PalaPanini, the great cold: fans drop. Still first, but takings reduced by a third

An interesting survey conducted by Volleyball.it certifies a fact already visible to the naked eye, that of the drop in spectators at PalaPanini and the relative and noticeable drop in takings compared to last year. In a table that takes into consideration the entire SuperLega, PalaPanini is no longer in first place in terms of total and average spectators per game, overtaken by PalaBarton in Perugia. A drop of over 18% in attendance compared to the first leg of the 2023/2024 season that goes hand in hand, indeed is exceeded, by the drop in takings, -34,4% compared to the previous season.

The regrettable fact is dictated by the fact that for about a calendar year, from halfway through the 2022/23 season to halfway through the 2023/24 season, Modena had rebuilt a notable crowd, with high averages: however, losing along the way in recent months both the official group of fans and, data in hand, hundreds of attendances. All this in the context of an overall healthy movement: in all the sports halls in Italy, attendances have increased, sometimes even considerably, and only in Padua has there been a very slight drop of 37 spectators on average per game. All this is not necessarily linked to the results, given that in Monza or Milan, two clubs that have scaled down the technical value of their rosters, the data even reads +45% and +31% respectively.

The same goes for the takings, which are down as sharply as in Modena only in Civitanova Marche, a place where attendance is instead growing, a sign of a different pricing policy. How do these percentages translate into numbers? Modena went from an average of 4.191 spectators per match to a figure of 3.416, losing over 760 people per match compared to the first leg of 2023/24. A decline that is certainly justified by the fact that last season brought with it the impetus of good results and the CEV Cup won in the spring of 2023 and also with a calendar with less appeal (last year three big matches at home with Lube, Trento and Piacenza, this year the 'only' Perugia).

But there was the first return match: the Emilia derby with Piacenza which enlivened the Christmas period like last year (then 'boxing day' of Santo Stefano, this year Sunday 22 December) recorded only 3026 spectators compared to the 4792 of the previous season, over 35% less, with the takings more than halved.

At the start of the season, the Modena-Perugia match played on Saturday had held up to the comparison with the Modena-Perugia match of last year, played with the team already in crisis: 4151 spectators this year with 66 thousand euros of takings, 4291 spectators and 70 thousand euros last year. Modena remains the city with the highest box office, despite everything, but the takings have gone from a total of 368.891 euros to today's 240.596 euros, 130.000 euros less.

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