Attendances up by over 12% for league games

Scottish football enjoyed an increase in attendances at league matches of over 12% last season.

The total number of fans attending Scottish Professional Football League games, including play-offs, increased to 4,267,467 in total.

Rangers returned to the top flight after a four-year absence, Celtic thrilled by winning a domestic treble without losing a game, and a strong Aberdeen side finished runners-up in the league and both major cup competitions to the Hoops, and these were contributory factors.

Almost half-a-million extra fans flocked through the gates across 788 Ladbrokes Premiership, Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League 1 and 2 games including play-offs between August 2016 and May 2017 when compared with the previous period.

During the 2015/16 season there were 3,804,342 supporters across all SPFL league and play-off matches. The figure jumped by 12.17% attending the same number of matches in the season just past.

It is the first time total league and play-offs attendances have topped the four million mark since the 2008/09 campaign (4,252,212).

A further 396,855 fans attended 95 Betfred Cup matches and 54,620 went to 54 Irn-Bru Cup games. However, year-on-year comparisons are unavailable due to the new format of both competitions.

In total there were 4,698,942 supporters at SPFL games across all competitions during season 2016/17.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “These figures are hugely encouraging and testament both to the hard work of clubs in attracting people to games as well as the commitment and passion of supporters of all 42 SPFL clubs.

“There is already a great level of excitement ahead of SPFL season 2017/18 with many of our clubs executing some very creative season ticket marketing campaigns to help attract even more fans to attend matches regularly.

“All of this sends out a very positive message and provides a great platform for the SPFL and clubs to continue to improve the overall profile and health of Scottish football.”