La Liga Attendances over the past 5 Years

By
Elisa
– January 20, 2012Posted in: Athletic, atletico, Barça, Betis, england, Featured, Germany, La Liga Headlines, Mexico, Osasuna, Real Madrid

 

With the current financial crisis in Spain and the fact that most stadia desperately require makeovers, I decided to take a look at the attendance and capacity numbers over the past 5 years in Spanish Football (2006/2007 – 2010/2011) in the first division.

Some  observations:

1) The average attendance in Primera division is 28K.  This ranks at about 4th position in World Football after Germany, England and Mexico.

2) The attendances overall seem to fluctuate with the performance of the respective teams IE Barcelona’s attendance keeps increasing.  Sevilla’s attendance was better during the Juande glory days and UEFA runs.  Teams that flirt relegation tend to drop off and take huge dips, see Real Zaragoza.

3) Not all teams own their stadium in La Liga – FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal, Real Betis and Levante do.  The more modest clubs or cities with smaller populations do not.

4) The gap at the top is evident again with a  potential of 40-50K more paying fans filling the seats.

5) Top Attendance is great, but the ability to fill your stadium capacity, every week is something to be admired, see Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna.

6) Positive signs:  Espanyol’s new stadium is bringing in 35K of late.  Malaga’s Sheik plans to build a new stadium and invest heavily in the region.  Valencia has managed to broker an arrangement with their bank to sell the Old Mestalla and finish construction on the Nou Mestalla.  Atletico Madrid has their eyes on the new Peineta stadium in the next couple of years and is working with the local council. Lastly, San Mames Barria is in the works and should open in 2014.

 

Here’s the data on the five year attendance and related graph.

ATTENDANCE OVER 5 YEARS
Average Summary    Total 5 years    Average   Capacity   *
    Barcelona          366,841      73,368     99,354
    Real Madrid          360,118      72,024     80,000
    Atletico Madrid          212,482      42,496     54,851
    Valencia          201,598      40,320     55,000
    Sevilla          199,102      39,820     45,500
    Athletic Bilbao          178,518      35,704     39,750
    Espanyol de Barcelona          118,570      23,714     40,500
    Real Betis          115,038      23,008     52,745 *
    Real Zaragoza          108,084      21,617     34,596 *
    Villarreal            89,136      17,827     25,000
    Osasuna            85,620      17,124     19,553
    Racing de Santander            84,169      16,834     22,271
    Mallorca            74,060      14,812     23,142
    Malaga            71,896      14,379     28,963 *
    Sporting Gijón            63,590      12,718     29,538 *
    Getafe            54,561      10,912     17,700
    Real Sociedad            47,609        9,522     32,076 *
    Levante            43,057        8,611     25,534 *
Average La Liga          142,076      28,415
* Does not include second division

 

 

 

 

Here’s the data on capacity and related graphs:

 

ATTENDANCE vs OCCUPANCY OVER 5 YEARS
Average Summary    Total 5 years     Average    Capacity  Occ Rate   *
    Real Madrid          360,118      72,024     80,000 90%
    Athletic Bilbao          178,518      35,704     39,750 90%
    Osasuna            85,620      17,124     19,553 88%
    Sevilla          199,102      39,820     45,500 88%
    Atletico Madrid          212,482      42,496     54,851 77%
    Racing de Santander            84,169      16,834     22,271 76%
    Barcelona          366,841      73,368     99,354 74%
    Valencia          201,598      40,320     55,000 73%
    Villarreal            89,136      17,827     25,000 71%
    Mallorca            74,060      14,812     23,142 64%
    Real Zaragoza          108,084      21,617     34,596 62% *
    Getafe            54,561      10,912     17,700 62%
    Espanyol de Barcelona          118,570      23,714     40,500 59%
    Malaga            71,896      14,379     28,963 50% *
    Real Betis          115,038      23,008     52,745 44% *
    Sporting Gijón            63,590      12,718     29,538 43% *
    Levante            43,057        8,611     25,534 34% *
    Real Sociedad            47,609        9,522     32,076 30% *
* Does not include second division

 

 

 

 

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