Because of a discussion in the Week 18 Attendance Analysis thread, I started to put together a quick list of American professional sports leagues attendance and average ticket price. From there I calculated the estimated gate revenue. Since it does not directly relate to that topic, I decided to put it in its own thread. So, here it is. Code: Sport League Attendance Games Avg. Att. Avg. Ticket Cost Est. Gate Revenue (in 000,000's) Baseball MLB 73,053,807 2430 30063.30 $26.91 $1,965.88 Am. Football NFL 17,007,172 256 66434.27 $76.47 $1,300.54 Hockey NHL 20,928,036 1230 17014.66 $54.25 $1,135.35 Basketball NBA 21,302,573 1230 17319.17 $48.08 $1,024.23 Assoc. Football EPL 13,372,318 380 35190.31 $57.80* $772.92 AAA Baseball PCL/Int'l 13,975,285 2097 6664.42 $8.15 $113.90 Assoc. Football MLS 4,002,061 240 16675.25 $25.00* $100.05 B-ball (Women's) WNBA 1,598,250 204 7834.56 $19.00 $30.37 Indoor Lacrosse NLL 783,129 88 8899.19 $29.19 $23.33 Am. Football (Arena) AFL 976,307 120 8135.89 $22.00* $21.48 Assoc. Football (Women's) WPS 319,299 89 3587.63 $17.00 $5.43 Lacrosse MLL 190,033 36 5278.69 $25.00 $4.75 Links: MLB: Attendance Ticket Prices NFL: Attendance Ticket Prices NHL: Attendance Ticket Prices NBA: Attendance Ticket Prices EPL: Attendance Ticket Prices AAA: Attendance Ticket Prices MLS: Attendance Ticket Prices WNBA: Attendance Ticket Prices AFL: Attendance Ticket Prices WPS: Attendance Ticket Prices MLL: Attendance Ticket Prices NLL: Attendance Ticket Prices Things to note: The line for AAA Baseball includes the attendance for both the PCL and the International League. Some of the sources for "average ticket prices" seem like they might be prone to errors; however, unless someone proves them wrong, I will continue to use them. I couldn't find any numbers for arena league football for any year after 2007, so the ticket price given is for 2007. The EPL dollar amount is based on today's conversion rates for £36. Edit: I can't find the link I found to the $25 MLS average tickets. In 2008, average ticket prices were $22.47. Current average ticket prices may in fact be greater than $25.
I thought about it, but there are quite a few challenges associated with it, not least of which is that for many schools, the listed ticket price doesn't mention the donation required to gain the ability to purchase that ticket.
Not being an ass, but your NHL numbers are missing a total of 8 homes which amounted to 184,103 being in the stands. All 6 NHL games in Europe and the 2 outdoor games held.
I can maybe count college football per conference. Otherwise it's a complicated mix of the 105,000 days at Ann Arbor and sparse crowds in Div III.
Complete numbers http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2010.pdf Accumulated Attendance [FBS only, plus bowl game locations] http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2010/Internet/attendance/FBS_ATTENDANCE.pdf
No offense taken. That just means that they weren't in the ESPN numbers. I'll fix it in a few minutes. MLB and NFL are probably similarly missing numbers.
Or perhaps I won't? Is there some forum limitation against repeated edits in a short time span? Ah, well, that will give me some time to work on the monstrosity that is the College Football Numbers.
It already has it broken down by conferences starting on page four of the first link I posted. No need to bust yourself over finding each team.
Thanks, that made the "total attendance" number a lot easier. However, to get anything approaching an accurate ticket pricing, I'll have to add up team by team, due to stadium size and ticket price variability unmatched by any other sport. Edit: But, just so you don't hold your breath on the NCAA FB vs. MLS comparisons, Ohio State alone looks to be 40% of MLS gate revenue.
I don't envy the task, but I truly appreciate the work you've put in. Puts a nice view on how great a sporting nation we are in North America. [Must spread rep. Doh!]
as a canadian/non-american ... college football never ceases to amaze me ... a) its a college sport b) its throwball...these guys dont make it to 60. smh
Interesting numbers. Nice work. I've lived in California my whole life and I feel the same way. Doesn't make any sense to me (especially because I've never known anyone who cares about it as far as I know). Is the regional thing + school pride that big of a deal?
As a graduate of one of those top 'throw ball' schools... It's very much school pride and regional pride, and for me, a strong connection with old friends and good times.
You've lived in California your whole life and have NEVER known ANYONE that cares about College Football as far as you know???? Either you don't actually speak to other people, or you travel in some very unique circles. Because even among some of my most hardcore soccer pals, many are also VERY passionate College Football fans. Not to mention NFL fans. I'm now wondering if maybe you are only 12 years old and have been "home schooled". That might explain your apparent lack of interaction with others........Just kidding.
Thanks. But the title of the thread is not discussing that topic. [No reliable figures available for nearly all sports too].
I'm not ignoring college basketball. However, I think you severely underestimate the difficulty associated with gathering ticket price information for each of the 344 DI basketball schools during a period when next year's schedule isn't set, and producing an estimated gate revenue for each of those schools. While I haven't been *that* thorough with the professional sports, the reason is that for professional sports, you are dealing with 32 or fewer teams, whose attendances and ticket prices don't vary wildly, and thus multiply the total league attendance by the average ticket price will produce a number reasonably close to the actual gate revenue. For college basketball, the "total attendance" includes everyone from Kentucky (354,046 total, 23,603 average) to Bethune-Cookman (9,684 total, 692 average). Kentucky tickets cost about $37 per game; I can't find the cost of Bethune-Cookman tickets, but I'd guess that it is no more than $10. Many more teams fall into the $10 ticket range than in the $37 range; however, the majority of attendance will be produced by the $37 ticket teams. Thus, it is unfair to do a simple average; each teams contribution to "average ticket price" ought to be weighted by attendance. I probably won't even think about starting an in-depth look into college basketball until I finish finding average ticket prices for each of the 120 NCAA Football teams (and any help with those would appreciated!) But, for fun, I'll play around with some ballpark numbers. NCAA FB: Total Attendance*: 34,663,732 Games*: 755 Avg. Attendance: 45,912 Low Ticket Price^: $40 (TCU) High Ticket Price^: $78 (Texas) Low Ticket Rev (in 000,000's): $1,386.55 High Ticket Rev (in 000,000's): $2,703.77 NCAA BB: Total Attendance*: 25,147,122 Games*: 5004 Avg. Attendance: 5,025.40 Avg. Ticket Low Guess: $12 (similar to Baylor) Avg. Ticket High Guess: $25 (similar to Butler) Low Ticket Rev (in 000,000's): $301.77 High Ticket Rev (in 000,000's): $628.68 *Does not include neutral site or postseason games ^No, I haven't found this info for all teams. These are just the highs and lows I've calculated so far
Here in east TN college football is the biggest sport times 50. Nothing else even comes close. The closest pro sports teams are in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville. So there are no pro sports teams very close. Even though UT football isn't what it used to be they still get 100k+ at all their home games. It is pretty much the only sport talked about here. Other sports are discussed, but you know what I mean. I think it is similar to how pro soccer is in England (and much of Europe). One of the main reasons college football is so popular is that each region has their own team (like pro soccer in England). There is no other sport in the US like that. That is what helps make it so popular, especially in the southeast where there aren't a lot of pro sport teams outside of Atlanta and Florida (Nashville has 2, Memphis has 1, Charlotte has a couple, who am I forgetting?).