Whilst needing to ignore pippinu' blatant attempt to promote an AFL attendance over all others (he really must be paid to do this??) I am struck by the obsurd names of stadiums - who the heck wants to say "Lottoland is our fortress" ... by definition, even the weakest teams will believe they have a chance at lottolsnd surely? 1300 SMILES is slightly better but less intimidating than 1300 GOFUKYOURSELF stadium

Okay so now we have a body of work, lets crunch some numbers.
Regular Season Numbers only (Excluding Finals):

12-13: AVE: 8,560            Non Derby AVE: 7,069
13-14: AVE: 9,799            Non Derby AVE: 7,095
14-15: AVE: 10,374          Non Derby AVE: 9,040 (Also consider in this 9,040 includes the 15k Villa game)
15-16: AVE: 11,047          Non Derby AVE: 8,778
16-17: AVE: 10,573          Non Derby AVE: 9,396

So as you can clearly see its easy to get onto the back of Melbourne City but here lies some continued growth of the Non Derby AVE.
Couple this with the growing membership (over 13k) and also a record breaking FFA Cup final crowd for 19k it's slowly looking promising for City and hopefully by end of 17-18 season the Non Derby AVE will be over 10,000. 

The naming of stadia has definitely reached new lows.

Good post, some very promising numbers there.

This weekend marks the point at which average attendances for the season fell below last years average. With one round to go and Victory, Sydney, Roar all at home and Glory with a do-or-die clash we might just pull back up, but for a season that promised so much - guest marquees, new marketing and stage managed derbies it all fell very, very flat.

Last season the last 18 rounds drew the highest average for that period in the time we have had the current 10 clubs.  This season the last 9 rounds will roughly equal the worst that we have had in this period with these clubs.  Every year is different.

If the FFA were awake, they would realise that setting us, the fans, up for a chance of expansion and an improved competition next year, then going missing on these things has deflated whatever boost they had from the Timmy/ You've gotta have a team push at the beginning of the season.

Some have suggested that the average next year will be just under the 12K mark. I would think the disenfranchisement of the fans this year coupled with the same inane leadership from the FFA and the same 10 teams will have us down around the 11K mark. OR EVEN LESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2016-17 HAL Crowds now down just under 7,000 on same time last season. (less than half a percent) with a round to go.

if you think that's acceptable, you're having a laugh. All Melbourne and Sydney Teams should be above the league average. anything below is unacceptable.

I think for a club with no difference to Victory, who played out of the same stadium as victory and shared the exact same market as victory.... Of which mind you Victory had a monopoly on for 5 years and in that time were the most successful team, I think its a very decent return.

If we put Sydney rovers in at the same time and played them out of alianz... I couldnt see them getting more than 5-7k.

Or if we do a start up brisbane team, not the strikers, a new franchise and play them out of suncorp... Id think we'd be lucky to see 5-7k.

So overall, rightly or wrongly of how the club started and it's lack of difference both geographically and theoretically, It is a slow build but it is building into a club with 10k+ average and 10k plus membership.

I'm not sure what you expect though, a 2k jump per season? 

Fact is Victory had a monopoly in Melbourne (more so than Sydney ever did). I remember wondering how on earth Heart was going to succeed. They've don'e well to carve out a 9-10k niche.

I actually agree.

Melb City are a made-up development franchise from the UAE that has no real history or connection to the city of Melbourne.  But they still get around 10k to most games.

Not bad.

Has anyone done an analysis of the average crowds in August and September when we used to play during those months? i'd be interested to see the result. i've had a quick look, and it looks to me like those months actually held up reasonably well, and it was the last few rounds in those seasons where the crowds started to lower. This season, it seems the same in that crowds seem to be lowering toward the end of the season. Maybe it's fatigue from playing the same teams 3 times. I'd love to see the numbers get crunched.

5 times for Victory/City possibly if we face them in the finals .. already played 3 times + FFA Cup

Mark
It is fatigue, it is clubs playing each other 3 times in the league, plus FFA Cup plus Finals, so clubs could potentially play each other 5 times in 1 season! That's complete overkill! But don't underestimate how much bad publicity and a negative vibe this wrangle between the FFA, the A-League clubs and the NPL clubs is having on the game and on the so called metrics. The FFA have completely botched this season from a PR perspective, and we had started so well. So yet again, the FFA has hogged the headlines, and unfortunately that's detracted from the on field stuff.
Typical FFA, just like the old Soccer Australia days, where it's all about them, and nothing about the growth of the game.

MV v CCM 14,827

An agenda some might say. 

Expected as much.

Been dead-rubbers for a month now (thanks Sydney lol), and atmosphere is completely dead without the NT. Hope the club can come to some agreement with the fans next season, I bet VICPOL are loving our games now.  

Literally making policeman dole blodgers. Keen to know how much the heads are losing from low crowds and high security costs. 

SFC VS NJ - 15787

It's good that SFC has been able to maintain solid attendances over a five year period, but it is baffling that in such a record season, their attendances would be lower than the previous season when they finished 7th.

In some of the biggest competitions in this country, coming 7th you can still be premiers, work that out!!! 7th that'sright.

Thankfully in our competition, you have to come 1st to be premiers.

You're baffled that they averaged less in a year with one home derby compared to last year with 2

Baffled

Are you talking about the Del Piero season? I don't think there is any mystery there. Even in the aftermath of Del Piero there was and to some extent still is a growth in attendances. There is no doubt the A-league needs players that the press can focus on, as it provides a shitload of publicity something that becomes particularly starved during the AFL/ Rugby seasons. The catch is can you actually get a proper return if you invest. Del Piero came to Sydney saw crowds and viewership grow however Sydney themselves lost substantially over the financial year. Pignata said it is very hard to get a return on a player that costs 7 million.

Just got Roar tickets PAX of 14924, so I guess about 13K. Not bad considering people will be saving up for next week.

This is a season that has shattered all A-League records, and SFC's average attendance is less than last season when they finished 7th.

So yes, I would stick to describing it as baffling because as a general rule in Australian sport, success = bigger crowds.

Mind you, this is not the first time we have witnessed this phenomenon in the A-League when success has not led to an increase in attendances.

There were much more favourable conditions for crowds last season. High drawing Saturday night games, 10 last season vs 5 this season. Low drawing weeknight or Friday games 3 last season vs 7 (just under half the home games) this season. 2 home derbies last season vs 1 this season.
The fact that all the weeknight/Friday home games this season came right in one after another in the crucial part of the season also drained any favour a good run could have promoted with crowd numbers. I don't think that it would have been nearly as bad if they had worked to spread out a bit further across the season rather than giving them to us all at once. Hosting Wellington on a Thursday during the first week back to school was a stupid brain dead decision.

Even if you exclude the derby factor the FFA had put a big ball and chain around Sydney's neck before the season started in terms of ability to increase their crowds.

Round Twenty - four

Western Sydney - Melbourne City - 10,204
Central Coast v Adelaide United - 5,438
Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory - 13,576
Wellington Phoenix v Newcastle Jets - 4,828
Perth Glory v Sydney FC - 10,907

Round Attendance 44,953
Round Average - 8,991

Season Total (120 games) - 1,490,606
Season Average (120 games) - 12,422

Regular Season Round Twenty - four

Season Nine(135) 1,761,161
Season Ten(135) - 1,689,510
Season Eleven(135) 1,662,729
Season Eight(135) 1,661,830
Season Twelve (120) 1,490,606
Season Seven(135) 1,415,782
Season Six(165) 1,384,902
Season Five(135) 1,322,475
Season Three(84) 1,227,273
Season Two(84) 1,085,829
Season Four(84) 1,023,147
Season One(84) 920,219


Regular Season Averages by season

Season One 10,955
Season Two 12,927
Season Three 14,610
Season Four 12,180
Season Five 9,796
Season Six 8,393
Season Seven 10,487
Season Eight 12,310
Season Nine 13,046
Season Ten 12,515
Season Eleven 12,317
Season Twelve 12,422

Season average, by average

Season Three 14,610
Season Nine 13,046
Season Two 12,927
Season Ten 12,515
Season Twelve 12,423
Season Eleven 12,317
Season Eight 12,310
Season Four 12,180
Season One 10,955
Season Seven 10,487
Season Five 9,796
Season Six 8,393

Finals Attendances

Season One(6)126,237
Season Two(6)177,672
Season Three(6)154,118
Season Four(6)143,819
Season Five(7)151,206
Season Six(7)121,635
Season Seven(7)119,147
Season Eight(5) 105,255
Season Nine (5) 128,566
Season Ten (6) 137,825
Season Eleven (5) 117,122

Regular season plus finals

Season Nine(135) 1,761,161 + (5) 128,566 = 1,889,727
Season Ten(135) 1,689,510 + (5) 137,825 = 1,827,335
Season Eleven(135) 1,662,729+ (5) 117,122 = 1,779,851
Season Eight(135) 1,661,830 + (5) 105,255 = 1,767,085
Season Seven(135) 1,415,782 +(7)119,147 = 1,534,929
Season Six(165) 1,384,902 +(7)121,635 = 1,506,537
Season Twelve(120) 1,490,606 + (0)= 1,490,606
Season Five(135) 1,322,475 +(7)151,206 = 1,473,681
Season Three(84) 1,227,273 + (6)154,118 =1,381,391
Season Two(84) 1,085,829 + (6)177,672 = 1,263,501
Season Four(84) 1,023,147 + (6)143,819 = 1,166,966
Season One(84) 920,219 + (6)126,237 = 1,046,456


Season One(84) 920,219 + (6)126,237 = 1,046,456
Season Two(84) 1,085,829 + (6)177,672 = 1,263,501
Season Three(84) 1,227,273 + (6)154,118 = 1,381,391
Season Four(84) 1,023,147 + (6)143,819 = 1,166,966
Season Five(135) 1,322,475 +(7)151,206 = 1,473,681
Season Six(165) 1,384,902 +(7)121,635 = 1,506,537
Season Seven(135) 1,415,782 +(7)119,147 = 1,534,929
Season Eight(135) 1,661,830 + (5)105,255= 1,767,085
Season Nine(135) 1,761,161 + (5) 128,566 = 1,889,727
Season Ten(135) 1,689,510 + (4) 137,825 = 1,827,335
Season Eleven(135) 1,662,729+ (5) 117,122 = 1,779,851
Season Twelve(120) 1,490,606 + (0) = 1,490,606