The Cost of Empty Seats: How Much Every Premier League Club Loses Every Matchday From Unsold Seats

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Fulham were found to be the club losing the most money on empty seats
Full Breakdown of How Much Extra Revenue Each Team is Losing
Detailed report per club

TOP FOR THE WRONG REASONS

Full Breakdown of How Much Extra Revenue Each Team is Losing

OLBG’s cost of empty seats research took this season’s average attendance figures and cost of the lowest ticket price to work out how much each Premier League club is missing out on every time they play on home turf.

Rank	Club	Capacity	Average Capacity	Unsold Seats	% Unsold	Cheapest Ticket	Average Matchday Lost Revenue
1	Fulham	29589	26826	2763	9.34%	£33	£90,016
2	Tottenham	62850	61127	1723	2.74%	£45	£77,626
3	Chelsea	41631	39987	1644	3.95%	£43	£70,086
4	Aston Villa	42918	41772	1146	2.67%	£34	£38,602
5	Southampton	32384	30865	1519	4.69%	£25	£38,295
6	Manchester City	55097	53576	1521	2.76%	£22	£34,022
7	Manchester United	74879	73815	1064	1.42%	£30	£32,424
8	Liverpool	61276	60486	790	1.29%	£38	£29,646
9	Wolves	31750	30755	995	3.13%	£28	£27,493
10	Arsenal	60704	60252	452	0.74%	£56	£25,526
11	Leicester City	32259	31448	811	2.51%	£21	£17,244
12	Brighton	31876	31481	395	1.24%	£31	£12,370
13	Crystal Palace	25486	25116	370	1.45%	£29	£10,613
14	Nottingham Forest	30404	30076	328	1.08%	£29	£9,495
15	Everton	39414	39191	223	0.57%	£29	£6,514
16	Ipswich Town	30056	29742	314	1.04%	£20	£6,148
17	Bournemouth	11307	11200	107	0.95%	£33	£3,565
18	Newcastle United	52258	52187	71	0.14%	£35	£2,474
19	Brentford	17250	17185	65	0.38%	£26	£1,693
20	West Ham	62500	62407	93	0.15%	£18	£1,689

Detailed report per club

Let's take a look at a detailed report for some of the clubs

Fulham

Empty seats: 2,763

Average losses: £ 90,016

Fulham were found to be the club that lost the most in matchday revenue when looking at the nuimber of empty seats within Craven Cottage. With 9.34% of the 29,589 capacity stadium empty on an average basis, that still adds up to just over £90k when considering the cheapest ticket to watch the Premier League outfit was £33. Then again, with the revenue that is generated by this London club by just being in the Premier League, its a loss that can easily be absorbed.

Tottenham

Empty seats: 1,723

Average losses: £77,626

There is no doubt that Tottenham had a miserable 2024/25 campaign in the Premier League and because of fortunes on the field of play, fans decided to vote with their feet and stay away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The white half of North London recorded an average of 1,723 empty seats per home game and this equates to lost matchday revenue of just under £78k. Poor results meant poor attendance in N17 and it also meant the eventual sacking of Ange Postecoglou.

Chelsea

Empty seats: 1,644

Average losses: £70,086

Rounding out the top three was Chelsea and with 3.95% of their Stamford Bridge ground being empty on average, each home outing in West London is currently costing the Blues just short of £71k in lost revenue. The fact that the cheapest ticket to watch Chelsea was £43 may not have helped in their bid to sell out the ground every other week.

Aston Villa

Empty seats: 1,146

Average losses: £38,602

Aston Villa were next on the list with 2.67% of seats being unsold on average and considering the capacity of Villa Park is 42,918 it means as many as 1,146 seats are going unfilled per home game. Multiply that figure by £34 and Villa Park is seeing just over £48k slip through his fingers each time the West Midlands outfit are at home.

Southampton

Empty seats: 1,519

Average losses: £38,295

Ranking fifth in our Premier League list is Southampton as the Saints' dreadful showing the pitch failed to get fans through the doors of their St Mary's Stadium. 4.69% of their Hampshire stadium was empty on average - equating to 1,519 seats being unsold. Multiply that figure by £25 and Southampton are giving up just over £38k each home game.

Manchester City

Empty seats: 1,521

Average losses: £34,022

Rounding out the top six is Manchester City and with the Etihad outfit having an off season by their own lofty standards it meant the cathedral where Pep Guardiola provides his sermons had an average of 1,521 empty seats per home game. With the cheapest ticket being £22, this meant the blue half of Manchester was missing out on an additional £34k per home leaue game.

Brentford

Empty seats: 65

Average losses: £1,693

Second bottom on the list of average lost revenue per Premier League matchday is Brentford and with just 65 seats going unsold per home game (0.38% of the GTech Community Stadium capacity) this means the Bees only miss out on £1,693 worth of revenue per top tier clash in West London.

West Ham

Empty seats: 93

Average losses: £1,689

Due to their extremely low spare seats, West Ham came bottom of the pile in terms of matchday revenue lost, at just £1,689 because of fans packing out the London Stadium to as near to its 62,500 capacity as it gets.

Clubs though will be happy that fans are back in the grounds and the period of lockdown football is now long behind us. Our report on the cost of no fans clearly showed how much they were losing when playing behind closed doors during lockdown.

The Cost of No Fans - Which Premier League Football Clubs Will Lose the Most Money if Restrictions are Reintroduced?

cost of empty seats 24-25

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