Study shows effect England's World Cup run had on attendances

The impact on racecourse attendance from England's progress in last year's World Cup, which was advanced as one explanation for the fall in average figures for 2018, has been confirmed in a wide-ranging study by academics at the University of Liverpool.

Updating a body of work taking attendance figures from 2001, which was first revealed at the Horseracing Industry Conference a year ago, Professor David Forrest told delegates on Tuesday: "England playing in the World Cup or the Euros is a disaster for racecourse attendance."

The scale of the disaster in 2018 was revealed to be a 20 per cent fall in attendance for the Flat when England were playing within a one-hour window of racing taking place, and a 35 per cent drop for an all-weather meeting.

"And that's not just for 2018," Forrest added. "It's a pattern throughout the data period."

Bad weather was a more frequent contributor to falls in attendance. Taking all other aspects as being equal, a day with 10mm of rain depressed crowds at a Flat fixture by eight per cent, while if 25mm fell, the average figure declined by 12.5 per cent.

Bad weather at times meant at downturn in crowd numbers by over 12 per centCredit: Edward Whitaker

"There's a lesson here for the sport," said Forrest, "because it's a reason to push advanced ticket sales, so that racegoers pre-commit."

However, he had good news for jumps courses, noting: "National Hunt racing attendances are far less responsive to rain, and its followers appear to be hardier than those on the Flat."

The study also looked into the frequency of racing at a particular course, which showed that every extra day of distance between meetings increased attendance.

This was especially important for all-weather tracks, which boosted crowds by four per cent when there was a seven-day gap between fixtures, Forrest said.

With more fixtures scheduled, he added: "This could be a factor why the average all-weather crowd fell below 1,000 in 2018."

Get ahead of the game with Get Your Eye In - exclusive Saturday preview content on racingpost.com and the Racing Post mobile app from 2pm on Friday