Professional UK sports events have hit their highest total attendance ever in 2019, with more than 75.1 million fans watching.
This year’s record number is an increase on the 74.6 million fans that turned-out in 2018, according to a report by sports marketing agency Two Circles.
Football sits on top as the main contributor to total attendances with more than 50.5 million fans visiting grounds across the country, accounting for 67 per cent of the total crowds across all sports.
In 2019, the UK hosted several major events, including the men’s Cricket World Cup, golf’s Solheim Cup and the Netball World Cup. Excluding these one-off events, the UK sporting attendance in 2019 was 74 million, meaning UK sports attendances have grown 3.4 per cent year-on-year on average between 2013 and 2019, representing an 11 million increase in attendance in 2019, versus that in 2013.
Gareth Balch, Two Circles chief executive, said: “In addition to the UK’s domestic competitions growing their live fan bases, new events such as regular-season NFL and MLB games in London are being added to the calendar.
“The UK has also shown to be a dependable destination for international federations looking to deliver both amazing atmospheres and commercially-successful competitions.”
Two Circles noted several other factors have helped to boost live sport attendances in the UK in 2019, including a well-developed infrastructure of venues with a total sports-event capacity of 5.6 million.
The report added that in 2019, live sport will contribute £11.8bn (€14bn/$15.5bn) to the UK economy.
Image: Steve Daniels
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