The BBC freedom of information request on Premier League attendance figures confirms what many of us already knew.
Although West Ham sell out each game with an average official attendance of 55,309 over 12,500 are missing each game despite having bought a ticket to attend.
The BBC figures reveal:
- West Ham: Newham council says the average attendance at West Ham was 42,779 based on the 12 games it attended – which is 12,530 fans fewer than the club’s season average figure of 55,309. 22% difference.
- Manchester City: Greater Manchester Police’s average figures were 7,482 lower than club figures, again based on 12 games. 14% difference
- Southampton: Hampshire Police figures were an average of 4,246 fans lower than figures issued by the club. 13% difference
- Tottenham: Brent Council says crowds at Wembley Stadium were on average 3,740 less than the club’s stated numbers. 4% difference
- Chelsea: Hammersmith and Fulham council says its average was 3,505 fans lower than club numbers, based on six games. 8% difference
- Watford: Hertfordshire Police says its average was 2,602 fans fewer than club figures, based on four games. 15% difference
- Manchester United: Trafford Council and Greater Manchester Police both said United’s published attendance figures matched its own, based on 12 games. 0% difference
So why do 22% of ticket holders not turn up to games they have already bought tickets for?
So looking at other clubs excluding Manchester United which I don’t believe the average non-attendance in the Premier League is 10.8% so West Ham is double that at 22%!
I am sure the club would try to argue this is a supporter issue as they have sold the ticket and it is up to fan whether they turn up. I think there are a multitude of problems which explain the mass non-attendance.
- Affordable football with £99 season tickets for under 16’s and £289 cheap season ticket for adults has meant fans can pick and choose which games they attend. Although the club have frequently denied it there is evidence that non West Ham fans have bought season tickets to occasionally watch football in London on the cheap.
- Many supporters can’t be bothered with Ticket Exchange either believing it is too much hassle or thinking the current deal of a 90% credit of the allocated season ticket value for that category of game is too low. Some in the upper tiers claim they have frequently used Ticket Exchange but their tickets but they have not sold.
- The London Stadium itself has probably had an effect on some season ticket holders despite them renewing. Early trouble in the first season put some off attending every match, some don’t like the journey, some don’t like the match day experience and some don’t like the stadium. Obviously the football on the pitch at home hasn’t really helped either.
So how do we solve the non attendance problem?
The club should make the Ticket Exchange scheme more attractive either giving season ticket holders 100% back or operating a profit share scheme with the season ticket holder getting a share when the ticket is re-sold at general admission price.
Supporters also need to change their mindset that it is there seat and they can leave it empty if they want to. They should think about other West Ham fans on the waiting list or casual fans who might want to watch a game and think about helping the general match day atmosphere of a full stadium.
West Ham still need to work on the match day experience and look and feel of the stadium and the players need to play attractive football and win games at home to make our trip to Stratford an enjoyable day out.
this is a huge problem, I’ve never seen the season ticket holders next to us, they sell theirs every game so there are different people next to us every single game. Heard so many man u fans etc claiming they have bought tickets just to watch premier league games every now and then. With so many tourists in London and with tickets much cheaper then other clubs, this is the cause. Need to find a way of making sure these season tickets are transferred to real west ham fans somehow
There’s a band five seat near me which is always empty. Has been since the start, because the guy whose £289 season ticket it is, goes and finds an empty seat in a more expensive part of the ground closer to the front and with a better view. Whether he gets included in the attendance figures or not though I’ve no idea.
I’m sorry but these figures simply do not add up.
The stadium contains 66,000 seats of which 6,000 are covered. The average attendance of 42,779 indicates that 17,221 of the uncovered seats are vacant. Anyone that visits the stadium regularly can see that this is utterly ridiculous – there are simply not that many empty seats in the stadium on match days.
I disagree, as many as 9,000 are screened over so it think these figures are correct
I appreciate that there are 9000 covered seats but surely you yourself can see on match days there are not 12000 empty seats. Do you know how the Newham councils figures are calculated perhaps by a blind person with an abacus.
I agree I think these missing seats are grossly exaggerated. Before the game, half time and 10 to go yes people aren’t in their seats which I don’t agree with but do slightly understand. Most of the MSM pictures have to be taken at these times to provoke a reaction, during the game there are never that many free seats. I have a ST for my 11 yr old son who can’t attend evening games and only having him every other weekend sometimes he isn’t able to go to every home game but due to the ridiculously low amount you get by putting it on ticket exchange someone always upgrades it and comes along so maybe people can’t get others to upgrade as I do and the seat goes empty but it isn’t anywhere near the numbers being spoken about in my opinion.
Not sure if the figures are correct or not, the club should be looking at the very least at all the £99 tickets, if they are not being used regularly they should not be renewed, they suggested something along those lines I think if you didnt attend 7 or more games but no information on whether it was enforced or not. I agree the biggest problem has been the football or more accurately our results.
Sean,
Where do you get your figure of covered seats? It is my understanding that the covered seats are the ones which would result in the stadium category being lowered and that figure is 6,000.
It is an estimate, we know the stadium has 66,000 seats but is only approved for a football capacity of 57,000 both from a license point of view and approved by the landlord, SAG and police. The plan was to cover those 9,000 seats but there is no confirmation on that. I have heard the figure of 6,000 too of being covered but difficult to confirm either way whether it is 6,000 or 9,000 covered.
Neither my sister or I renewed our season tickets this season due to numerous reasons. We have however attended both home matches so far.
I do not hold membership to the club, but got a text message for the Bournemouth and Wolves games. This week I received texts informing me that I can buy tickets for the Chelsea match. How could this match not be sold out?
Also tickets available for the Macclesfield Town game, all at face value.
This is good for me as if continuing, I can pick and choose the games I attend.
Chelsea has been on general sale for a while now.
i think offical attendance seams a little low i was told by a reasonable source before we had kicked a ball there that we would have 60000 seats available after the trial games (subject to us behaving ourselves but we dident did we) but the other 6000 would be screened out we also had to put in a larger neutral area between home and away fans that could be more seats than we think david gold was the source of a 60000 thousand capacity
And wjo how much do you want back for a seat that cost you a fiver you can i believe upgrade a child ticket to a adult ticket and take a friend or ask the people who sit near you if they know of some one who would like to go to a game there are a lot of good fans who cant get match tickets put them on the system so we can fill the stadium and they can go
I also checked availbity of chelsea tickets on west hams site and if a green spot means an a seat for sale there are 4 or five in most blocks that aint many
We never or struggled to sell out Upton Park at 35,000 so why would 55,000 go to the Olympic stadium every home game. And I understand they want to increase the capacity. Really? What I am trying to say is the ground is to big for our match going support. We have a big fan base but it was always a jump too high to go to 55,000. There is also the issue of the ground, personally I’ve never took to it for a lot of reasons, and don’t think it feels the same anymore to be honest. And of course there is the football which for the most part has been poor.