By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After setting attendance records last season, the unrelenting attraction of fans to the best basketball in Europe only grew over the last seven months.
The average attendance at a EuroLeague game throughout the 2017-18 season was 8,864 fans per arena per night – for a total of more than 2.25 million spectators. That number is a 4.3% increase in attendance from last season’s average of 8,499 fans per game, which itself had been a 13% jump in the first season of true round-robin league play in the history of Europe’s top competition. The jump in attendance is a continuing trend that has seen EuroLeague arenas become places where companies and individuals gather to share an experience that goes beyond the basketball game itself.
The overall growth in attendance brings with it consistent growth in revenues from ticket and premium seating sales. That is further evidence of how the league – through the recently created Business Operations & Club Services (BOCS) division – and EuroLeague clubs are finding success in their combined efforts to develop strategies and products aimed at attracting different markets such as families, businesses and millennials.
The team with the best attendance for the season was Zalgiris Kaunas, which saw an average of 13,567 fans pack Zalgirio Arena every night. That number represents an 18.82% jump in ticket sales thanks to a great job by the club’s front office management, which has been able to keep up with the good performances of the team on the court. With a well-thought-out ticket sales strategy and one of the best arenas on the European basketball landscape, Zalgiris has been able to convert its success on the court into a big leap in ticket sales and customer engagement, attracting 2,149 fans more per game than the previous season.
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens (15.1%) and reigning champion Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul (3.1%) remain references in terms of attendance; each club recorded further growth and combined to attract an extra 2,000 more fans per home game.
The overall attendance and ticket sales numbers are more proof that the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague continues to establish itself as one of the most important sports competitions in the world.
Source: EuroLeague