Just posted this in the other thread but will add it here as well. Comparison for this season vs last season so far:

Had a quick look at the attendances this season vs the same opponents last season and interestingly the net total attendance is +101 people this season compared to last. Obviously these aren't always going to be direct comparisons as the games will generally be at completely different times of the year. You also have some that were Saturday games vs some that are Tuesday night ones, etc:

Some tough comparisons here as Eastleigh was a boxing day game last year but in August this year so I would expect a big drop there. York and Maidenhead were both in August as well this season so school holidays likely to play a part in the drop in those.

On the flip side, it is probably unfair to compare the Kidderminster games as that was an FA Trophy game last season so not really comparable. If you remove that then it ends up being a ~500 drop this season so far.

The Aldershot game is the only direct comparison so far as it was the same date in both seasons. The Oldham and Altrincham games later in the season will also be direct comparisons with last year.

As others have said, by this point last season we had Chesterfield, Wrexham and Notts County all visit and all took big 900+ away followings. It will be interesting to see how the Chesterfield crowd compares with last season when they visit next year. I also doubt Woking will bring 1,350 away fans next month like they did back in April.

Really difficult with comparisons as you rightly say. Aldershot took a couple of hundred more than last season, so that kind of accounts for the difference - but it's actually a really good comparison (similar time of year too) - so maybe we are looking at broadly similar numbers.

Form definitely plays a big part - and it's been very up and down this season, especially at home.

My guess is it's a natural plateau given the level and form of the team, and if we hit a winning streak we'll see an increase. 

As far as how high can crowds go, that's a really interesting one. I do recall as part of the investor pack there were projections made by the club over the next few years, and without going into the detail a gradual increase is forecast.

If we look at catchment, I do actually think it's pretty decent, especially given the proximity to Guildford and despite Dorking's small population. I'd say we could hit around 3-4,000 in the EFL, something like that? 

I actually live 20-25 mins to either Woking, Aldershot or Dorking, and spent 15-20 years following the Shots on and off when I moved down this way, before my son convinced me to choose DWFC as he was totally won over by the special feel at the club (which is, I believe, along with Marc White, our USP). Woking never appealed, for some reason.

It would be interesting to know what % of our fanbase are from Dorking itself, and whether the club intends to build on this by widening the net, so to speak...as a starting point - who else on this message board is from Dorking, and who from the wider area (or even further)?

I think that that USP is what will get fans along - more so than the food/drink/facilities etc - once people come, they tend to like what they see.

Regarding away support, this might become more of an issue as more fans return following a visit with the new shallow terrace. Many Shots fans have said they will not return - and no doubt some Woking may say the same. 

IIRC last season Chesterfield brought 750 and Notts County brought 505 fans.

In terms of our catchment we do get a many come from Reigate, also the towns in the north of Mole Valley (Bookham, Fetcham, Leatherhead).

Club is doing lots of little bits in terms of offers, I hope that it isn't just preaching to the converted though (ie people who are already twitter or facebook followers). The new club website should be a one stop shop for all the new offers and news - it has a really good 'new look'. I did like it though when a (very) old version of the website had a twitter feed on the front page, so people who aren't "on" twitter still see the latest updates.

The ground itself feels very 'lop-sided' to me - with zero 'facilities' to the North and west sides of the pitch. No doubt the club have big ideas once they have bought the freehold, I think some sort of mobile catering (such as the Horsham FC 'horsebox') would work well, just so people can buy a cup of tea or some sweets for their kids without a long walk.

@dorking-eagle The ground is probably the biggest opportunity to increase attendance going forward. The view isn't great in most areas and a lot of people I have spoken to are put off by the idea of paying £18 for flat standing. As you said, the North and West sides are very lacking for this level in both facilities and view. Marc mentioned before the season started that they were looking at improving the away end a bit as the new terrace is a bit too shallow. The new away end roof will also help a bit when that arrives.

As someone who stands on the North side by the dugouts, i'd really like to see, at a minimum, some terraced standing there. I actually think you could probably fit another one of the seated stands (like the seated family stand behind the east goal) either side of the dugouts. Either way, having some sort of covering for that North side would really help attendances I reckon; I wonder how many people were put off this weekend due to the threat of rain?

On a side note, I would really like to see them stop people standing behind the east goal in front of the "Bank" stand. It makes it really difficult to see anything going on in that close goal...

I believe that the reason there is pitchside standing at both ends (and it's not 'yellow hatched' out) is because without those areas included as spectator space, the calculated capacity wouldn't meet the required 4000.

It must be particularly annoying at The Bank end (for those standing on the steps of The Bank) because you can't see the goal line at all!

In theory though the club could have a no standing along the front (at each end) rule, all the time there isn't 3500+ in the ground (which is almost always). But I think to do that you need to provide more tiered standing or more seats, as smaller kids want to be able to see (and taking away spaces along the front would affect them the most)

Tricky one for the club.

@calvertskans Yes I agree with the points you make on the view. Especially the bit about standing along the fence at the front of the Bank. It's also an issue with the pitch/touchline/goal line being so close to the spectator area - if it was say a couple of yards further away, problem solved. And to achieve the current capacity we probably have to allow the standing along all pitch sides?

Problem, is, as ever, one of funds.

One thing I personally don't see as a priority is the roof at the away end - do we really want to amplify the noise away fans make? Bad enough they are so close to the pitch. I'd say trying to sort the sightlines down there would be a bigger priority, as that's what the away fans feedback seems to be - although I have no idea how that could be done. 

I understand that there are a lot of plans/ideas in the pipeline though, once we own the freehold to the ground.

@adeb Yeah I am worried about the away fans noise once the roof is complete. However, anyone who was at Oldham at home last season will remember how torrential that rain was and if we got unlucky and had that weather over the whole Winter then you would very quickly see away (and home) attendances plummet I reckon.

Hopefully once some attidional capacity is added elsewhere (hopefully in the form of some tiered standing or seating on that North side) then they can remove the standing behind that Bank goal.

I think there are a few grounds in our league that we could take some inspiration from - Boreham Wood feels like one of that stand out ones. They manage to fit a pretty decent seated stand almost the whole way down one side of the pitch in quite a shallow space. Bromley, Ebbsfleet, Fylde are others that could work with the space we have as well.

In terms of off the pitch improvements to the ground once we own it, it would be nice to see a bit more "decoration" go up. The fence behind the West and North sides could do with jazzing up a bit! Maybe some red and white around the place?

I will say that the new Bank bar fan zone area is a real improvement and great to see! Would be nice to see another food hut of some sort - maybe in the North West corner?

@CalvertSkans I’m not worried about the away end noise - no one is going to outsing the Bank! 
A roof will add to the atmosphere and attract more fans perhaps too.  

The new fanzone is great and I hope will try to get in different pop up food outlets during the season.  For certain games the catering offer for away fans could be improved too. 

I like the idea of a small stand on the North side too, like we had for the play offs. If that can help move the standing fans behind the goal so much the better. I have only seen Luke Moore’s goal cross the line on TV! 

I suspect attendances will pick up a bit with a winning run but it will take time to grow the baseline level substantially. All the offers to the schools are really worthwhile - that’s where the long term growth is after all. 

This is the stand I sat in at Boreham Wood last season (see attachment link below)

It is incredibly steep so gives excellent views - I think each seating row has an extra step so everyone has good height over the fans in front of them

It isn't particularly deep so something similar might even fit on the dugouts (North) side at Meadowbank

Goodness knows how the club will afford all our good ideas though, in reality the dressing rooms / Lounge block is seriously in the way of where a bigger Main Stand could be!

@dorking-eagle Yeah, that was the Boreham Wood stand I was referring to. I suppose ultimately it isn't that different to the Family Stand behind the east goal at Meadowbank in terms of depth (maybe slightly less rows of seats). I reckon you could put one of those either side of the dugouts on the North side.

@calvertskans Great stand, but make it terraced and it would be a dream. Love a good side terrace... 😉

So developing the grounds seems to be a way to help grow attendance, a "If you build it, they will come" idea. As a fan from a long ways away, I keep thinking about National League TV, and have been really curious if there has been any impact to attendance, which seems to be a main point in terms of revenue. Also, what does it actual bring in to the club? The tangible is the actual income. The intangible is the fans like me that pay for a season subscription because if I am lucky I might make 1 or 2 games. Yet, would a wider audience with sales of shirts (I have bought one a season for the past two seasons), and things like that help with income? I know this is an attendance discussion, but I thought I would broaden it a little, even though I think the streaming service is something to consider. 

National League TV certainly helps fans when their club is away a long distance away midweek

Sometimes I see people discussing a game though and they mention that they were watching it on National League TV (sometimes home games) and knowing the person I sometimes think that if NLTV wasn't an option they would have gone to the game

Obv if they were at the game they would have spent a bit more on the ticket than the NLTV stream, maybe bought a bit of food and drink or a programme etc

The genie is out of the bottle now whatever.

NLTV is an interesting part of it that I hadn't really considered. I assumed that NLTV would impact our away attendances rather than home ones as you would have people who don't fancy a midweek trip to Southend, Oxford, etc. Considering 90%+ of our home games are Sat 3pm which can't be streamed on NLTV in the UK (unless you use a VPN), I wouldn't have thought it would have that much impact on those games. Maybe a slight impact on Tuesday night games though.

I can't remember the exact revenue split that the NL outlined when NLTV launched but I am pretty sure that every club gets a percentage of every subscription. I also believe your specified "followed club" gets a bigger percentage of each subscription. So even with the slight reduction to match day spending, I would assume there is a slight net gain to the club due to the revenue share breakdown. I could also be completely wrong! 🤣 

I also wonder how much the BT Sport/TNTSports coverage impacts attendance. Would we have had more or less than 1,852 fans for the Barnet game if it had been at 3pm and not on TV for example? Will our away following at Fylde take a hit in a couple of weeks due to it being on TV (stupid 12:00 KO won't help with this)?