With the struggles that Premiership Rugby has gone through financially, a lot of people want to know how these struggles have affected the attendances of the league in the most recent season to date.
Gallagher Premiership attendances 2022/23. The average attendance in the Premiership in the 2022/23 season was 12,569 which was an increase on the previous season. Those numbers are getting close to the levels we saw prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The average attendance numbers for the Premiership were pretty difficult to calculate. Most of the numbers published exclude games involving Wasps or Worcester Warriors. While both of those teams started the season, they went into administration so early in the season that those fixtures do not count towards the average.
The figure of 12,569 excludes big games which are the ones that took place at Twickenham and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It makes it a lot easier to get an accurate average if you exclude those one off games where there was an incredibly high attendance. Overall, the attendance figures were a slight good sign for Premiership Rugby.
While there was an overall increase in the attendance figures, there were a lot of teams who saw the number of people coming to watch their games fall. Teams like Bath, Exeter Chiefs and Harlequins all saw their average attendances drop from the prior season despite the league as a whole increasing.
There were also quite a few teams who were nowhere near getting their full capacity in the stadium. Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks both struggled with capacity numbers of 55% and 55.2% respectively. This is the sort of thing which is really not going to help the team’s bottom line.
There is some hope that Premiership Rugby attendances will increase next season. While the international players may be absent from the first few rounds, having none of the fixtures clashing with the Six Nations means teams should be able to put out their full strength team more often. In theory, this should help attendances moving forwards.
What is the average attendance at Sale Sharks games?
Sale Sharks were one of the standout teams of the 2022/23 Premiership Rugby season. Despite being one of the best teams in the league at the moment, you might be surprised to hear about their poor attendance numbers.
In the 2022/23 season, the average attendance at a Sale Sharks home game was 6,619. This is particularly poor when you consider that this number is the second lowest in Premiership Rugby. Only Newcastle Falcons have a worse attendance in the most recent Premiership season.
There were games within the season where Sale were able to bring their attendance up. Their average number would be slightly higher had it included the Premiership Rugby semi-final against the Leicester Tigers. Sale were able to sell out the Premiership Rugby semi-final, but this did not count towards their regular season average attendance.
The other concerning statistic about Sale Sharks attendance is that they have one of the lowest capacities in the Premiership. Their capacity was 55%, showing that the team has struggled to sell tickets for games at the AJ Bell stadium. The ground has a capacity of 12,000 so an average attendance of just over 6,600 is not what the team are looking for.
There is a chance that considering how good the Sharks were last season, we could see this figure increase moving forward. Sale Sharks owner Simon Orange is desperate to improve rugby in the north of England and Sale will be hoping to improve their attendance moving forward.
What is the average attendance at Leicester Tigers games?
It is pretty commonly known that as one of the most successful teams in English domestic rugby, Leicester Tigers have one of the best fan bases in the country. So how does this translate to attendances at their home games?
Leicester Tigers average attendance in the 2022/23 season was 22,075. This is the highest figure in the entire Premiership, showing that the team has one of the best fan bases in English domestic rugby. The Tigers were also one of the teams that saw their attendance increase from the previous season on average.
The teams overall attendance will have decreased because they lost two home games with Worcester Warriors and Wasps going into administration. The Tigers do also benefit from having one of the biggest home stadiums in the Premiership, but they are also able to sell the stadium out very well.
Leicester Tigers have an average capacity of 85.4%. This is the fourth best figure in the Premiership for the 2022/23 season. So not only do Leicester Tigers have a good fan base, they are also able to sell tickets at a very good rate to fill their large stadium.
What is the average attendance at Saracen’s games?
The reigning Premiership Rugby champions might not be one of the most historic teams in the league, but not a lot of people know about their attendance in their league winning season.
In the 2022/23 season, the average attendance at Saracen’s game was 13,622. This is near the league average, being the sixth highest figure in Premiership Rugby last season. However the average number does not tell the whole story. For one thing, that figure includes the team’s home game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
With an attendance of more than 55,000 at this game, it massively influences their figures. If you look at the team’s nine other home games then the attendance was closer to 8,000 which would be one of the lowest in the Premiership. The team’s lowest home attendance was 6,591.
The reason why Saracen’s attendance is so low is because the team has not been at their current home for very long. Saracen only moved to Barnet Copthall in 2013. This means they have not built up a massive following in the area and the attendance is therefore one of the lowest in the league.
It also does not help that many of Saracen’s stars did not play in many home games due to international figures. This should not be as much of an issue in the 2023/24 season, so we could see Saracen’s average attendance increase next season.