Championship average attendances per club this season and percentage of capacity

ForssAwakens said:
Leeds are a multiple sports city. Middlesbrough has one
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Not sure what relevance that has. People can support more than one sport. In anycase, Leeds Rhinos home fixtures don't clash with Leeds United's home fixtures for that reason. Rhino's home games are played on Friday's.
 
The point with Leeds and the rugby league is that there are loads of rugby league teams in their catchment not just the Rhinoceros, it is a big rugby league city whether people acknowledge it or not and rugby league fans would not be seen dead at the football.
 
Nero said:
The average attendance for the Rhinos must be miles below that of Leeds United.
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I think it is now, but its been fairly close in recent years. 2013 Leeds were averaging about 21k, and Rhinos over 15k.

However, lots of RL fans in Leeds support other clubs: Castleford, for example, average about 7k, but there are only 45k people living in Castleford. Much of their support comes from the city of Leeds. I think there are 6 professional RL teams in the Leeds area (not counting Bradford), and only one professional football club.

However, my experience of having lived there is that there are plenty who enjoy both sports, and why not?
 
Capacity only has any meaning in this context if you're selling out every week, then you could assume that you'd likely have bigger crowds with a bigger stadium.
 
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Frozen Horse said:
I think it is now, but its been fairly close in recent years. 2013 Leeds were averaging about 21k, and Rhinos over 15k.

However, lots of RL fans in Leeds support other clubs: Castleford, for example, average about 7k, but there are only 45k people living in Castleford. Much of their support comes from the city of Leeds. I think there are 6 professional RL teams in the Leeds area (not counting Bradford), and only one professional football club.

However, my experience of having lived there is that there are plenty who enjoy both sports, and why not?
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Why not indeed. It shouldn’t be all about football especially if League and Football are played on different day.

It sounds like Leeds is similar in many ways to Leicester. For years there wasn’t a massive difference between Leicester Tigers average attendance and Leicester City. I think Tigers still average about 20k which is excellent for rugby. It helps being the most successful team in England of course.
 
HolgateCorner said:
The point with Leeds and the rugby league is that there are loads of rugby league teams in their catchment not just the Rhinoceros, it is a big rugby league city whether people acknowledge it or not and rugby league fans would not be seen dead at the football.
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But surely the popularity of a sport is reflected by the average attendances the top clubs can muster? The average attendances in the Super League are on par with EFL League Two and Conference teams.

Last seasons averages in the Super League...
Wigan – 14,454
Leeds – 13,510
Hull – 13,291
St Helens – 12,384
Warrington – 11,467
Catalans – 8,831
Hull KR – 8,782
Castleford – 7,933
Leigh – 7,270
Huddersfield – 5,397
Salford – 4,699
Wakefield – 4,411

Some of these towns are 'hotbeds' of Rugby League in name only. The stats tell a different story.
 
Think my take on that table is somewhere between who cares and pretty good!

Basically only behind the sides that have been top 4 all season long and Sunderland who are just a club unusually pre-occupied with attendances. And this during a cost of living crisis, with our club one of the more expensive to follow, and a lot of supporters hard up.

But if you could magically choose between us finishing the season 6th in this league table or the actual one it's not a difficult decision is it!
 
Completely meaningless as a comparison between clubs but the % shows how there is something that could be improved to get more people in to the stadium. I don't buy the nonsense that we have a pricing structure that means we sell out when we are in the PL. We've been there once in 15 years and we have the most expensive tickets and thousands of empty seats every week.
 
The first table is pointless. Those above us have much more smaller capacities, it could only be argued if each of them where selling out every week, which they are not. Given them a 34k stadium and their attendances would be as they are and way further down that table.

End of the day, some excellent crowd numbers for the second division.
 
Brian Marwood said:
22,000 for football and 22,000 for rugby is healthy for a city the size of Hull.
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Leeds is a football city, not a RL city. The comparisons are ridiculous. Leeds Rhinos get a third of what Leeds United get in the Championship.
There is overlap of seasons and RL is played in more appealing weather. Rhinos are a big RL club, but are dwarfed by Leeds United.
Cas and Trinity are local things only in places that have no football clubs at all. A bit like Warrington, St Helens and Leigh.

Hull on the other hand has 2 RL clubs that combined will usually attract bigger crowds than Hull City Tigers or whatever they are called these days.

Wigan is an RL town. Latics have very poor support as a lot of Wiganers support the giant football clubs nearby.
Bradford is the other city with affections for both sports, but when City show any promise their crowds will be bigger than Bulls by a long way.
 
indeedido said:
Leeds is a football city, not a RL city.
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It feels a fairly even split when you live there: by that I mean seeing people in club attire, what's on the big screen when you go into pubs etc. For me, the strangest thing was pass a school at lunch time and seeing kids playing scratch games of RL instead of kicking a tennis ball about.

2 things I realised:
lots of RL fans in Leeds support clubs other than Rhinos.
lots of Leeds Untied's support comes from outside the city.

But there's no denying there's a strong support for united in the city. But other cities are more obsessed with football. Leeds is, I think, easily the largest English city with 1 team? Much smaller cities like Sheffield and Nottingham have 2 clubs. That's where Rhinos basically fit in: they're the city's second club, but its for a different sport.

So, yes, it's a football city, but not purely a football city
 
GazBoro said:
But surely the popularity of a sport is reflected by the average attendances the top clubs can muster? The average attendances in the Super League are on par with EFL League Two and Conference teams.

Last seasons averages in the Super League...
Wigan – 14,454
Leeds – 13,510
Hull – 13,291
St Helens – 12,384
Warrington – 11,467
Catalans – 8,831
Hull KR – 8,782
Castleford – 7,933
Leigh – 7,270
Huddersfield – 5,397
Salford – 4,699
Wakefield – 4,411

Some of these towns are 'hotbeds' of Rugby League in name only. The stats tell a different story.
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But in the areas covered by the clubs above there are very few big football clubs so the football catchments are much bigger, I know the point you are making but I don’t think it’s a direct comparison.
 
Frozen Horse said:
It feels a fairly even split when you live there: by that I mean seeing people in club attire, what's on the big screen when you go into pubs etc. For me, the strangest thing was pass a school at lunch time and seeing kids playing scratch games of RL instead of kicking a tennis ball about.

2 things I realised:
lots of RL fans in Leeds support clubs other than Rhinos.
lots of Leeds Untied's support comes from outside the city.

But there's no denying there's a strong support for united in the city. But other cities are more obsessed with football. Leeds is, I think, easily the largest English city with 1 team? Much smaller cities like Sheffield and Nottingham have 2 clubs. That's where Rhinos basically fit in: they're the city's second club, but its for a different sport.

So, yes, it's a football city, but not purely a football city
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I think that’s fair comment if Leeds was a 100% football city then it would be a much bigger club with better achievements over the years. I lived in Leeds for a good few years and it is nowhere near the interest and intensity for football that you see in the north east.
 
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