Sports League Attendances

Paid attendance at live sporting events only approaches one event per person per year in a few countries.

Generally it is highest in the English speaking developed countries, that is the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Australia and New Zealand. Possible reasons for this are that most of the world's best attended sports originated in these countries and therefore more deeply culturally embedded in them than anywhere else, and that the practice of attending live sport was established in them for several generations before it was challenged by the alternative of watching sport on television.

Most other developed countries occupy the middle ground in attendances per head.

Attendances are generally lowest in developing countries. Reasons for this may include a lack of disposable income to spend on tickets, unattractive venues, the relative recent introduction of many sports to these countries, and the emigration of many top local competitors.

In some countries a culture of regular attendance at sporting events barely exists. For example in China, football is often said to be the most popular sport, and audience of tens of millions are reported to watch overseas games on television, but the top Local League drew fewer ticket buyers in 2004 than the League in Norway, which has less than 0.4% of China's population.

DOMESTIC PROFESSIONAL LEAGUES

The table below lists domestic professional Sports League s from around the world by total attendances for the last completed season. It is unlikely that any leagues with total attendances over 10 million are missing, but below that level the table is very incomplete at present.

Points to consider:

The correlation between revenue and attendance is quite weak. For example, the NFL is on a par with Major League Baseball financially despite having less than one quarter of the total attendance because it charges much higher ticket prices and has a larger television contract.

In some cases the figures listed are for main season games only.

In some sports (mainly North American centred sports) the main league competition provides each club or franchise with virtually the whole of its attendance and revenue. In others, there are multiple competitions, for example leading English football clubs compete in four competitions each season, but only the league competition is listed below.

In some sports, for example Rugby Union , international competitions and transnational club competitions provide a significant part of total attendances and revenue.

Free or heavily discounted seats may be counted by some leagues. No-shows for paid seats may be included in some cases, but not in others.

Not all leagues publish official attendance figures. Various media outlets produce their own figures and sometimes these do not agree, but the differences in the averages given are usually no more than one or two per cent.

This table is incomplete. Please help Wikipedia by adding more leagues. Notable leagues which are not yet listed include:

Baseball: the South Korean leagues.

Basketball: the national leagues in Europe.

Football (soccer): many leagues including the top divisions in Algeria , Argentina , Mexico , Indonesia , Iran and South Africa .

Rugby union: national leagues in South Africa , Italy .

Australian rules football: Victorian Football League .

Volleyball: leagues in Italy, Poland and Brazil.

Handball: the German league.

Note: Until 2005, the attendance figures in NPB were estimated by the home teams. The estimated figures were normally much higher than the actual numbers of spectators in the game. The total and average attendances only covered regular season games.

Note 2: The total attendance for the four fully professional football divisions in England ( FA Premier League , Football League Championship , Football League 1 and Football League 2 ) in 2004-5 was 29,252,189. This doesn't include domestic and European cup games.

DOMESTIC KNOCK-OUT CUP COMPETITIONS

This section list attendances at domestic Knock-out cup competitions in order of total attendance. It is very incomplete. In particular, there is a professional football (soccer) cup competition in most countries, and some countries have two.

COLLEGE AND AMATEUR LEAGUES

This section lists college and amateur leagues by total attendance. Most remaining amateurism requirements in top level sport were dropped in the late 20th century, and there are now few if any amateur leagues which are of interest to a wide public outside of the United States, where college sports are very popular and at least one significant ice hockey league retains an amateur requirement.

The NCAA championships listed here are all comprised of several separate conferences with varying attendance levels. For example, in (American) football, Division I-A per-game attendances in 2005 ranged from 14,489 for Mid-American Conference teams to 74,579 for Southeastern Conference teams. {Link without Title}

INTERNATIONAL CLUB COMPETITIONS

This section lists the attendances at international competitions between sports clubs. These are usually organised on a continental basis. The teams which compete in these tournaments also compete in the domestic competitions in their home countries.

This table is incomplete. Please help Wikipedia by adding more competitions. Notable competitions which could be added include:
:Basketball: Adriatic League
:Football: AFC Champions League ; CAF Champions League ; Copa Libertadores De América ; Royal League ; UEFA Cup
:Rugby union: Super 14 (first season in new format Feb-May 2006; specially created franchises compete rather than regular club teams)

Note: all stages except Final Four.

COMPETITIONS BETWEEN NATIONAL TEAMS

This section lists attendances at competitions between national representative teams sorted by total attendance. Please help Wikipedia by adding more competitions.

Please note that although 32 games were played in the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, tickets were sold only for 20 matchdays. A total of 24 matches were scheduled as doubleheaders—18 during pool play, all four quarterfinals, and both semifinals. However, FIFA took attendance separately for each individual match, and the calculation here reflects this practice.

DOMESTIC CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS

This section lists the most recent attendances at annual championship events (single league decider matches) by total attendance, and includes domestic leagues and competitions.

COMPETITIONS BETWEEN DOMESTIC REPRESENTATIVE SIDES

This section lists major domestic representative competitions sorted by total attendance. Please help Wikipedia by adding more competitions.

MISCELLANEOUS

This section lists attendances which do not fit into any of the sections above.

Basketball

had a total attendance of 689,317 in 35 sessions, for an average of 19,695. {Link without Title}

---NB: The NCAA sells tickets for "sessions" rather than individual games. The "play-in" game, the four regional finals, and the national championship game are single-game sessions; all other tournament games are part of a doubleheader at a specific site.

Commonwealth Games

2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne , Australia : Total ticket sales 1.6 million. {Link without Title}

Cricket

)

Cycling

claiming a more modest 10 million {Link without Title} . This is the highest total for any single sporting event; it should be pointed out, however, that attendance is entirely free and not closely monitored.

Gaelic Games

in 2003 (including both Gaelic Football and Hurling ) was 1,962,769. {Link without Title}

Golf

PGA Tour : 2004 attendance was over 10 million. {Link without Title}

PGA Tour's , are capped well below this level.

U.S. Women's Open attendance in 2005 was 131,298. {Link without Title}

Horse Racing

Japan Racing Association : in 2004 8,099,985 racegoers attended meetings in Japan. {Link without Title} Attendances at JRA meetings have fallen every year since 1996, when they were 14,116,684. These numbers do not include the many "local racing" meetings in Japan.

British Horse Racing: in 2004 6,048,517 racegoers attended the 1,299 meetings held in the United Kingdom, an average of 4,656. This was the highest total attendance since at least 1959. [http://www.britishhorseracing.com/images/inside_horseracing/media/2004_Annual_Report.pdf

, Australia

attracted a total of 140,054.

Motor Racing

held in Melbourne was 301,500 {Link without Title} .

Olympics

Summer Olympics

2004 Athens Olympics : 3.8 million tickets sold.

2000 Sydney Olympics : 6.7 million tickets sold

1996 Atlanta Olympics : 8.3 million tickets sold

1992 Barcelona Olympics : 3.0 million tickets sold

1988 Seoul Olympics : 3.3 million tickets sold

1984 Los Angeles Olympics : 5.7 million tickets sold

Winter Olympics

2006 Turin Olympics : 0.9 million tickets sold {Link without Title}

2002 Salt Lake City Olympics : 1.525 million tickets sold

1998 Nagano Olympics : 1.275 million tickets sold

1994 Lillehammer Olympics : 1.2 million tickets sold

1992 Albertville Olympics : 0.9 million tickets sold

1988 Calgary Olympics : 1.6 million tickets sold

All figures except Turin 2006 from Olympic.org

Tennis

In 2004 attendance at the 64 ATP tournaments and four Grand Slam events was 6,004,648. {Link without Title}

Flushing Meadows, U.S. Open : total attendance at the 2005 event was 659,538. {Link without Title}

Melbourne Park, Australian Open - total attendance for 2006 Australian Open held in Melbourne was 550,550. {Link without Title}

Wimbledon Championships : total attendance at the 2005 event was 467,188. {Link without Title}

Roland Garros, French Open : total attendance at the 2004 event was 413,419. {Link without Title}

Wrestling

WWE RAW average attendance:15-20,000

WWE SMACKDOWN average attendance:15-19,000

WWE pay-per-views average attendance:15-21,000

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Information About

Sports League Attendances