Further evidence of mounting Chinese interest in football "has been published in the shape of analysis of match attendances by the sports practice of KPMG," according to David Owen of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. According to KPMG's Football Benchmark team, the average gate at Chinese Super League matches in '15 "was up an impressive 16.7% on the previous season." Average attendance at games exceeded 21,800, a level KPMG said was "just a few hundred spectators" behind '14-15 figures for both Italy's Serie A and Ligue 1 in France.
The analysis also covered Major League Soccer in the U.S., where average attendance climbed nearly 13% to 21,536, and the Indian Super League, which recently completed its second season.
While the Indian league comprises just eight clubs and 56 regular season matches, its average crowd is the "highest of the three competitions" at 26,376. KPMG said this exceeded the '14-15 average in Spain's La Liga. KPMG Sports Practice Head Andrea Sartori: "The fast growth of these new football markets raises the question of if these emerging leagues will be able to match the Bundesliga and Premier League attendance in the years to come."
For now, the top German and English leagues "continue to rule the roost in attendance terms, with average crowds of 42,700 and 36,000 respectively." Matchday revenue "continues to dwindle as a proportion of overall income at the top European clubs which have benefited from huge jumps in earnings from media rights in recent times" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 1/13).
