Of the 17 clubs that were in the Premier League last season, all but four have seen falls in attendance.
by http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4775
When you’re a Premier League http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3389, paying up to 160,000 pounds a week to a suspected Brazilian rapist and other overhyped foreigners, then you need to get the money back somewhere.
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=776 with the emotional baggage that comes from growing up as orphans under the Soviet system might be good for around 500 million pounds. While oil rich sheiks, who already have gold toilets, diamond chandeliers, and race horses parked on the lawn, might be willing to pitch in with an extra few hundred million.
But, at the end of the day it’s the average punter that keeps the sport going, through TV revenue, merchandizing, and ticket sales.
A report last year claimed that pub landlords were ditching Sky TV Premiership football because of the high cost combined with increases in the price of booze, and earlier this month, Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League admitted that another key source of revenue, corporate hospitality, was down. More serious than this, however, is the fall in Premiership’s attendances compared to last season, as revealed by the latest figures.While the newly promoted clubs, WEST BROM, STOKE, and HULL have naturally seen an increase in attendances, most other clubs have been hit by empty seats. Of the 17 clubs that were in the Premier League last season, all but four have seen falls in attendance. Comparing the percentage of filled seats this season with last season, the worst hit clubs are as follows:
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=6619 down 11.5 points from 92% attendance to 80.5% attendance
BLACKBURN down 8.9 points from 76.3% to 67.4%
SUNDERLAND down 7.7 points from 88.5% to 80.8%
NEWCASTLE down 7.2 points from 97.9% to 90.5%
All these teams are in the North of the country, the traditional heartland of English soccer but also an area of less affluence than the South. The five Premiership teams in the London area seem to have fared better, but even here attendances have shown a downward trend, with four of the teams selling fewer tickets.
The worst hit team here is WEST HAM, with a 4.8% fall in attendance, from 98.6% attendance to 93.8%. The only team to buck the trend in the South is CHELSEA whose attendances have risen from 97.5% to 99.1%, although possibly this might be explained by the vast number of rich Arabs that Abramovich has been inviting over in recent months in his attempt to offload his loss-making club.
http://castefootball.us/viewarticle.asp?sportID=8&teamID=0&ID=23403