February 12 – Attendance figures picked up slightly on the previous week for round 25 of the Premier League season but with 19, 356 seats unfilled across the 10 fixtures, Aston Villa despite a 2-0 win accounted for more than half of them.
While Villa played in front of almost 10,000 empty seats, Stoke City played in front of just 10. London clubs Spurs and Chelsea also, and again, returned impressive attendance figures at over 99% of capacity.
In the north east the Toon Army showed signs of getting back on the march as over 50,000 attended their 1-0 win over West Brom. Newcastle have struggled to break the 50,000 barrier consistently this season at St James Park.
After 25 rounds the Premier League clubs have collectively sold more than 9 million tickets, with 414,715 seats unfilled. Average capacity for the season is 95.52%.
Next season capacities are set to increase at Liverpool with the new Anfield main stand and with West Ham’s move to the 50,000+ capacity Olympic Stadium. Neither club look like they will have trouble filling their stadia on current trends.
Spurs are advanced in the plans to revamp White Hart Lane, while Chelsea are progressing plans for a rebuild of Stamford Bridge. The construction at the London clubs’ stadia could see them both share Wembley for at least a season, which would considerably increase opportunities to watch the Premier League product in London.
The price point for this will be interesting with clubs under pressure from fans to keep ticket prices affordable. But a trip to Wembley is a trip to Wembley for English football fans, and that generally comes at a premium.
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