By David Butler
Since the inaugural friendly match against Argentina in August 2010, the attendance figures at the Aviva stadium have always been a hot topic for reasons on and off the pitch. On the pitch, the style of football played by the Boys in Green has been cited as a cause of several low attendance figures. Off the pitch, the figures have been a concern for the FAI's coffers as the debt owed on the Aviva stadium remains high.
Not counting tonight’s tie against Sweden, the Republic of Ireland international team have played a total of 21 matches in the Aviva stadium. Below is a table and graph showing the attendance figures and the number of supporters who showed up as a percentage of the stadiums 51,700 capacity. There’s one missing observation; a friendly game at home to Norway, which I couldn’t get data on.
Since the inaugural friendly match against Argentina in August 2010, the attendance figures at the Aviva stadium have always been a hot topic for reasons on and off the pitch. On the pitch, the style of football played by the Boys in Green has been cited as a cause of several low attendance figures. Off the pitch, the figures have been a concern for the FAI's coffers as the debt owed on the Aviva stadium remains high.
Not counting tonight’s tie against Sweden, the Republic of Ireland international team have played a total of 21 matches in the Aviva stadium. Below is a table and graph showing the attendance figures and the number of supporters who showed up as a percentage of the stadiums 51,700 capacity. There’s one missing observation; a friendly game at home to Norway, which I couldn’t get data on.
Yellow: Compeditive Matches Blue: Friendlies
Four out of the nine competitive matches almost reached full capacity and the attendance at the qualification matches for the European Championships against Slovakia and Armenia are quite high too. The low attendance against the Faroe Islands last June however is a worry for the FAI. With the exception of the opening match in the Aviva against Argentina, the friendly tie played against Poland stands out and can largely be explained by the substantial amount of Polish citizens residing in Ireland. After a bad defeat to Germany in October, the reaction of fans can also be seen as only 16,256 souls turned up for the friendly against Greece last November.
66.5%. That is the key statistic for the FAI to build on. This figure is the total attendance for all 21 matches as a percentage of the stadiums capacity or possible number of fans who could have attended. If we strip out the Nations Cup this becomes 72% and if we just consider competitive games it becomes 83%.
Of course, attendances could be improved through the price mechanism for friendlies. The FAI has traditionally used non-uniform strategies as they remain a monopolist for international football in Ireland. They have often discriminated in terms of market characteristics (usually age, or whether you want a family ticket) but have also began to discriminate by bundling friendly ties with qualifiers to capture consumer surplus.
66.5%. That is the key statistic for the FAI to build on. This figure is the total attendance for all 21 matches as a percentage of the stadiums capacity or possible number of fans who could have attended. If we strip out the Nations Cup this becomes 72% and if we just consider competitive games it becomes 83%.
Of course, attendances could be improved through the price mechanism for friendlies. The FAI has traditionally used non-uniform strategies as they remain a monopolist for international football in Ireland. They have often discriminated in terms of market characteristics (usually age, or whether you want a family ticket) but have also began to discriminate by bundling friendly ties with qualifiers to capture consumer surplus.
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