UK SL Attendances : 2016-18

Attendances have been advancing in the UK over some time but for the last few years, they have slipped slightly. SL wants to reduce the number of teams they claim to increase the standard. However, it's really to provide greater TV revenue to each team competing. The stupidity of that logic would turn the competition into a repetitious yawn fest. No, the numbers need to go up and hopefully from teams outside the northern heartland.

Anyway, to look at the data. Total attendees for the 23 rounds of regular matches has decreased 6.4% over the last two years. A breakdown by clubs comparing 2016 and 2018, best to worst are:

Pluses: Hull FC (+6.7%) Huddersfield (+5.5) St Helens (+3.3) Hull KR (+2.4) Castleford (1.7).

Minuses: Wakefield (-1.5%) Warrington (-9.2) Wigan (-13.1) Widnes (-13.2) Catalan (-14.4) Salford (-18.3) Leeds (-19.4).

	SUPER LEAGUE 2016-18 Excl Super 8's
		2018		2017		2016
	1	Leeds	12,807	Leeds	14,950	Leeds	15,886
	2	Hull FC	12,175	Wigan	13,983	Wigan	13,541
	3	Wigan	11,773	Hull FC	11,661	Hull FC	11,407
	4	St Helens	11,479	St Helens	10,749	St Helens	11,116
	5	Warrington	10,088	Warrington	10,478	Warrington	11,112
	6	Catalans	8,354	Catalans	8,777	Catalans	9,764
	7	Castleford	7,848	Castleford	8,734	Hull KR	7,775
	8	Hull KR	7,965	Leigh	6,522	Castleford	7,719
	9	Huddersfield	5,721	Huddersfield	5,842	Widnes	5,643
	10	Wakefield	5,244	Widnes	5,767	Wakefield	5,322
	11	Widnes	4,898	Wakefield	5,287	Huddersfield	5,422
	12	Salford	2,966	Salford	4,455	Salford	3,630
		Magic W/E	64,319	Magic W/E	65,407	Magic W/E	68,276
		Total	1,178,800	Total	1,244,664	Total	1,259,996
		Avg	8,542	Avg	9,019	Avg	9,130

Leigh was not included in the percentages as they were only there for the 2017 season. Poor weather early in the 2018 season wasn't helpful and Leeds may have been affected with major stadium improvements. Widnes and Salford were already low so sizable drops in numbers was the last thing they needed. The Magic Weekend was down 5.8% for the last two seasons.

Summary: New teams would enliven SL and if Toronto was able to join in 2019, that would be the sort of change that would add new interest. It would also add a new market in Canada to the game, increasing sponsorship opportunities and media opportunities. There is enough talent to increase the number of clubs, but doing so while maintaining (or increasing) revenue is the issue.