’ve been calculating attendances in the 2007/8 Premier League so far, and published this list ranking each club’s average attendance 1 to 20. Unsurprisingly, Manchester United had the highest average attendance (75,638) because they have the biggest stadium. Arsenal had the second highest (60,062) as they have the second biggest stadium. It’s a long way from rocket science.

So EPL Talk went back and calculated what those average attendances are as a percentage of each team’s stadium capacity. Still not rocket science maybe, but makes for excellent reading and a nice little insight into just how full each stadium is each week. The stats are below:


Team names and average attendances are in bold, followed by the stadium’s capacity (in brackets) and exactly how full each stadium is as a percentage.

1. Arsenal , Emirates Stadium, 60,062 (60,432) 99.39%
2. Man United , Old Trafford, 75,638 (76,212) 99.25%
3. Tottenham , White Hart Lane, 35,931 (36,247) 99.13%
4. West Ham , Boleyn Ground, 34,616 (35,089) 98.65%
5. Chelsea, Stamford Bridge, 41,499 (42,449) 97.76%
6. Newcastle, St. James’s Park, 51,122 (52,387) 97.59%
7. Reading, Madejski Stadium, 23,469 (24,200) 96.98%
8. Portsmouth, Fratton Park, 19,999 (20,600) 96.67%
9. Derby, Pride Park, 32,270 (33,597) 96.05%
10. Liverpool, Anfield, 43,529 (45,362) 95.95%
11. Aston Villa, Villa Park, 39,848 (42,719) 93.28%
12. Fulham, Craven Cottage, 23,503 (25,600) 91.81%
13. Everton, Goodison Park, 36,766 (40,170) 91.53%
14. Manchester City, Eastlands, 42,069 (47,300) 88.94%
15. Birmingham City, St. Andrews, 26,176 (30,009) 87.23%
16. Sunderland, Stadium of Light, 42,546 (49,000) 86.83%
17. Middlesbrough, Riverside, 26,401 (35,049) 75.33%
18. Wigan, JJB Stadium, 18,740 (25,023) 74.89%
19. Blackburn Rovers, Ewood Park, 23,369 (31,367) 74.50%
20. Bolton, Reebok Stadium, 20,412 (27,879) 73.22%

Arsenal replace Man Utd at the top but we’re talking about a difference of 0.14%, so nothing for Gunners fans to get too excited about. What’s impressive is that the top 10 teams all fill 95% of their stadiums on a regular basis.

With Premiership tickets costing a small fortune, that’s pretty impressive. But also a little scary. It’s probably this sort of data that leads to someone in the boardroom saying “let’s raise ticket prices again, they’ll still keep coming.”

Looking at the numbers you could also argue that several of those teams could handle a nice stadium expansion. Especially a team like Portsmouth, with Fratton Park only holding about 20,000. On the other hand Middlesbrough, Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton are less than 80% full. They could literally lose 20% of their ground and not notice the difference.

Newcastle’s figures (they have the third highest actual attendance behind Man Utd and Arsenal) prove that even some horrible horrible football and a dreadful run of results can’t keep the Toon Army away. And respect to Derby fans for making the most of this season in the Premiership, even if the team aren’t doing the same.


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  • Jungly
    It would be interesting to know the percentage of away fans at each ground per game.
  • Pedantic
    Since when has Stadiums been the plural of Stadium?
  • tanim
    why epl stadiums are half the size of the nfl stadium.....
    i m disappointed.
  • nige
    When you think how sky high the ticket prices are you have to stand back in awe at the stupidity of your average football fan. Thick or what?
  • 'With Premiership tickets costing a small fortune, that’s pretty impressive. But also a little scary. It’s probably this sort of data that leads to someone in the boardroom saying “let’s raise ticket prices again, they’ll still keep coming.”'

    That is what worrying me as well, Daryl. But anyhow, quite an insight.
  • francis
    Amazing support. Thats why the premiership is the best.
  • ordeal_rules
    wow 99 percent attendance! and in England where watching a game is just a little more boring than watching it on tv (not that the game is boring just the experience, you get what I mean)

    I suppose this is just momentary, since the true fans are not actually aloud inside anymore to chear for their team and they are the ones that stick with them, right now maybe its just a fad
  • Sunderland has a mad fanbase and a big stadium. Their attendance last season was even more jarring: the pure numbers were down because they were in the LC, but compared with everyone else in the league they were head and shoulders above.

    The percentage list is perhaps more telling, but can be just as misleading as the raw attendance list. To whit: Fulham ranks 12th for drawing 92% of capacity, but they have a tiny stadium, and can only pull 23,500 per? For a London Premiership club that's got to be a disappointment.
  • Jan
    BTW: Are there any rules on how many tickets a club has to reserve for the away supporters of the visiting team?
  • fitz
    Ian beat me to it. Derby's the eyebrow-raiser for me. Good for them. Maybe the new owners will reward them by building a professional team.

    Liverpool and Villa are the disappointements for me. I thought Liverpool fans were God's gift to football. How is Anfield not sold out every time?
  • Shane
    Good to know that tickets are available if i ever wanted to go for a weekend.
  • Ian
    Good for Derby fans. 32,000 per match to watch one home win out of fifteen played. Those are great supporters.
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