July 14 – The German Bundesliga with an average attendance of 43,000 across the league stadiums in the 2022/23 season, is the highest attended football league in the world.
The second highest is the Premier League, averaging 2,600 fans less per game than the Bundesliga clubs.
The German and English leagues were the only two leagues where clubs averaged over 40,000 spectators per game. Italy’s Serie A ranked third with an average attendance of about 29,500 last season. Spain’s Primera División, French Ligue 1, and Mexican LigaMX Primera División followed, with average match attendances of 29,400, 23,600, and 22,500 respectively.
Comparing the Bundesliga attendances to other major leagues in the US , the Germans have a 60% attendance increase on Major League Baseball matches, and almost double the numbers that Major League Soccer, NBA and NHL have to offer. Only the NFL rises above it with a staggering average of almost 70,000 attendees per match.
Does this make it a bigger league than the Premier League. Wel, obviously in terms of pure attendance numbers but they don’t tell the whole story.
The Bundesliga has a much bigger average stadium size, paired with tickets that are a fraction of the price of those that can be found in England. Some clubs in the Premier League, namely AFC Bournemouth and league newcomers Luton Town, have stadiums with a capacity well below the 40,000 average. In fact, if you combine the capacities of the two grounds aforementioned, they still have a lower capacity than the Bundesliga’s smallest ground: the Stadion An der Alten Försterei belonging to Champions League side Union Berlin.
Selhurst Park, Craven Cottage, Brentford Community Stadium and the Vitality Stadium all have less than 30,000 seats, and with big hitters Leicester, Leeds and Southampton rejoining the championship to be replaced by Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town, that metric is going to get even lower. In comparison, the Bundesliga only has two stadiums with less than 30,000 seats, whereas the EPL will have six headed into next season.
Another key metric is ticket pricing. The Bundesliga offers a fairly affordable match day experience: the average Bundesliga safe standing season ticket cost is £168- which evens out at £9.90 per home game.
Meanwhile, Premier League mid-table side Fulham, who regularly sell out their 25,700 seater stadium, charge £3,000 for their season ticket, averaging at £158 per match. The fact is this: it is simply more expensive and therefore less financially appealing for the average match-goer to attend Premier League matches over Bundesliga matches.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1716071612labto1716071612ofdlr1716071612owedi1716071612sni@o1716071612fni1716071612