How Bristol City's Attendances Compare to the Real Figures

REVEALED: How Bristol City's attendances compare to the real figures
The 'actual' attendance figures versus what was announced by the Robins

Eyebrows were raised yesterday when BBC Sport revealed that clubs in the Premier League had been announcing attendances up to 22% higher than the actual numbers inside stadia.

It followed a freedom of information request to local police forces across the country, with West Ham United being named as the biggest offenders.

For the figures analysed, the Hammers’ average crowd was announced as 55,309, but was in fact 42,779.

Even champions Manchester City weren’t immune, being shown up for announcing an average of 53,274, when the true numbers equate to 45,792 (14% lower). Only seven of the 20 top-flight clubs came under scrutiny, with police forces for the other 13 clubs unable to handover information.

However, in this region Bristol City are unique in actually placing their ‘real’ attendances online via the Ashton Gate Stadium website, allowing BristolLive to size up how the BS3 club compares to their Premier League equivalents.

It’s worth making clear that the ‘announced’ crowd is simply made up of the people who have purchased a ticket for the game – including season ticket holders – no matter if they attend the game or not. The ‘real’ attendance, usually a closely guarded secret in football quarters, is the actual number of fans who attend.

And credit to the club for this transparency that other sides have chosen against.

Data analysed from last season shows that City announced league crowds 17.1% greater than the actual footfall through the turnstiles at Ashton Gate.

The biggest disparity came on March 3rd when 15,170 fans showed up to watch City host Sheffield Wednesday, in contrast to the announced crowd of 22,022.

The fixture came on the back of a run of one win in 13 games, although the Owls were thrashed 4-0 at Ashton Gate – and the match was missed by more than 31% of supporters who had a ticket to watch.

Crowds for the end of season games against Birmingham City and Hull City also saw 26% and 21% lower ‘real’ attendances compared to those announced to the public.

Noticeably in cup matches the difference is a lot smaller, mainly because supporters – including season ticket holders – must purchase an actual match ticket.

There was just a 5% difference for the Carabao Cup ties with Stoke City and Crystal Palace.

Unsurprisingly when Manchester United and Manchester City came to town, the difference between the real and announced attendances were less than 2%.

According to the BBC, clubs choose to publish ‘tickets sold’ as their attendance, rather than the real number, as the data is “more consistent and provides a simpler auditing process”.

However, this came in for criticism from fans who claim it is dishonest.

There is also the commercial element in attracting sponsors and driving demand for seats. It’s much better to shout from the rooftops about “the biggest average attendance for 39 years”, as the Ashton Gate club has, than reflect on the real figures, which are actually more than 3,500 lower.

This practice is rife in football and BristolLive understands City began announcing the ‘tickets sold’ attendance rather than the ‘real’ attendance sometime in the past ten years, falling in line with their league rivals who had began the same process.

But it isn’t just football clubs at it, as the Ashton Gate website also lists data for rugby matches played by Bristol Bears.

Last season, as they stormed to the Championship crown and promotion to the Gallagher Premiership, Bristol announced league crowds on average 19.8% higher than they actually were.

We asked Bristol City for a comment on this but the club declined.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...evealed-how-bristol-citys-attendances-2000244