Sunderland AFC's average attendance at Stadium of Light compared to last season, it is better so far | OneFootball

Sunderland has one of the biggest domestic stadiums in the country, and data shows attendance this season is so far up on previous seasons.

Sunderland will be hoping the extra support at the Stadium of Light recently will help them maintain their flying start to the season.

After an underwhelming 2023/24 campaign, which saw them finish 16th, the Black Cats have been the early pacesetters in the Championship this season. Although three draws in a row now means only goal difference separates them and Sheffield United at the table's summit, the Wearside club haven't lost in their last eight games.

A local team performing well usually sees a spike in attendance at their games, so Football League World has crunched the numbers to see whether an increased average home attendance is paying dividends for Sunderland on the pitch.

Stadium of Light tops the capacity rankings

It isn't just the Championship table which the Black Cats currently sit pretty at the top of. The Stadium of Light leads the way as the division's biggest stadium, with a capacity of 49,000. It is the only stadium in the division with a capacity larger than 40,000, and has almost 10,000 more seats than the next ground on the list - Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium (39,732).

The Monkwearmouth ground stood head and shoulders above the rest in the four seasons the Black Cats spent in League One. According to Transfermarkt, the Stadium of Light had almost ten times the capacity of the smallest stadium they travelled to in their promotion-winning 2021/22 campaign (Accrington Stanley's Wham Stadium - 5,450).

The Stadium of Light is the ninth-largest football stadium in England and the largest outside the Premier League.

Sunderland fans are backing the side

Transfermarkt is reporting an average attendance of 41,115 at the Stadium of Light so far this season. Although Sunderland have only hosted seven of their 23 league games, this is their biggest reported average attendance since fans returned to football stadiums for the 2021/22 season.

Although the Black Cats' average attendance jumped following a return to the Championship (and subsequent run to the play-offs) in the 2022/23 season (38,585), it dropped slightly because of their mid-table finish last year (36,207).

However, Sunderland's fast start to the 2024/25 campaign has seen the highest average attendance recorded since their last season in the Premier League (2016/17), which recorded an average of 41,287 fans per match across the season.

Transfermarkt further says they have the Championship's highest average attendance so far this season, with almost 5,000 more fans per match than the next ground, Leeds United's Elland Road.

Home is where the heart is for Sunderland

Sunderland have an excellent record at the Stadium of Light this season. They have taken points from all seven of their home games so far, with five wins and two draws. They have a +10 goal difference (14 scored to four conceded) and average 2.43 points per game, according to FootyStats data.

By contrast, their eight away games have seen them emerge victorious four times, with two draws and two losses. Their goal difference sits at +4 (11 scored to seven conceded) and they average 1.75 points per game. It's therefore clear the bumper attendances are helping the Black Cats players perform on the pitch, alongside giving their fans the league's bragging rights.

Sunderland will be hoping that their excellent start to the season at home will keep enticing fans through the Stadium of Light's turnstiles. The fact that, despite averaging the biggest attendance per match so far in this season's Championship, they are still 8,000 spectators short of being at capacity gives them an even greater chance to seize on the opportunity of home advantage if they maintain this start.

Although every football fan knows 'it's not how you start, but how you finish', Black Cats fans will be optimistic that strength in numbers will be the key to willing their boys back to the Premier League for what would be their first appearance there in eight years next season.