Attendances in Serie A have fallen by an average of 6000 fans per game since 1994.
With an average attendance of 29,154 fans attending Serie A games in 1994, a sharp decline has seen the 2013/14 season watched by just 23,011 supporters per game- with the league high of averaging over 31,000 attendances in 1997/98 a distant memory.
It appears to be getting worse, too, as the first few weeks of the 2014/15 season averaged just 22,289, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
The reasons for this boil down to a few key factors; popularly debated across Europe is the cost of tickets, but Italy’s relatively cheap pricing system sees only five clubs, including Roma and Juventus, charge over €20 to watch matches.
Perhaps a greater indicator is the prospect of entertaining football, shown by Roma’s upsurge of an extra 5000 fans per game during Zdenek Zeman’s tenure with the Giallorossi- promising plenty of exciting, attacking football.
A similar boost has been witnessed in Milan, with Filippo Inzaghi’s much-hyped return boosting San Siro attendances by 8000, while Walter Mazzarri’s unsuccessful Inter reign saw crowds drop by 12,000.
Of course, a wider issue in Italian football is the quality of stadiums- with 44% of seats left empty, on average, across the country.
Bearing in mind that Juventus’ new stadium that is consistently 93% full, it must be sooner rather than later that the top Serie A chiefs address this decline.
