Attendances don't move around that much season by season as we see below. Wigan slipped ahead of Leeds to - er - lead. The Wigan team has performed well so the increase isn't surprising, yet a 10.5% gain is still impressive. Leeds on the other hand may have surprised some with a slight improvement in attendees considering its overall less than stellar match day performances in 2024.
Saints and FC have disapponted fans so no surprise there but Warrington's success hasn't translated to more derrieres on seats, in fact, the opposite. KR has exceeded expectations to come second in the league and crowd numbers reflect that, ground capacity hindering an even better result. The negative is the club's reluctance to release attendance figures. Amateurish.
Leigh does really well for a small borough within Wigan and a 15.9% growth is outstanding but I wonder if it now reaching a ceiling at this point. Cas' impressed with its 10.8% numerical attendance growth considering its mediocre season on the field. Meanwhile, Salford has been going well on the paddock but lost ground on the terraces. Huddersfield may be the Giants but their following is anything but.
London unexpectedly made the top flight this year but knew from the outset that new required standards would mean certain relegation. Utilising a division two squad, they achieved much more than expected as the season progressed. Compared to the club they replaced (Wakefield), attendance was down a quarter but up nearly 200% in comparison to their 2023 lower division crowds.
The Magic Weekend figures aren't included in club figures but are in the Average figure. They were down just over 10,000 in 2024. Add London's drop of nearly 20,000 on aggregate from Wakey's number and the total average was down nearly 1%. Had those two just mentioned been the same as last year, then a slight increase of nearly half a percent (0.4%) would have been the outcome.
So overall not a bad result. Stricter control of clubs qualifying to gain entry into SL that are now in place could impact attendances positively over time although it's hard to see it changing things too much in the short term. Now if a club from the likes of Toronto were added, then greater progress would be made but.......
Picture source: St Helens (Totally Wicked Stadium, 18,000 capacity plus other event options).
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