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Although the individual clubs’ breakdown was not immediately available last night, it is very clear that the Glamour Boys remain the flagship brand of the Premiership.
Their power to bring in the crowds, especially in a season when they are doing very well, was clearly evident and had a big role to play in pushing the eventual gross attendance figures.
The figures were unveiled after a three-day strategic planning workshop that saw the league coming up with a new five-year plan of action.
According to the statistics, the 16-team Castle Lager Premiership saw a grand total of over half a million people paying their way at the turnstiles to watch the matches by the end of the season.
The figure of 611 103 fans, who paid their way to enter the stadiums, excludes the number of people who used privilege cards and people on duty like the club marshals and security personnel.
A good number of fans also used undesignated entry points to enter the match venues, in the process prejudicing the league of a fortune.
The domestic Premiership had 16 teams competing and on a normal weekend there were supposed to be eight league games.
Each team was supposed to play the other twice and by the end of the season there had been 240 league games over the 30 rounds.
This translates to 2 546 people paying their way to watch each game.
However, in reality some matches witnessed larger crowds while for other games, one could actually count on the fingers of two hands the number of people who paid to watch.
American football, with an average of 66 953 fans per game, is rated as one of the professional sports with the highest average attendance figures in the world.
The average attendance figures for the Zimbabwe Premiership also fall just short of the South African Premiership, which stands at 3 829 fans per match.
Last season, the PSL charged $3 for the cheapest ticket while the Western grand stands were going for $5 to $10.
Zimbabwe’s charges are also comparable to the South African Premiership where the tickets range between R20 and R40.
Attendance figures at South African Premiership games rose due to the hype created by the World Cup in 2010 and the number of fans increased by about 200 for each game.
During the 2011 season, Zimbabwe’s top-flight league managed to raise $1,9 million in gross takings from the gates and this was a significant improvement from the $323 867 raised the previous season.
The boom in the PSL’s fortunes last season could be attributed to the excitement created by the arrival of a flagship sponsor, Delta Beverages, who injected $2 million into
the league.
There was also a vote of confidence in the league with NetOne coming on board to sponsor the Charity Shield while bankers BancABC, the league’s all-weather partners, also bankrolled the Sup8r Trophy.
Last season also witnessed the Premiership relaunch of an inclusive knockout tournament for the 16 teams after Mbada Diamonds came on board.
But while the league’s fortunes improved from the previous season, there was a cause for concern for some low-key games that virtually crippled some of the small teams.
A match between Blue Ribbon and Shooting Stars in November last year is reported to have receipted only nine fans who paid their way into the stadium.
The game between Blue Ribbon and Monomotapa had 61 fans paying their way in while the rest passed off as service providers.
Black Mambas had 73 people paying to watch their game against Shabanie at home.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu