Sky Blues’ return brings 192% increase in home gates

COVENTRY City’s average home attendance nearly trebled this season compared to 2020-21.

The Sky Blues had an average of 19,541 fans for games for their return to the city at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

It is a rise of 192 per cent from last term when they were playing their ‘home’ games at St Andrew’s in Birmingham. The average crowd last season was 6,677.

This is the first full campaign since fans have been allowed to attend games since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. It has been a season of relative enjoyment with Sky Blues fighting in and around the play-offs for large chunks of the season and the average crowd is 7,000 higher than their last full season at the Ricoh Arena (12,363 in 2018/19).

Attendances have unquestionably been down across the Championship due to the cost of living crisis and concerns over Covid-19. Despite all this, however, the Sky Blues still have the seventh-highest crowds in the entire division, according to Transfermarkt, Blackpool (+55.4%) has the second highest increase behind the Sky Blues followed by Peterborough United (37.4%).

With one round of fixtures to go, Sheffield United have the highest average home crowd of 27,415, a fall of 11.3% from their 2020-21 campaign in the Premier League, followed by Nottingham Forest (27,094, -2%) and Derby County (22,813, -14.6%).

Top ten average attendances:

1. Sheffield United - 27,415 / -11.3%

2. Nottingham Forest - 27,094 / -2%

3. Derby County - 22,813 / -14.6%

4. West Bromwich Albion - 22,222 / -7.6%

5. Middlesbrough - 21,921 / +9.9%

6. Stoke City - 20,822 / -8.8%

7. Coventry City* - 19,541 / +192%

8. Birmingham City - 19,529 / -4.3%

9. Bristol City - 19,033 / -12.8%

10. Cardiff City - 18,844 / -17.4% *games were played at St Andrew’s