I had no idea. More than 2% of the population attended Scottish Premiership games at the weekend. Only Iceland comes near at 1.5% of the population. The big leagues in Spain, Germany and England look well-attended but that’s just the games we see on TV. As for the Italian league, the stadia often look less than half-full.
I know, you’ll say there are huge differences between the attendance at Celtic and say Saint Johnstone but there are similar gaps in other countries too with a handful of big clubs and lots of wee strugglers.
There were 110 000 supporters at the weekend, 25 000 more than last season. The return of Hibs to the top flight will, of course, have been a factor. It’s not just this season either. Attendances for last season were up 12% on the previous to a record £4.2 million.
This continues the trend of last season when total fans attending SPFL league games including play-offs rose by 12% to more than 4.2million. There will also be more TV income this year after the SPFL deal with Chinese internet broadcaster Tencent Sports.
Talking-up Scotland 
As a lifelong Hibby I am delighted we’re contributing to this again-eventually. I don’t know if it’s just an aged memory playing tricks or if I was just a wee boy at the time and everything seemed bigger, but I seem to remember going to matches in the late 50’s and 60’s and the crowds were even bigger then.
It says a lot that we have to rely on Chinese money when our favourite Auntie pays the presenter of an English League highlights programme more of our licence fee cash that she gives to the entire SPFL.
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I remember being in Brockville (vs Aberdeen) and there were another 20 000 there – dangerous!
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You’ve also brought back the best song too. I say that as a disappointed again Bairn.
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Try being a Killie fan.
Armageddon, that was the forecast for the SPL when GERS went down from the Scotland loving Traynor and Chico. Both working at our state broadcaster at the time.
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There is Sunshine on Leith in a literal as well as metaphorical sense today.
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CB I admire what Killievhave achieved with the resources they have. More than the Barns.
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Dunno . . . If Killie had slipped down . . They’d still be down . . Very difficult to get out of that league, Falkirk have come close, on limited resources. Peter Houston is a good manager. So is Jim Duffy. Now that Hearts, Hibs and Rangers are up it gives the other clubs a chance.
Got money on Killie getting into top 6…..right now that’s not looking clever.
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Brave man! Good luck with that bet. Falkirk to come up this year?
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