SMS actual attendances

[dellboypete]

There have been loads of comments on other threads about needing to increase the capacity of SMS, but I have often wondered what the actual attendances at league games really are (and not just SMS). You often see massive areas of empty seats at old trafford, emirates etc when the official figure is close to capacity.

 

So how close are published attendances to the actual number of people in the ground?

 

There was an article in the Guardian a few days ago (apologies if already posted on here somewhere)

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/12/manchester-united-attendances-police-figures

 

which highlights the big differences between the published and actual attendances at old trafford.

 

For example when we played there earlier this season the official attendance was 75,600, but manchester police state that only 59,766 were in the ground. Obviously clubs assume ( and I also assume SFC do too) that all ST holders attend all games which isn't the case. My daughter went to that game and when I commented that it was probably the biggest league crowd she had ever been in, her comment was that there were loads of empty seats all round the ground and that it was nowhere near capacity - cleared confirmed in the above article.

 

I wonder how close the official and actual at SMS are this season? I'm sure somebody on here is in the know.

 

A number of years ago good friend of mine was club secretary for an old second division team (now in the the prem by the way) who regularly understated their official attendance by a couple of thousand to evade tax etc - which was possible then, as most takings were cash at the turnstile.

[Sour Mash]

There have been loads of comments on other threads about needing to increase the capacity of SMS, but I have often wondered what the actual attendances at league games really are (and not just SMS). You often see massive areas of empty seats at old trafford, emirates etc when the official figure is close to capacity.

 

So how close are published attendances to the actual number of people in the ground?

 

There was an article in the Guardian a few days ago (apologies if already posted on here somewhere)

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/12/manchester-united-attendances-police-figures

 

which highlights the big differences between the published and actual attendances at old trafford.

 

For example when we played there earlier this season the official attendance was 75,600, but manchester police state that only 59,766 were in the ground. Obviously clubs assume ( and I also assume SFC do too) that all ST holders attend all games which isn't the case. My daughter went to that game and when I commented that it was probably the biggest league crowd she had ever been in, her comment was that there were loads of empty seats all round the ground and that it was nowhere near capacity - cleared confirmed in the above article.

 

I wonder how close the official and actual at SMS are this season? I'm sure somebody on here is in the know.

 

A number of years ago good friend of mine was club secretary for an old second division team (now in the the prem by the way) who regularly understated their official attendance by a couple of thousand to evade tax etc - which was possible then, as most takings were cash at the turnstile.

There weren't 15k empty seats at our game at Old Trafford this season.

[shurlock]

To be fair, I think the problem i.e. the disparity was more serious in L1/NPC than this season.

[Saint Garrett]

Well there has certainly been some 'sell out's' that weren't by quite a long way. Whether that was because of this reason, or the ticket office being retarded, I don't know but I'm sure everyone 'plays with figures' to a certain extent.

[ant]

I doubt the effect is as dramatic as you may initially expect. I'm sure a decent percentage of season ticket holders ensure their seat is used even if they're absent, if you catch my drift.

[Saint Mikey]

I doubt the effect is as dramatic as you may initially expect. I'm sure a decent percentage of season ticket holders ensure their seat is used even if they're absent, if you catch my drift.

 

Are you suggesting that we have fans that blatantly flout the 'strictly non-transferable' rule? Can't believe we have fans that would take the p!ss out of the club in such a way. I despair with the modern day fan - I really do.

[Andre]

This is all guess work as far as I can tell. Some of the discrepancies quoted are definitely off by a little or a lot. In terms of St Mary's I wouldn't worry too much; the attendances the club quotes seem to be dead on the mark, as even when it's a sell-out we report the actual attendance which is sometimes only a single figure number over or under the previous record.

[sandwichsaint]

There weren't 15k empty seats at our game at Old Trafford this season.

 

 

This x10, absolutely no way were there 15k empty seats, which is equivalent to the ground being only 80% full, at OT this season .... risible.

 

Only obvious 'empty seats' was a patch high up in the opposite quadrant, remainder of the ground pretty much 'full' bar the odd single seats, ground easily 90% full.

 

 

On the opposite hand how come when Saints give out ever-increasing maximums when I turn on MOD I see plenty of empty seats (in both home and away areas)?

[ericofarabia]

This x10, absolutely no way were there 15k empty seats, which is equivalent to the ground being only 80% full, at OT this season .... risible.

 

Only obvious 'empty seats' was a patch high up in the opposite quadrant, remainder of the ground pretty much 'full' bar the odd single seats, ground easily 90% full.

 

 

On the opposite hand how come when Saints give out ever-increasing maximums when I turn on MOD I see plenty of empty seats (in both home and away areas)?

 

Those empty seats are only empty because the occupants can't go 90 mins without stuffing their faces with a couple of Horse Burgers and a pint of watered down p!ss water, which takes about half the game to purchase and consume. Simples

[stevegrant]

Most clubs these days announce "attendance" figures based on the number of tickets sold rather than number of people through the turnstiles.

[dellboypete]

Those empty seats are only empty because the occupants can't go 90 mins without stuffing their faces with a couple of Horse Burgers and a pint of watered down p!ss water, which takes about half the game to purchase and consume. Simples

 

Ha ha!! I forgot I got you a ticket for that one Eric!! So it was packed because they all knew EoA was going to be present!! How's life?

[Saint-Fred]

Went to Arsenal V Barcelona couple of years back shortly after reading an article which stated a similar thing. Before the game I mentioned it to my gooner mate that the article stated there were seats in the stadium that hadn't been used for 2 years (as in the club section you have to buy a season ticket for x years). He laughed it off (obviously)..this was a sell out game full to the brim! When the game started we had a quick scan round and although there wern't empty swaves of seats nearly every block in the club sections had empty seats...must have added up to quite a lot of empty seats. My mate was shocked at how many there was when you actually looked for them.

[dellboypete]

Last night at Man C v Wigan the crowd was officially over 47,000 (capacity 48000) - the highlights on sky last night suggested there were a lot of empty seats and in my paper this morning it said "there were an alarming number of empty seats".

[ericofarabia]

Ha ha!! I forgot I got you a ticket for that one Eric!! So it was packed because they all knew EoA was going to be present!! How's life?

 

Funny you should be talking about empty seats .... summer just kicking in here40c y'day .... but we have felt the effects of 2 Earthquakes in Iran this week, with serious consequences .....

 

 

 

 

 

[Pilchards]

I remember we played Spurs at SMS in a reserves match, it looked like almost 2 stands was filled and the attendance given was 5k. (I think)

I knew the head steward at the time and his words was 'We never had enough stewards on the night so they gave a false figure for safety reasons.'