Average Attendance

What I would say is that actually, based on those figures, the Prem is equal to the Top14 in France in terms of attendance figures, relative to number of games (eg 90 Prem games to 180-odd Pro 14 games both garnering approx 2.5m. If anything, the Prem would see slightly more. Appreciate its all hypothetical but not the wide gulf you might expect. Obviously the size of the Prem is a contentious issue and a big part of the problem with unsustainable clubs having gone bust, and that's another whole topic of conversation.

Where you see the big difference in figures you have provided is with the respective second tier leagues. If you applied the same number of games to both leagues as per the above with the Prem/Top14 (e.g. attendance/game ratio) the Champ would be left in the dust by some 1m deficit when compared to ProD2. 

I'd suggest that in the current climate, this is where the RFU believe they can gain some ground on their French counterparts and its clear to see that they have been severely lacking in finding the right way forward for a fully pro top two tiers. Hopefully things are finally being addressed with this.

If you take out the 3 big games the average drops to 12,876. So they do bump the average up a bit.

Probably because we went to electronic tickets and got accurate gate numbers.

I suspect we were getting closer to 800 before.

We did get more students, from having Jamie Benton playing.

And we got the odd Bedford fan, on days when they were travelling or were due to play Jersey.

But there definitely were new fans.

Yes the big difference isn't actually the size of the biggest clubs (Leicester/Bristol v Bordeaux or Toulouse) it is the massive difference between the number of clubs getting 2k to 8k. In England that is literrally 4 clubs (Sale, Newcastle, Bedford & Cov), whereas in France it is easily 30 clubs across Pro D2 & Nationale 1.

I've used this as an example before, but it you could add 40k regular supporters to club rugby then PRL would add 4k a week to 10 clubs, but the French would add 1k per week to 40 clubs. The RFU would add another tier to Twickenham. That broad base is what generates the TV deals and wider interest.  And with some work (its taken France 20 years) we could move towards that.

Slowly, over time, and with enforced standards off the pitch. As well as free and sporting promotion & relegation within that.

Cov/Bedford sized attendances could be achieved at Moseley, Plymouth, Cornwall, Doncaster, probably Rotherham relatively quickly, Cambridge clearly has potential, Rams could tap into the wider Reading sporting scene.

It's not happening over night but by 2035 two pro leagues with attendances 80% of what the French will be by then is an achievable growth goal.