There is plenty of atmosphere at the Seinäjoki baseball stadium, even though JymyJussie’s home games don’t have the same crowd as in the years before the corona virus.
The stands now have a quarter less spectators than in the 2019 season. Four hundred spectators have disappeared.
Lasse to Haapamäki one big reason to go to the game is acquaintances and friends.
– We have a standard group in the stands. My brother and I are sitting next to each other, surrounded by acquaintances who have been here for as long as I can remember.
Also came to the game from Lapua Johanna Nyrhilä brings out sociality.
– You can see a little how the acquaintances have changed during the winter. At the same time, you can check if you are going to sit in exactly the same place as two years ago.
After Corona, the public also got used to leaving
Based on the statistics, after the corona break, it took some time for people to find their way back to the sports stands.
This includes the chairman of the board of the Seinäjoki Football Club Raimo Sarajärven according to several reasons.
After the pandemic, some viewers were initially cautious about large public events. In addition, after the lifting of the corona restrictions, the stagnant supply of events tightened the competition for people’s free time.
The home sofa was also attractive in the summer of 2022 more often than before.
– During Corona, people learned to enjoy sports entertainment from streaming services from their home sofa. It took some time before some of the spectators learned to go to the games again, says Sarajärvi.
Good signals in domestic football
In the Veikkausliiga, the viewership numbers are already at the pre-corona level this season. Last summer, the numbers still fell considerably (-27%) behind.
– Now it already looks good. We’ve had a lot of big match events, which elevates the entire series as a whole. Even last summer, there were games where the audience was really small. Now they are gone, says the CEO Timo Marjamaa.
He admits that the viewing figures for the 2022 season were disappointing.
It is said that a dark cloud usually has some kind of golden rim.
In domestic football, the corona crisis caused the league clubs to start developing and improving their operating methods in the face of a common crisis. It also brought a lot of things to do together between the clubs, Marjamaa is happy.
SJK has taken families into account in particular
SJK, which was at the top of the Veikkausliiga all season, now has even better viewership than in the 2019 season.
Raimo Sarajärvi, the chairman of the board of the club, believes that the good viewership numbers of the current season can be explained not only by the team’s success, but also by long-term work. The jannukatsomo, which has also spread to other Veikkausliiga locations, has been operating in Seinäjoki for the third year already.
– It has brought families to the stands and continuity for going to matches.
Even baseball has tightened to normal numbers
The same pattern as in football repeats itself in Men’s Super Pes: last season the handbrake was still on, but this summer we are already at the pre-corona level.
The biggest losers were Maila of Kankaanpää (-56%), Athletes of Koskenkorva (-45%) Athletes of Pattijoki (-35%), JymyJussi of Seinäjoki (-28%) and Ballonlöjät of Kouvola (-18%). On the other hand, in Sotkamo, Hyvinkää and Kitee there were even more audiences last year than in 2019.
The baseball association’s top sports director Miika Rantatorikan according to, the differences can be explained at least by how the clubs use their own work to get activated people to the stands. The task of the baseball association is to contribute to creating a national boost around the sport.
Game success and field conditions also matter.
– There must be good services and an entertaining match so that people have a good feeling about the event. We are competing for people’s free time, and we have to have a good product, even if the game is the focus.
Getting spectators to the games requires a lot of work these days, says the vice-president of Koskenkorva Sportsmen Aki Kuusisto. Even at Koskenkorva, the number of spectators has increased somewhat since last summer, but it is not possible to permanently stay at the level of more than 700 spectators.
– If the viewership numbers do not increase from the current level, it will also be reflected in the companies’ interest in buying visibility in match events. If the crowd doesn’t find their way to the stands better than now, it threatens Koskenkorva’s playing at the main league level as well.
Tampere’s new arena put the Liiga on the plus side
The conditions also play a big role in the audience average of the bowling series.
An example of this is the completion of Tampere’s new arena. It increased the average of Ilves and Tappara in the ice hockey league by thousands of viewers. Without this, hockey in the main league would have remained below the average before the corona.
– Modern arenas are a prerequisite for the development of the sport and the number of spectators, because we are competing for free time. People expect a lot from venues. Many people come to the games for the experience, says the chairman of Liiga Oy’s board Heikki Hiltunen.
The challenge of ice hockey, like other ball sports, is fierce competition. A huge digital offer attracts the consumer. According to Hiltunen, this challenges both the clubs and the entire league organization.
– However, it is more of an opportunity for us than a threat. The competition puts the clubs back against the wall to think about how to get more audiences, and to come up with new ways to get people to the hall. It is good for the league clubs to cooperate here.
In basketball, there are two layers of people
The basketball league’s audience average was 851 in the regular season last season, in the 2018–19 season it was 872. So basketball has returned to the pre-corona level.
The number is increased by Karhubasket’s new home hall, which has brought considerably more spectators to Kauhajoki: the bigger home arena almost doubled the number of spectators in the regular season games.
– You have to be able to offer people more than just a cup of coffee and a game. In addition, we have the best fans in Finland, and that is a big asset for the club in matches, says the executive director Mika Rinne.
At the same time, many teams were still lagging behind their pre-corona numbers. Kouvot (-45%), Tampereen Pyrintö (-32%) and Salon Vilpas (-24%) have lost the most audience.
– After all, some teams’ audience numbers increase and others decrease. This is one of the changing factors in sports. In the case of these localities, there is not only one reason for the decrease, reflects the competition director of Korisliiga Tom Westerholm.
The audience average of the entire series can also decrease if a team that drew a lot of viewers leaves the series, and the replacement doesn’t manage to attract the audience in the same way.
In the Men’s Basketball League, this may happen next season, when Honga was replaced by Bisons, who attracted 900 spectators to their games. You can’t reach that average with Loima, says Westerholm.
Floorball lost viewers
In Floorball’s F-league last season, the number of spectators was still significantly lower than before the corona. One in four spectators did not return to the stands, and the regular season audience average dropped to 475.
Seinäjoki Peliveljet gathered the most people in the stands. Its matches were attended by just under 800 spectators.
CEO of the F-League Kimmo Nurminen according to the floor bandy audience, traditionally, they start moving when important matches are played. Last season, the regular season switched to a triple regular season and the games increased. That can partly explain the average below 500.
– However, I wouldn’t be worried because the trend as the season progressed was favorable. Especially in the playoffs, the audience happily found their way to the stands. There were more than 5,000 spectators in the decisive final of the Men’s F-League at the Hakametsä Ice Hall in Tampere.
Nurminen is confident that the F-League will return to at least pre-corona viewer numbers in the starting season, i.e. more than 600 viewers per game.
Volleyball for the new season from a long way back
Like floor bandy, last season in the volleyball Championship League was below freezing in terms of audience numbers. Compared to the 2018–19 season, only Akaa-Volley and Vantaa Ducks’ average increased.
The biggest losers were Perunga Pojat (-34%), Savo Volley (-33%) and Kokkola Tiikerit (-31%).
There are several reasons for the lack of audience, says the Tiikereite chairman Sami Hänninen.
– People think more carefully about where they put their money. The behavior of consumers may also have changed when, during the corona, games were played to empty stands and people got used to watching games from home via a streaming service.
The match event also affects the interest of younger spectators and families with children.
– As a club, we must be able to offer the kind of service that people want to come to. People have little free time, and the competition for it is fierce among operators. You have to be able to meet this challenge, says Hänninen.
In Kokkola, the development of the conditions will be idle until the 75 million euro sports park project is realized. Construction of the new hybrid arena is scheduled to begin in the fall.
Until then, Tiikerit plays in Hollihaa in the school’s gymnasium.
– The framework of the match event has been adjusted to its peak as it can be adjusted under these conditions, says Sami Hänninen.