New research has found Tottenham Hotspur has more empty seats than any other club in the Premier League this season.
A study examining average attendances this season shows that Tottenham has 5,000 more empty seats than any other side. Chelsea are well short of full houses for many home games, too. According to the research, they are averaging around 3,000 empty seats.
Spurs’ average is 8,284 empty seats per matchday, according to research from bookmaker OLBG.com, which makes its calculations based on the cheapest available ticket.
Tottenham’s stadium – which cost £1billion – is regarded as the finest in the Premier League with multiple unique selling points.
Its seats are less than five meters from the pitch to the single-tier south stand, closer than any other Premier League ground. But the club are still struggling to hit the heights they achieved under Mauricio Pochettino and Sunday’s match at Stamford Bridge revealed the gulf between them and Chelsea.
Southampton and Burnley were the third and fourth-placed clubs for unsold ticket revenue. Champions Manchester City were fifth. Crystal Palace, Watford, Leeds United, West Ham United and Newcastle United round out the top 10.
The failure to sell out is in part a result of a reluctance by some to attend games during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Leicester City are faring best by this measure, with very few unsold seats in the Premier League – the Foxes leaving just 251 free on a typical matchday. The King Power Stadium has a capacity of 32,312, which is far from being the smallest in the division.
The research used the cost of the cheapest ticket to calculate money lost by empty seats. It suggested that Spurs were losing £165,000 per game, Chelsea £155,000 and Leicester a mere £6,526.
But a Chelsea spokesman said that the empty home seats were held by season ticket holders so had already been paid for, with the only lost revenue being a result of no-shows not spending on food and drinks.