Top flight of Italian football looking to attract the fans back.
Serie A clubs have enjoyed a significant increase in season ticket sales from last summer, with the likes of Fiorentina and AC Milan leading the way.
It has been a problem area for a number of years in Italy, with clubs regularly failing to sell-out their stadiums for domestic games as well as those in Europe.
While the numbers are by no means embarrassing in terms of actual attendances, the main issue lies in the fact that little or no improvements have been made to the stadiums since the World Cup in 1990.
With stadia in a bad state, it has led to families refusing to travel to games as they opt to watch the game live at home instead with the TV rights in Italy ensuring that every Serie A games is shown live.
Furthermore, the presence of “ultra” groups has further impeded the clubs attempts to create a friendly atmosphere in and around the stadium, thus leading to low ticket sales.
However, it would appear that there are shoots of victory emerging as the likes of Fiorentina and Milan helped to increase numbers by 28,000 from last summer.
The Viola have accounted for almost 10,000 of those, with their impressive performances last season being backed up by a summer transfer market that saw the likes of Josip Ilicic and Mario Gomez arrive in Florence.
The Rossoneri have continued to show faith in youth which in turn has led to exciting talents such as Stephan El Shaarawy and Mattia De Sciglio establishing themselves as first-team regulars.
However, the numbers have also increased at some of the provincial clubs too which will come as a timely boost for the league ahead of what promises to be an incredibly competitive season.
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