Sportingintelligence.com revealed that the German Bundesliga was only topped by the NFL as the best-attended professional sports league in the world. The NFL has increased its attendance levels from an average of 67,394 fans per regular season game in '11 to 67,591 in '12. The Bundesliga’s top division keeps the No. 2 spot thanks to a new seasonal record of 45,116 fans per game in '11-12, up from 42,673 the season before. The English Premier League has leapfrogged the Australian Football League into third place. Both those leagues saw season-on-season declines, but the decline was sharper in the AFL. The top 10 leagues are shown below, as are the two biggest indoor leagues, the NBA and NHL. The NHL overtook the NBA. The MLB attracted more fans in total per season than any pro league in the world (almost 75 million in '12), but fewer on average per game than the NFL (Sporting Intelligence).
| Top Sports League Attendances: By Average crowd, Most-Recent Season |
| Outdoor |
| Rank |
Sport |
League |
Season
|
Average
|
Total
|
| 1. |
American Football
|
NFL
|
'12-13
'11-12
|
67,591
67,394
|
17,303,347
17,252,949
|
| 2. |
Football
|
Bundesliga
|
'11-12
'10-11
|
45,116*
42,673
|
13,805,496
13,057,899
|
| 3. |
Football
|
EPL
|
'11-12
'10-11
|
34,602
35,190
|
13,149,095
13,372,318
|
| 4. |
Aussie Rules Football
|
AFL
|
'12
'11
|
32,748
36,428
|
6,778,824
7,139,854
|
| 5. |
Baseball
|
MLB
|
'12
'11
|
30,895
30,366
|
74,859,268
73,425,568
|
| 6. |
Football
|
La Liga
|
'11-12
'10-11
|
28,462
29,128
|
10,815,670
11,039,808
|
| 7. |
Canadian Football
|
CFL
|
'11
'10
|
27,882
27,192
|
1,979,639
1,957,851
|
| 8. |
Baseball
|
NPB (Japan)
|
'11
'10
|
24,965
25,626
|
21,569,760
22,141,003
|
| 9. |
Football
|
Serie A
|
'11-12
'10-11
|
22,493
24,031
|
8,547,308
9,131,780
|
| 10. |
Cricket
|
IPL
|
'10-12
'09
|
Figures too unreliable to continue
23,763 (max)
|
1,402,000 (max)
|
| |
| Indoor |
| 1. |
Hockey
|
NHL
|
'11-12
'10-11
|
17,455
17,126
|
21,470,155
20,928,036
|
| 2. |
Basketball
|
NBA
|
'11-12
'10-11
|
17,274
17,319
|
17,100,861**
21,302,370
|
* Highest average ever in that league.
** Season and number of games curtailed by strike
