In slightly better news, the attendance on Friday (as announced at the game and reported by Accidentally Onside, not as reported on the Pro 12 website) seems to have set a new record for a visit by Treviso.

Connacht v.	2015-16		2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
Newport Gwent Dragons	3,624		4,123	4,033	4,958	3,706	1,371	1,485
Cardiff Blues	3,274		5,247	5,168	3,869	3,996	1,856	1,425
Zebre	3,994		5486	4,084	4,856
Edinburgh Rugby	3,834		5267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Benetton Treviso	4334		3880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Ulster Rugby			5921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Scarlets			5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Ospreys			5226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Leinster Rugby			5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Munster Rugby			7745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Glasgow Warriors			4430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Average	3,812		5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

We're still well down on the last few years though. Tracing the 2011 season match for match weirdly enough.

They are not bad crowds, its around your average pro12 crowd.
Without anything to back it up, im suggesting that maybe the branch have stopped pulling numbers out of thin air?
Re clan tickets on sale, what used to happen for the last few seasons was, told back clan tickets so people would have no choice but buy main stand. Then when it was closer to match day, they would put the remaining clan tickets on sale for people who "i left it late, if im not in the clan, im not going".

Now that I think of it, there was a World Cup in 2011 as well wasn't there.

Still though.

I wouldn't panic yet. Figures aren't hectic but looking at some of the other attendances its clear the World Cup is having an impact. Edinburgh have made a good start but both their attendances are around 1,000 or more down on their opening games of last season, Leinster down a couple of thousand and even at that looking at a bit of that game Saturday it was one of the smaller crowds I've seen at a Leinster game. Munster similarly despite a good start to the season. Of course the impact of the early K/O time for these teams last Friday has to be taken into account.

I'd say a lot of floating supporters are going with the World Cup. There just isn't an hype around the league at the moment with so much going on elsewhere. The only benefit for the league will hopefully be in Europe in that they may be better able to balance their league and European obligations than the English with their condensed season.

In general for the opening rounds we struggle to catch the imagination, the further we head into Autumn and Winter crowds will improve after the World Cup.

Maybe it's a bit early to panic, what with the All Ireland Final and Rugby World Cup to compete with, but you have to go back to the 2010/11 season to find ("official") attendances as low as those for our first two home league games this season.

There are still Clan tickets available online for all upcoming games including Newcastle and Ulster. I'm quite sure that these were snapped up very quickly in previous seasons.

Connacht v.	2015-16		2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
Newport Gwent Dragons	3,624		4,123	4,033	4,958	3,706	1,371	1,485
Cardiff Blues	3,274		5,247	5,168	3,869	3,996	1,856	1,425
Zebre			5486	4,084	4,856
Edinburgh Rugby			5267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Benetton Treviso			3880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Ulster Rugby			5921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Scarlets			5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Ospreys			5226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Leinster Rugby			5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Munster Rugby			7745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Glasgow Warriors			4430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Average			5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

Yeah Pro 12 is all the season tickets plus walk ups. European games are actual numbers of those present.

So ive been led to believe.

biffo77 wrote: On Munster's halt of downward trend, have they really stopped, or are they padding the figures by including season ticket holders in attendance, if even they don't actually attend the match. This has been talked about on several forums, etc., and indeed, the crowd in the stands doesn't match the attendance figures.

AFAIK all Pro 12 attendance figures are tickets sold, not supporters in attendance. It's very obvious Thomond has been less than half full on a good number of occasions this year.

On Munster's halt of downward trend, have they really stopped, or are they padding the figures by including season ticket holders in attendance, if even they don't actually attend the match. This has been talked about on several forums, etc., and indeed, the crowd in the stands doesn't match the attendance figures.

This season versus last season is probably a much fairer comparison because, with Heineken Cup Rugby in 2012/13, there would have been a much higher number of season tickets sold, and these would have been counted in the Pro 12 figures whether they turned up or not.

The 2012/13 figures show what might have been possible next season (or the season after?) of course.

Connacht Rugby - Pro 12 Attendance per Opponent

Connacht v.	2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
Newport Gwent Dragons	4,123	4,033	4,958	3,706	1,371	1,485
Leinster Rugby	5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Cardiff Blues	5,247	5,168	3,869	3,996	1,856	1,425
Zebre	5486	4,084	4,856
Scarlets	5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Munster Rugby	7745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Edinburgh Rugby	5267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Benetton Treviso	3880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Ulster Rugby	5921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Glasgow Warriors	4430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Ospreys	5226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Average	5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

*Outliers are usually a Christmas Interpro.

Cumulative attendance per season, updated.

Could / should attendances for the second half of the season have been better given what was at stake? Perhaps if we'd beaten Edinburgh they might have been?

updated cumulative attendances attached (pro12 only)
A few points
1 Our biggest average attendance yet: 5352
2. Ulster have almost doubled in last 3 years - if you build it he will come.
3. Munster have reversed their downward trend - despite reopening of Musgrave park mid season
4. Judgement day in Millennium stadium has been a great success almost 53,000 - which I've divided between the 2 "home teams" this skews the data a little. Would expect blues and dragons to be down next season. Our own judgement day in Aviva between xmas and new year would be great: Ulster/Munster and Leinster/Connacht.
5. 15% increase in attendances across the board in last 4 years from 966,000 to 1,116,000

09/10 was the season of the really big freeze, so the last 2 games were Leinster (postponed) and Munster.

10/11 we had the interpros as our 2nd, 3rd, and 5th home games.

So the apparent "tailing off" of attendances in 2010/11 isn't real, all we're seeing is how much attendances were skewed by the Interpros in the "bad old days".

(There were two really "bad" attendences in the sceond half or 2010/2011; these were against the newly introduced Italian teams, and therefore not comparable to the previous season.)

Evil_g wrote: (What the hell happened in early 2011 by the way? 2010 was the year of the big freezes.)

Wikipedia wrote: During the course of the season, the loss of a number of key players, such as Sean Cronin and Ian Keatley, were announced, with the players signing to Connacht's provincial rivals for the start of the following season.

That was the year all the players were limited to one year contracts and they swooped in for our young talent. From what I remember the mood was pretty grim at the time, we were in serious danger of being shut down, just one possible explanation.

Cumulative attendance per season anyone?

Far from seeing a drop off as we fall out of contention, for the last few seasons the Christmas interpros seem to have given attendances a boost that continues through the Spring.

If we're scrapping for a Champions Cup Place, and our back line is lighting the place up, crowds will only improve as the weather does.

(What the hell happened in early 2011 by the way? 2010 was the year of the big freezes.)

galway_gas wrote:

tickingover wrote: See attached regression analysis of all Connacht Home Games in the league for the last 11 years, since the league went to single table format.

Any correlation between attendances and whether game was televised?

Don't have a list of televised games, if I could get one it wouldn't be hard to include.