Round 1 drew 95,213 fans (+16.4% YoY). Bigger venues & better promotion drove gains—momentum is back, even if it’s not a record. Club-by-club takeaways inside.
I don't understand how you arrived at your conclusions. My analysis shows the numbers are falling when comparing like for like fixtures. The opening fixture, Chelsea v Man City at Stamford Bridge, drew 14,182 fans. The same fixture last season attracted 19,499. That’s a 27% drop.
Arsenal v Aston Villa at the Emirates fell from 35,829 in 23/24, to 29,551 last season, and then to 24,712 last weekend. That’s a 31% drop in two years.
Across the 20 games in the WSL for which I have the data, 14 of them have seen attendances fall versus the equivalent fixture last season and the season before.
Thanks Zain, really appreciate you taking the time to dig into this.
My analysis looked at Round 1 as a whole, not just identical fixtures, with a focus on league-wide totals and the impact of venue shifts and scheduling changes. For example, several clubs deliberately moved matches to larger stadiums this season, which resulted in higher attendances compared to last year’s smaller-venue openers. That’s why the overall Round 1 figure shows growth despite the specific fixture dips you highlighted (Chelsea–City).
On Arsenal–Villa: that was Round 2, so it wasn’t in scope for this analysis. As the trend develops, I’ll compare Emirates matches to last season’s Emirates average — early numbers are still above that baseline, which looks healthy to me.
Great stuff, Zain — I’ll check out your piece. Always good to have multiple lenses on the same data, and I’m definitely up for comparing notes as the season unfolds.
I don't understand how you arrived at your conclusions. My analysis shows the numbers are falling when comparing like for like fixtures. The opening fixture, Chelsea v Man City at Stamford Bridge, drew 14,182 fans. The same fixture last season attracted 19,499. That’s a 27% drop.
Arsenal v Aston Villa at the Emirates fell from 35,829 in 23/24, to 29,551 last season, and then to 24,712 last weekend. That’s a 31% drop in two years.
Across the 20 games in the WSL for which I have the data, 14 of them have seen attendances fall versus the equivalent fixture last season and the season before.
Thanks Zain, really appreciate you taking the time to dig into this.
My analysis looked at Round 1 as a whole, not just identical fixtures, with a focus on league-wide totals and the impact of venue shifts and scheduling changes. For example, several clubs deliberately moved matches to larger stadiums this season, which resulted in higher attendances compared to last year’s smaller-venue openers. That’s why the overall Round 1 figure shows growth despite the specific fixture dips you highlighted (Chelsea–City).
On Arsenal–Villa: that was Round 2, so it wasn’t in scope for this analysis. As the trend develops, I’ll compare Emirates matches to last season’s Emirates average — early numbers are still above that baseline, which looks healthy to me.
I've posted my insights today - you can check them out on my page.
looking forward to comparing our numbers going forward. let me know if you want to collaborate - always love being challenged!
Great stuff, Zain — I’ll check out your piece. Always good to have multiple lenses on the same data, and I’m definitely up for comparing notes as the season unfolds.