How popular is football at the moment?

[Wumminator]

I see a lot of people saying they’re disenfranchised with football so sporadically I try and find out how football is doing. I get links like this:

That is interesting but in England viewing figures and match attendances are both going up.

https://www.premierleague.com/news/3636215

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.li...ier-league-attendance-only-going-28378783.amp


I appreciate that your friends might be less interested in the game but certainly in England, it's going up, not down.

But to me these figures could easily be misleading based on the clubs involved.

Why are prem/Cl viewing figures so hard to find!

 

[duffer]

The premier league themselves say that "stadium % fullness" has never been higher than last season.

"Stadiums have been 98.7 per cent full at Premier League matches in 2023/24, which equals the record utilisation figure that was set last season. Of the 20 clubs, 18 have stadium utilisation of over 97 per cent. "

"There have been 10 live matches with a TV audience over 3million in the UK this season, the highest amount on record - one more than was recorded in 2019/20."

https://www.premierleague.com/news/4016793

It would be even higher if Man United and Liverpool were challenging for the title rather than Man City walking it every season.

 

[Ole'sgunnarwin]

I'm in my mid 30s. And I'd say my group of friends and I loved it as teenagers and in our 20s. Over the last few years we've lost some interest. Money taking over, corruption, City winning every week, over analysis/social media reactions, atmospheres not being the same etc

While that FA cup final was great, overall, the last few years watching United feels like a chore. Settling down with a woman/new family certainly affects how much football I watch. Don't nearly care as much as I used to

 

[Massive Spanner]

Globally probably more popular than ever as it’s so easy to watch the PL in so many countries now.

probably less so here in Ireland and the Uk where it costs a fortune and you still can’t watch every match unless you use illegal means.

 

[Wumminator]

The premier league themselves say that "stadium % fullness" has never been higher than last season.

"Stadiums have been 98.7 per cent full at Premier League matches in 2023/24, which equals the record utilisation figure that was set last season. Of the 20 clubs, 18 have stadium utilisation of over 97 per cent. "

"There have been 10 live matches with a TV audience over 3million in the UK this season, the highest amount on record - one more than was recorded in 2019/20."

https://www.premierleague.com/news/4016793

It would be even higher if Man United and Liverpool were challenging for the title rather than Man City walking it every season.

But you get why those figures can be misleading don't you. The attendance is fair enough - but that will depend who is in the league. Luton and Burnley will have a bigger percent of their stadium full than Southampton.

And then the info about 'ten live matches with a tv audience over 3 million' fact just seems odd. What is the average viewing figure? How many people watch the CL on BT?

Why is the only information posted about this on PL websites which is obviously going to try and advertise the league.

 

[duffer]

But you get why those figures can be misleading don't you. The attendance is fair enough - but that will depend who is in the league. Luton and Burnley will have a bigger percent of their stadium full than Southampton.

And then the info about 'ten live matches with a tv audience over 3 million' fact just seems odd. What is the average viewing figure? How many people watch the CL on BT?

Why is the only information posted about this on PL websites which is obviously going to try and advertise the league.

Who else would post PL attendance figures other than a PL website?

I feel like many people have come to the conclusion that football is losing popularity when really they are simply getting old and their interests are changing.

 

[duffer]

Globally probably more popular than ever as it’s so easy to watch the PL in so many countries now.

probably less so here in Ireland and the Uk where it costs a fortune and you still can’t watch every match unless you use illegal means.

You've never been able to watch every match legally in the UK though.

The fact that there is now an industry devoted to watching games illegally kinda points to the game being very popular.

 

[Wumminator]

Who else would post PL attendance figures other than a PL website?

I feel like many people have come to the conclusion that football is losing popularity when really they are simply getting old and their interests are changing.

For most tv channels, there are regular posts about ratings I find. If you're into a sport/show often you hear about ratings and demos etc.

 

[Massive Spanner]

You've never been able to watch every match legally in the UK though.

The fact that there is now an industry devoted to watching games illegally kinda points to the game being very popular.

Well yeah it’s the biggest sport in the world, of course it’s popular. I’m merely giving an example of why a lot of people feel disenfranchised about it.

 

[duffer]

Well yeah it’s the biggest sport in the world, of course it’s popular. I’m merely giving an example of why a lot of people feel disenfranchised about it.

People are annoyed that football is so expensive absolutely. People are also annoyed they can't watch every game at home.

You know why they're annoyed? Because football is more popular than ever and they want to watch it.

Look, I get that a lot of people are falling out of love with the game for many reasons (all of them valid) but overall, the stadiums are full and seemingly TV audiences are booming in the UK and everywhere else.

 

[Chipper]

For most tv channels, there are regular posts about ratings I find. If you're into a sport/show often you hear about ratings and demos etc.

Yeah, there's not much out there unfortunately.

There's a TV ratings company called BARB, their website used to be handy for this but they changed what they offer for free a couple of years ago now. As a stats nerd I'd occasionally look things up.

It used to be that you could see the top 15 weekly programmes for each UK TV channel for free. The live football would dominate the channels they were shown on so easy to find.

Now they just give you the top 50 broadcasts for every channel combined, and want thousands of pounds a year to see anything more advanced. There was always a premium service aimed at the TV industry behind a paywall but they've put more behind it.

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

Worth remembering that not everyone gets fed up with top level football and just stops watching the sport altogether. Attendances are at record levels here in the League of Ireland and people looking for an alternative to super clubs and VAR is definitely a factor in that.

 

[noodlehair]

I've barely watched any PL games outside of United this season. The officiating and money are definitely big factors in that. Most games I have watched the officials have found a way to make such a mess of its impossible to tell who should have won.

The actual viewing and attendance figures always seem to be very vague so never sure what to make of them. Most of my friends are less interested than they used to be. It could just be the generation I'm a part of gets less interested while the younger generation take our place. Its weird to on the one hand have all these claims about how well its doing, while at the same time there always seems to be legal challenges, points deductions, attempts to set up breakaway leagues etc. because of clubs running out of money. The two sides of the coin don't really match up to each other.

@Wonder Pigeon has a point too. I've been to quite a few League 1 games this season. The standard of football is absolute garbage but the atmosphere is generally good, you still get into the game and its usually a decent day out. I'd still enjoy attending PL games just the same but it would take out the whole weekend to go to one game. I don't think match attendances would necessarily suffer unless they were priced out as its a different kind of audience who enjoy the experience as much as the actual football. Derby were still getting 30,000 attendances in League 1.

 

[redshaw]

I do recall more of Premier league grounds were often half empty 10-15 years ago. Definitely seems to be more fuller stadiums, fans going to their local club even if in the bottom half.

Regarding Sky TV matches, I used to look at F1 and PL games figures, they used to be really low, anywhere from 100-500k for a decade or more. They started to break the million barrier with Sky go and now tv and now claim even more, trouble is they do a lot of grouping. Overall it's seems to going up even if they hide the peak figures for a single game or race.

 

[Chipper]

Most of my friends are less interested than they used to be. It could just be the generation I'm a part of gets less interested while the younger generation take our place.

Yes, I think that's just common as time passes and doesn't only affect football fans. There's a little less intensity of feeling for whatever you're a fan of in general. Look at how wild teenagers or early 20-somethings go for music stars or actors, waiting outside their hotel for a glimpse of them if they're in town on their tour or a film premiere. You get the odd granny still wanting to chuck her knickers at Tom Jones or whoever but most people are less excitable when they're a bit older.

You move past the stage of idolising players or the club quite so much.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Oh football is fine, you United fans should just learn to enjoy losing like the rest of us plebes.