By Bill Turianski, on the 1st of August 2024; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2024-25 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, stats, attendances, etc…Summary – Premier League [2024-25] (soccerway.com).
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The chart is for English football clubs (all divisions). It shows the clubs that filled their stadium the best in 2023-24. Listed on the chart are all clubs that drew above 80 Percent-Capacity (41 clubs). At the foot of the chart there is a short article. (Click on image below for a full-screen view.)
Chart by billsportsmaps. Attendance data from soccerway.com.
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Generally, Premier League clubs can be expected to draw above 90%-capacity, and last season, only Wolves drew less (and only just, at 89.6%-capacity). Arsenal filled their stadium best, drawing 60.2-K-per-game at the Emirates Stadium, to 99.7%-capacity. So that means that in Arsenal’s 60-thousand-seat venue, there only were around 150 empty seats each game. Arsenal missed out on the title by 2 points.
Second-best at filling their stadium was 16th-place finishers Brentford, who have now played 4 seasons of Premier League football (and 9 seasons overall, of 1st division football). Brentford drew 17.0-K-per-game at their 17.2-K-capacity Brentford Community Stadium in West London, to 99.3%-capacity. (Brentford Community Stadium opened 4 year ago, in September 2020.) That means that in Brentford’s 17.2-thousand-seat venue, there only were around 170 empty seats each game. Going back a decade or so, the club eventually realized they would have to move out of their much-loved but inadequate and too small of a ground, the 12.3-K-capacity Griffin Park. So the question was, how much bigger to build their new ground? And now it looks like Brentford FC nailed it. They correctly estimated their potential ticket-paying fanbase, when they decided on their new ground’s seated capacity: about 5-thousand seats larger than Griffin Park.
Third-best at filling their stadium was 7th-place finisher Newcastle United, who drew 52.1-K-per-game at St James’ Park, to 99.0%-capacity. Fourth-best at filling their stadium was 11th-place finisher Brighton & Hove Albion, who drew 31.5-K-per-game at Falmer Stadium, to 98.8%-capacity. And fifth-best at filling their stadium was Birmingham’s Aston Villa, who drew 41.8-K-per-game at Villa Park, to 98.7%-capacity. Villa finished in 4th place, meaning in 2024-25 they will play in the Champions League Group Stage for the first time.
14 clubs in the EFL Championship drew above 80 Percent Capacity. Best at filling their stadium in the 2nd tier was East Anglian side Ipswich Town, who, en route to winning their second straight promotion, drew 28.8-K-per-game at Portman Road, to 95.1%-capacity. (Ipswich Town returns to the Premier League after an absence of 22 years.) Second-best at filling their stadium in the 2nd tier was another East Anglian side, the 6th-place finisher Norwich City, who drew 26.0-K at Carrow Road, to 94.4%-capacity. Third-best at filling their stadium in the 2nd tier was Queens Park Rangers. 18th-place finisher QPR drew 16.7-K-per-game, and played to 91%-capacity at their band-box of a ground in West London, Loftus Road. Also at 91%-capacity was the promoted Leicester City, while the promoted Southampton played to 89.8%-capacity. (Both Leicester and Southampton bounced right back up to the Premier League.) The other 9 clubs that drew above 80%-capacity in the 2nd division were: Leeds United, the relegated Rotherham United, Hull City, West Bromwich, Watford, Plymouth Argyle, Sunderland, Bristol City, and Millwall.
4 clubs in EFL League One drew above 80 Percent Capacity. Best at filling their stadium in the 3rd tier was Hampshire-based Portsmouth, who, en route to winning promotion, drew 18.9-K-per-game at Fratton Park, to 91.0%-capacity. Portsmouth returns to the 2nd division after an absence of 11 years. The other 3 clubs that drew above 80%-capacity in the 3rd division were: Northampton Town, Leyton Orient, and the promoted Derby County.
3 clubs in EFL League Two drew above 80 Percent Capacity. Best at filling their stadium in the 4th tier was Greater Manchester side Stockpot County, who, en route to winning promotion, drew 9.3-K-per-game at Edgeley Park, to 85.9%-capacity. Stockport County returns to the 3rd division after an absence of 15 years. The other 2 clubs that drew above 80%-capacity in the 4th division were: AFC Wimbledon, and the promoted Mansfield Town.
Club with the worst percent-capacity figure in the Football League? The absolute worst at filling their stadium in the League was, fittingly, Milton Keynes Dons (for the second straight season). Milton Keynes Dons, who stole Wimbledon’s place in the League in 2004, drew 6.8-K-per-game in their 30.5-K-capacity white elephant of a ground, Stadium MK, up in Buckinghamshire. So in 2023-24, Milton Keynes played to a paltry 22%-capacity. In other words, on average, Milton Keynes played to over 23,000 empty seats each game. No other football club in the League played to anywhere near that amount of vacancy (the closest was Port Vale, at 35%-capacity). And for the first time, Milton Keynes drew less than AFC Wimbledon…one-thousand-per-game less than AFC Wimbledon.
