By David Owen
January 13 – Further evidence of mounting Chinese interest in football has been published in the shape of analysis of match attendances by the sports practice of KPMG, the global audit, tax and advisory services network.
According to KPMG’s Football Benchmark team, the average gate at Chinese Super League (CSL) matches in 2015 was up an impressive 16.7% on the previous season. Average attendance at games exceeded 21,800, a level KPMG said was “just a few hundred spectators” behind 2014-15 figures for both Italy’s Serie A and Ligue 1 in France.
The analysis also covered Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States, where average attendance climbed nearly 13% to 21,536, and the Indian Super League (ISL), which recently completed its second season.
While the Indian league comprises just eight clubs and 56 regular season matches, its average crowd is highest of the three competitions at 26,376. KPMG said this exceeded the 2014-15 average in Spain’s La Liga.
“The increasing popularity generated by the arrival of internationally recognised players and managers, combined with the growing interest of sponsors and availability of unutilised capacity at certain venues confirms that MLS, CSL and ISL are likely to see attendance figures grow over the coming seasons,” said Andrea Sartori, head of KPMG’s sports practice. “The fast growth of these new football markets raises the question of if these emerging leagues will be able to match the Bundesliga and Premier League attendance in the years to come.”
For now, the top German and English leagues continue to rule the roost in attendance terms, with average crowds of 42,700 and 36,000 respectively.
Matchday revenue continues to dwindle as a proportion of overall income at the top European clubs which have benefited from huge jumps in earnings from media rights in recent times.
Among Premier League clubs, for example, matchday revenue may well be found to have fallen in 2014-15, compared with the previous season. With nine of the 20 clubs having published their figures, including most of the big fish, aggregate matchday revenue in 2014-15 from all competitions stood at £376.5 million, against £397.1 million among the same clubs in 2013-14. Meanwhile, another big hike in TV income will take effect from next season.
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