I've been watching Fox Soccer Channel for a year now and am surprised at the number of empty seats at Barclay's Premier League games as well as the Italian and Argentinian games. If the top four EPL teams are playing the stands look full but yesterday I saw a match with Luton (lower league) and Blackburn with an attendance of 5000! I see Boca playing in front of many empty seats and the same in the Italian league. Is it only the top teams in the EPL that sells out?
Luton Town is a small club, and their ground doesn't hold much more then that anyway! Its a strange ground, where you access some turnstiles that look like they used to be terraced housing!
I wonder what the payroll is like for those teams, maybe they're like the florida marlins of the baseball world
The announcer called the attendance (5000) disappointing, I checked and the capacity is 10,000. A game against a Premier League team in cup play should sell out, right? The grounds do look strange in that I think I could kick a ball over the roof. Any way, I see better attendance at high school basketball and football (not soccer) here in the US. Are ticket prices that high or is interest that low in England, Argentina, Italy, etc.??
Attendances are soaring right now, and you are right - a cup match against a premier side should get a higher attendance, but neither Luton or Blackburn historically have many fans! My club, Sheffield Wednesday has a ground with a capacity of about 40,000 - and we average just under 30,000 for home matches. Now that generates a great atmosphere!
That is Sheffield United (isn't Sheffield a lower league team) isn't it? I believe they just got promoted back to the EPL so I would expect enthusiasm to run high. Luton and Blackburn should be able to sell more tickets than a high school football (not soccer) game in Texas. I am still surprised by the empty seats I see. Are rugby, cricket and other sports seeing less attendance than football/soccer?