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Deloitte & Touche LLP
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Deloitte
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UK sport is set to receive a festive boost with Deloitte analysis showing that approximately one million people are set to work off their Christmas lunch by attending professional sports fixtures in the UK on Boxing Day. Whilst the majority will attend football matches, with over 850,000 spectators anticipated, significant numbers will also flock to rugby union and horseracing.
Alan Switzer, Senior Manager in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented “The Christmas holiday season is a particularly busy period within the sporting calendar. An estimated 2.7m people are expected to attend professional football, rugby union and horseracing fixtures in the UK in the week between Boxing Day and New Years Day.
“In many cases, Boxing Day represents an opportunity for clubs and racecourses to increase attendances above their usual level.”
On Boxing Day 2005, three-quarters of English football clubs which hosted fixtures attracted attendances above their season average, with 70% of these clubs achieving increases of at least 10%. For example, the average attendance for a Football League Championship match on Boxing Day 2005 was over 20,000, compared to a season average of less than 17,500.
The Boxing Day boost is even more significant for horseracing. The majority of racecourses hosting meetings on Boxing Day generate their highest attendance of the year on this day. The average meeting attendance on Boxing Day in 2005 was almost 10,000, with each of the eight courses which hosted meetings attracting attendances which were more than double their average for the year.
An ongoing challenge and opportunity for clubs and racecourses is to encourage those people who attend fixtures once a year on Boxing Day, or during the Christmas holiday season, to come during other times of the year.
Switzer added “Re-engaging those people who attend fixtures only once a year for further visits is key in achieving attendance and event day revenue growth, with creative marketing and innovative ticket pricing likely to be important tools in achieving this.”
“Currently approximately 65% of racegoers only attend one fixture per year. If even 25% of these racegoers could be re-engaged to go to a race meeting twice in the year, instead of once, the incremental revenues to racecourses would total an estimated £6m from admissions alone.”
Ends
*based on analysis of anticipated attendances at the following sporting fixtures in the UK – football (FA Premier League, Football League, Scottish Premier League, Scottish Football League), rugby union (Guinness Premiership, Celtic League), and horseracing.
Note to editors
About the Sports Business Group at Deloitte
Over the last 15 years Deloitte has developed a unique focus on the business of sport. Our specialist Sports Business Group offers a multi-disciplined expert service with dedicated people and skills capable of adding significant value to the business of sport. Whether it is benchmarking or strategic business reviews, operational turnarounds, revenue enhancement strategies or stadium/venue development plans, business planning, market and demand analysis, acquisitions, due diligence, expert witness, audits or tax planning; we have worked with more clubs, leagues, governing bodies, stadia developers, event organisers, commercial partners, financiers and investors than any other adviser.
For further information on our services you can access our website at www.sportsconsulting.co.uk
About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte & Touche LLP which is among the country’s leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance services. Deloitte & Touche LLP is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (‘DTT’), a Swiss Verein whose member firms are separate and independent legal entities. Neither DTT nor any of its member firms has any liability for each other’s omissions. Services are provided by member firms or their subsidiaries and not by DTT. Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.
Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
