Including the not-HEC matches, we're at 84209 for the season, so we should finish about 90,000 for the year. If we sold out the extended (8094) rather than the standard (6194) capacity for the Scarlets match, and again for a play-off final (I realise I'm getting ahead of myself here) we could top 100K.

So Saturday's (official) atendance smashed the previous record for a Leinster game at the Sportsground and with a game left we've broken the previous record for cumulative attendance over a regular season (62,331 so far this season vs. 58,873 over the entire 2014-15 season)

Connacht v.	2016-17		2015-16		2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
Glasgow Warriors	6,063		7,786		4,430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Ospreys	5,749		5,279		5,226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Edinburgh Rugby	5,771		3,834		5,267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Ulster Rugby	6,194		5,876		5,921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Cardiff Blues	6,190		3,274		5,247	5,168	3,869	3,996	1,856	1,425
Benetton Treviso	5,903		3,443		3,880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Munster Rugby	8,090		7,786		7,745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Newport Gwent Dragons	6,190		3,624		4,123	4,033	4,958	3,706	1,371	1,485
Zebre	4,091		3,994		5,486	4,084	4,856
Leinster Rugby	8,090		7,300		5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Scarlets			5,292		5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Average	6,233		5,226		5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

That looks like an impressive upswing for the smaller games. The Munster match this year was definitely the most full I've ever personally seen the sportsground, the place was heaving.

Don't forget we've regularly got no decent terracing at the two ends this year (they only gotten it for the big ones?) - I doubt that's been offset by the new temp seating. Also the lack of a decent vantage point at the pitch ends is very offputting when the two stands are selling out so fast.

Just noticed that the Munster game had a record ("official") attendance for a pro 12 game in the Sportsground. (The semifinal last year was 7,800 wasn't it?)

Connacht v.	2016-17		2015-16		2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
Glasgow Warriors	6,063		7,786		4,430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Ospreys	5,749		5,279		5,226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Edinburgh Rugby	5,771		3,834		5,267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Ulster Rugby	6,194		5,876		5,921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Cardiff Blues	6,190		3,274		5,247	5,168	3,869	3,996	1,856	1,425
Benetton Treviso	5,903		3,443		3,880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Munster Rugby	8,090		7,786		7,745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Newport Gwent Dragons			3,624		4,123	4,033	4,958	3,706	1,371	1,485
Leinster Rugby			7,300		5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Zebre			3,994		5,486	4,084	4,856
Scarlets			5,292		5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Average	6,280		5,226		5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

I have to agree. People in the branch wring every last drop from the Sportsground in terms of ticket sales. Only way to increase would be to build the seated stand above the Clan that I believe they've gotten planning for. But given the current situation with mBord na gCon that would be the equivalent of looking for a mortgage to put an extension on a rented house you'll probably end up leaving in the not too distant future.

Evil_g wrote: I'm a little underwhelmed by the increase in attendances this season. Am I imagining it, or were we told that every game was going to be a sell out? Shouldn't we at least be breaking 7k for an Ulster game?

I think we covered this before in another thread maybe but....

Capacity for end of season matches (Munster, Glasgow, Glasgow semi) was ~7800. This included 1900 extra (temporary) terrace places, so the "base" capacity was ~5900 which matches very closely to last season's Ulster game attendance of 5876.

This year we have the new seated stand which adds almost 300 seats which suggests a "base" capacity of ~6200. Connacht stated that Friday's Ulster game was a sellout at 6194.

We're adding temporary terracing again for Toulouse, if it's the usual 1900 extra that brings us to ~8100 "extended" capacity.

I've been critical of the branch lately on other matters but I think it's fair to say they're knocking it out of the park on tickets sales. Attendance is 1000 up on the comparable fixtures last year despite the available capacity for those matches being down by the 700 :- 24800 (6200 * 4) vs. 25500 (5900 * 3 + 7800).

You're lucky in that I've just recently redone 1 - up to end of last season only. Saturdays vs Fridays suggest an extra 10% attendance (on Saturdays) over the seasonal average but this is not statistically significant and the significance has dropped over the last 4 seasons. However every hour the game is on later boosts attendance by an average of 3-4%.

Attached is a nice boxplot which shows the impact of Heineken Cup on attendances and the yuuuge improvement in the last 4 seasons.

I wonder how much a Friday attendance effects things?

We need another regression analysis!

I think anything above 6k is pretty much a sellout, for the higher attendance games from last year (i.e. Glasgow and Leinster) were temporary stands/terracing put in?

I'm a little underwhelmed by the increase in attendances this season. Am I imagining it, or were we told that every game was going to be a sell out? Shouldn't we at least be breaking 7k for an Ulster game?

Connacht v.	2016-17		2015-16		2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
Glasgow Warriors	6,063		7,786		4,430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Ospreys	5,749		5,279		5,226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Edinburgh Rugby	5,771		3,834		5,267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Ulster Rugby	6,194		5,876		5,921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Cardiff Blues			3,274		5,247	5,168	3,869	3,996	1,856	1,425
Benetton Treviso			3,443		3,880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Munster Rugby			7,786		7,745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Newport Gwent Dragons			3,624		4,123	4,033	4,958	3,706	1,371	1,485
Leinster Rugby			7,300		5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Zebre			3,994		5,486	4,084	4,856
Scarlets			5,292		5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Average			5,226		5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

With all the excitement it almost passed unnoticed, but with an official attendance of 7,800 we set a new record for a Celtic League game on Saturday.

(I have my doubts about how precise any of these reported attendances are, but we've nothing else to go on)

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		5,486	4,084	4,856
Edinburgh Rugby	3,834		5,267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Benetton Treviso	3,443		3,880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Ulster Rugby	5,876		5,921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Scarlets	5,292		5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Ospreys	5,279		5,226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Leinster Rugby	7,300		5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Munster Rugby	7,786		7,745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Glasgow Warriors	7,786		4,430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Average	5,226		5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

In spite of what Gerry Thornley says *, Saturday night wasn't a record attendance (14 people didn't show up):

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		5,486	4,084	4,856
Edinburgh Rugby	3,834		5,267	4,038	4,930	4,324	1,586	1,460
Benetton Treviso	3,443		3,880	3,850	4,112	3,614	1,563
Ulster Rugby	5,876		5,921	5,485	6,463	5,017	3,761	2,435
Scarlets	5,292		5,631	4,172	4,074	3,408	1,135	1,756
Ospreys	5,279		5,226	3,888	4,680	4,107	2,035	1,412
Leinster Rugby	7,300		5,917	7,210	5,813	6,582	4,582	3,250
Munster Rugby	7,786		7,745	6,227	7,789	7,022	4,795	4,125
Glasgow Warriors			4,430	4,185	6,081	4,189	1,268	1,982
Average	4,970		5,352	4,758	5,239	4,597	2,395	2,148

*I know he's just a sports writer, but there's no excuse for being so blatantly wrong, about something that's so easy to check, twice in a month.

eezipc wrote:

dobby wrote: What will be interesting next year will be availability of tickets. As things are looking Connacht will be in the European Champions Cup. Also Connacht are playing a brand of rugby that is most entertaining. As such one would expect that the number of season ticket holders could potentially increase significantly for the new season. This has a knock-on effect of there being significantly fewer tickets available on a game by game basis. This further makes the purchase of a season ticket more important. And then this brings up the issue of how to increase capacity at the sportsground. If this is not addressed soon there will likely be a lot of disappointed connacht fans never mind travelling supporters to the sportsground.

You're right. It's not too long ago that you could buy tickets at the gate for the inter-pros. Not anymore....

It's been discussed ad nauseam, but in my opinion there is a glass ceiling for attendances which we won't overcome until the facilities improve down the ends. As long as we continue to play well, we'll sell out the big games which is great. The ceiling I speak of applies more to the less glamorous fixtures. People (understandably) won't pay to stand down the ends with a crap view and a high probability of being soaked.

dobby wrote: What will be interesting next year will be availability of tickets. As things are looking Connacht will be in the European Champions Cup. Also Connacht are playing a brand of rugby that is most entertaining. As such one would expect that the number of season ticket holders could potentially increase significantly for the new season. This has a knock-on effect of there being significantly fewer tickets available on a game by game basis. This further makes the purchase of a season ticket more important. And then this brings up the issue of how to increase capacity at the sportsground. If this is not addressed soon there will likely be a lot of disappointed connacht fans never mind travelling supporters to the sportsground.

You're right. It's not too long ago that you could buy tickets at the gate for the inter-pros. Not anymore....