As cricket attendances are rarely published, so with the absense of hard facts, its hard to be precise about things, but I suspect the longer format of the game is more popular than ever.
Lets start with test cricket. A game from a by gone age, to be replaced by the all conquering T20 stuff. Well is it? The channel ESPN classics (sky 442) has been reshowing the BBC highlights from the 1981 Bothams Ashes Headingly test, the ground is virtually empty! Well may be not empty but nothing compared to the packed houses watching every day this summmer.
Ah one day cricket, way to go!! Check out Lords last Saturday for the self styled FA Cup of Cricket - banks of empty seats in both the Mount and Grand stands. Go watch highlights of any 1970's B&H or Gillitte Cup finals and you'll see packed houses! The one day league is so unpopular is been dropped and the 2nd 20/20 competition abandond without a ball bowled.
T20 - check out Wisden who publish game by game crowds and you'll see figures comparable with League 2 (thats the 4th Division in old money) football crowds.
I suspect County Championship crowds are similar to 20 years ago.
Just what does the 2009 cricket watcher want? Discuss?
A few studies and articles that might interest you, Sid.
Attendance at County Cricket: An Economic Analysis Link
Cricket's final Over Link
Record County Cricket Attendance in 2008 Link
County cricket rising (2002) Link
Taa Alex .. but the 2008 figures are suspect ... Glamorgan decided that as members had paid to attend every day they would be included in their attendance figures.
One disapointment is that Yorks have stopped including attendances in the year end report ... I do wonder why
Its not how many people are watching the game that matters, but how much they have paid to watch the game so if you are going to employ some bean-counters in the YCCC back offices then they are better employed to add up cash than number of heads.
1981 was a funny Test from memory. I suspect most people did not bother to go on the last 2 days for fear of an early victory for the Aussies and therefore not getting a full days play.
It also depends on the type of cricket being played corresponding to the type of person attending.
For example,on Monday evening Sky broadcast the Kent -v- Durham Twenty20 Semi Final from Canterbury and the presenters frequently mentioned the sellout crowd (8,000 I think).However at the conclusion of the game Will Smith the Durham captain went up to be interviewed and was greeted by booing.Mention was made on several occasions that whilst Durham were fielding those near the boundary were receiving abuse.
The day that proper cricket such as 4 day Championship games attract morons like this will be the day I lose my lifelong love of the game.
As members now have to squeeze through turnsytles to enter the ground I'm sure the club has the numbrs of members & non-members who've attended. At Scarborough they actually let the 'first rush' in at the Trafalgar Square end .... then spend ages rotation the turnstyle to show the correct numbers.
The attendance for each game was shown in the 'membership bumf' for a number of years ... but has now disappeared
With the new "swipe" membership cards it would be very easy to work out exactly how many members attended which days - and you could do a very easy break down of value for money - how many days of cricket were watched by each "class" of membership. I'm sure the club have all of this information and use it when concocting their various "options" for next year. Theatres do the same - analysing ticket sales to see if there's any cross-over between different audiences - do ballet lovers ever attend Christmas shows - that sort of thing.
I'm sure YCCC have some interesting statisticss, but it probably wouldn't be commercially prudent to share it. They must be agonising over next year's subscription rates - a recession, less cricket to watch, no Ashes Test, and possibly the second division..
Not an ideal time to increase subscriptions - even if you have got a new pavillion to fit out.