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URC quietly pleased with Croke Park final attendance
By Ian Cameron
The BKT United Rugby Championship has expressed its satisfaction after more than 46,000 fans attended Saturday’s Grand Final between Leinster and the Vodacom Bulls at Croke Park.
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The fixture marked the first time a URC final has been staged at the iconic 82,000-capacity venue, and despite organisers having just six days to sell tickets following Leinster’s semi-final win, the event delivered a record-breaking attendance for the league’s showpiece match.
The turnout surpassed the previous Irish record for a league final — 46,092 at the Aviva Stadium for Leinster v Scarlets in 2018 — a figure reached after a nine-month sales window. In contrast, this year’s crowd was assembled in under a week, with final sales hitting 46,127.
There had been suggestions in the Irish press that fatigue was setting in among rugby supporters after a long season, with Leinster’s home games already being played at the 50,000-plus capacity Aviva Stadium due to the redevelopment of the RDS.
Yet the gamble to bring the game to Croke Park with limited turnaround appears to have been vindicated. The strong turnout also came despite several days of poor weather along the eastern seaboard of Ireland, with Leinster fans arriving at the home of the GAA in decent numbers despite the conditions in the hope of seeing Leo Cullen’s men lift their first trophy in four years
While the URC is understood to have privately hoped to break the 50,000 mark, league officials have hailed the attendance as a quiet success under the circumstances.
Leinster Rugby have been credited with playing a major role in driving demand, helping ticket sales exceed initial expectations.
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URC is growing and healthy. Lets hope it continues and that the league grows. Its a good comp with plenty of potential.
I have no doubt that the URC has surpassed last year’s record attendance.
My best guess is that the URC got between 1.75 million and 1.85 million attendance this season, averaging close to 12k per game.
We will probably see some incredible numbers from the Premiership. Maybe not total attendance but average attendance possibly a bit higher than they achieved last season and a new record.
Some may be of the opinion that Super Rugby will be challenging the 4 Welsh clubs average attendance numbers, but I think the Welsh clubs will be higher by about 500 people per game.
60% of URC teams have average home gates <6000. Take out Leinster/Munster/Bulls/Stormers crowds and its sawdust. zzzzZebra @ 2000. Benetton <4000. Those Welsh clubs ? Dragons <4000, Scarlets <6000 Ospreys <3000
Meanwhile, in the real World of actual Super Rugby data as at 3rd June:-
Total match attendance across the competition has increased 6 per cent year-on-year.
In Australia, Stan Sport has confirmed a 27 per cent increase in average audience across the regular season, while average free-to-air audiences on Nine grew by 13 per cent. Average gates Waratahs >16,000 Reds >15,000. Lowest gate Force 7,000.
In New Zealand, more than 1.83 million people have tuned in, while digital viewership grew by more than 19 per cent. Ave home gates - Highlanders 13,000, Crusaders 13,000 Blues Canes 14,000 Chiefs 14,000. Even Moana are 9,000.
In Fiji concurrent viewership on the Walesi App peaked at 395,436 – more than a third of the Fijian population. Sellout crowds for Drua in Suva and Lautoka (unbeaten).
Super Rugby Pacific became the first domestic rugby competition in the world to achieve a total social media following of 2.5 million, driven by a 25 per cent increase in year-on-year follower growth.
More than 70,000 fans played Fantasy Super Rugby Pacific, making more than 4.5 million player trades across the season.
I’d say it’s definitely steady increase year on year since it became the URC. Hopefully the younger fans who are getting on board will be at the age that they now want to attend games.
The final had a brilliant mix of young kids and families. Great to see.
They sold out 2.5 times the capacity of the RDS in under a week.
Very good attendance all things considered and was a great atmosphere.
Yeah but playing the game at an 82k stadium made it look half empty, the Aviva would have looked like a sell out! Just like twickers, which is also an 82k stadium but actually was a sell out. No machine guns required…