Originally Posted by
A Quiet Monkfish
I know the sky 'red button' and Champions league games have knocked midweek attendances, but this week they were really poor. Even the announced gates were considerably higher than actuals - yes, City are the same, but Stoke looked like they had barely 10-12,000, Swansea 14,000 but probably closer to 11 or 12,000.
The growth in popularity of the Championship in recent yrs has been amazing, but I think the tipping point with enthusiasm for attending actual games versus 'footie fans' watching games on TV has been reached. Also a lot more gaps in PL grounds this season too.
As PL clubs rely less on actual paying spectators compared with TV income, I wouldn't be surprised if we soon have a 'televised' game on Sky/BT at 3pm on a Saturday ; then we'll go the way of Italian football, grounds 25% full at most.