Iranian Attendance Surges At World League Round 2

  0 Jared Anderson | June 12th, 2017 | FIVB World League, International Volleyball, News

2017 FIVB WORLD LEAGUE – ROUND 2, DAY 3 SUMMARY

Note: All attendance figures are direct from the FIVB World League website. If attendance numbers are listed wrong on the site, those errors will throw off this data as well.

As the FIVB World League’s Group 1 moved to three new host cities, Tehran, Iran exploded for the three highest single-match attendance figures and by far the biggest total attendance numbers, according to what’s listed on the FIVB World League website.

The numbers are staggering enough to raise eyebrows, especially after reports suggested Iran was refusing to sell spectator tickets to women. On the other hand, Iran does have a strong international track record in volleyball, and highlight videos and event photos do show a packed-house crowd:

Iran vs Argentina, listed attendance 12,000. Courtesy of FIVB

Site-By-Site

Iran’s total listed attendance obliterated all other sites, both from this week (Bulgaria and France were the other two) and last (Italy, Serbia and Russia). Matches in Iran averaged almost 7,000 spectators apiece, and total attendance between the six matches was over 37,000. That’s almost double the highest total attendance from last week, 21,700 from Italy.

Week 2 Sites:

Pool Site Average Game Attendance Total Attendance
D1 Tehran, Iran 6975 41,850
E1 Varna, Bulgaria 3733 22,400
F1 Pau, France 3725 22,350

Weeks 1 and 2:

Week Pool Site Average Game Attendance Total Attendance
2 D1 Tehran, Iran 6975 41,850
1 A1 Pesaro, Italy 4283 25,700
2 E1 Varna, Bulgaria 3733 22,400
2 F1 Pau, France 3725 22,350
1 B1 Novi Sad, Serbia 2867 17,200
1 C1 Kazan, Russia 2833 17,000

Home-Court Advantage

Iran also led in home-court advantage, at least in terms of the boost in attendance for matches involving the host nation. Tehran-hosted matches that didn’t feature Iran still pulled an average of about 2400 spectators, but matches featuring the Iranian team boasted a whopping 11,500 spectators on average. That’s more than double the best average home-team attendances from last week.

Here’s the full numbers, expressed in averages of the three home-team or non-home-team matches at each site:

Pool Site Home Team Playing Home Team Not Playing % Boost For Home Team Matches
D1 Tehran, Iran 11,500 2,450 369.4%
E1 Varna, Bulgaria 5,733 1,733 230.8%
F1 Pau, France 4,750 2,700 75.9%

Bulgaria showed home-team support at a fairly similar level, while French fans showed up in force for all matches, holding the highest attendance for matches not featuring the host nation.

Still, no host had the insane 1200% home-team boost that Serbia had last week.

Week Pool Site Home Team Playing Home Team Not Playing % Boost For Home Team Matches
1 B1 Novi Sad, Serbia 5,333 400 1233.33%
2 D1 Tehran, Iran 11,500 2,450 369.39%
1 C1 Kazan, Russia 4,667 1,000 366.67%
2 E1 Varna, Bulgaria 5,733 1,733 230.77%
1 A1 Pesaro, Italy 5,667 2,900 95.40%
2 F1 Pau, France 4,750 2,700 75.93%

By Day

This week once again saw a dip in attendance on Saturday, though in week 2, fans showed up best on Sunday. On the first weekend, attendance was at its highest on Friday and almost came back to similar levels by Sunday.

Date Average Attendance
6/9 4883
6/10 4617
6/11 4933

Week 1:

Date Average Attendance
6/2 3583
6/3 2950
6/4 3450

Fast Facts

A few more fast facts:

  • Highest single-match attendance: 12000, Iran vs Argentina in Tehran, Iran
  • Lowest single-match attendance: 500, Belgium vs Argentina in Tehran, Iran
  • Highest attendance for a match not involving the host nation: 4750, Serbia vs Argentina in Tehran, Iran
  • Lowest attendance for a match involving the host nation: 3750, France vs Russia in Pau, France

Belgium has now been involved in the two lowest-attended matches of the tournament. The 300 spectators for USA-Belgium in week 1 is still the tournament low.

Russia has been the opponent for both week’s lowest attendance for a match involving the home team. Only 4100 showed up to watch Russia play Argentina and Bulgaria at home, and only 3750 fans showed up to watch Russia play France in France.

Full Numbers

Date Pool Winner Loser Host Nation Attendance Home team involved?
6/9 D1 Serbia Argentina Iran 4750 No
6/9 D1 Iran Belgium Iran 11000 Yes
6/10 D1 Belgium Argentina Iran 500 No
6/10 D1 Serbia Iran Iran 11500 Yes
6/11 D1 Serbia Belgium Iran 2100 No
6/11 D1 Iran Argentina Iran 12000 Yes
6/9 E1 Brazil Canada Bulgaria 2500 No
6/9 E1 Bulgaria Poland Bulgaria 5500 Yes
6/10 E1 Brazil Poland Bulgaria 1800 No
6/10 E1 Canada Bulgaria Bulgaria 5700 Yes
6/11 E1 Poland Canada Bulgaria 900 No
6/11 E1 Bulgaria Brazil Bulgaria 6000 Yes
6/9 F1 United States Italy France 1800 No
6/9 F1 France Russia France 3750 Yes
6/10 F1 United States Russia France 3100 No
6/10 F1 France Italy France 5100 Yes
6/11 F1 Russia Italy France 3200 No
6/11 F1 France United States France 5400 Yes

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