Football League crowds on the up

The Football League is enjoying its highest attendances for nearly 50 years, with crowds topping the 16m mark for a fifth consecutive season.

Over 16.35m fans attended the 1,656 matches played in the 2008-09 season, an increase of 1% on the previous year.

The Championship is currently the fourth most-watched league in Europe, with a total audience of 9.9m fans.

That figure is likely to be bettered only by the Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga and Spain's La Liga.

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Italy is really suffering - I read a while back that the next tv contract in Italy might be stopped as the clubs feel the money they get for it isnt covering the loss of gate money.

German football on the other hand does not have a tv deal - there is no live football in Germany outside of Euro football. Their league has been the most exciting this year.

It's tough, physical, football in the Championship. While the Premier has become more European in the style and tactics some teams play, the Championship is closer to the way English football had been played for years. That appeals to a lot of people. So does the competitiveness, it's not like the Premier where the top four is pretty predictable, it's wide open at the top and with the play-offs, half the division has a chance of being promoted.

There is also no Premiership football throughout Yorkshire except for Hull, and Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire or in East Anglia. There are also some big famous well supported clubs that had played at the top level for years that are now in the Championship. Derby County is drawing close to 30,000 a game, Notts Forest, the two Sheffield Clubs and Ipswich and Norwich are getting around 24,000 a game.

There are a number of historic local derbies as well in the Championship and this increases attendance. Sheffield Wednesday and United, Norwich and Ipswich, Derby and Forest, Cardiff and Swansea, Birmingham and Wolves, there is five London clubs, Southampton and Plymouth and even Barnsley and Doncaster against the two Sheffield clubs.

There is a lot going in the Championship that brings in the crowds and ticket prices could be a factor, I know some clubs have special deals that are bringing in the crowds. No surprise that it is the fourth best supported league in Europe.

TickTok wrote:

Italy is really suffering - I read a while back that the next tv contract in Italy might be stopped as the clubs feel the money they get for it isnt covering the loss of gate money.

German football on the other hand does not have a tv deal - there is no live football in Germany outside of Euro football. Their league has been the most exciting this year.

The Italian TV situation is maybe what is driving the teams to get rid of Seria A and set up something similar to the Premier, where the TV revenue goes to the teams in the top divisions instead of the lower leagues getting their share.

Germany has reasonable ticket prices, they are only a fraction of what they are at the top of the Premier. I saw an interview with supporters groups in England who fly over to Germany to watch games and even with airfare it's still cheaper than going to see the big four in the Premier.