Rugby crowds have more than doubled since the post-Covid resumption, with the average attendance from the opening two rounds of the new Super Rugby Aotearoa competition sitting at more than 26,000, according to Stuff.
Round one of Super Rugby Aotearoa saw 19,100 fans pack into Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium to watch the Highlanders host the Chiefs, and a sell out (42,000) to watch the Blues against the Hurricanes a day later.
Hamilton and Wellington also saw strong crowd turnouts last weekend, with over 20,000 in attendance at both FMG Stadium and Sky Stadium for round two.
Figures supplied show that a total of 105,323 tickets were sold for the opening four matches, an average attendance of 26,330 per match.
A New Zealand Rugby statement says that the average attendance of Super Rugby Aotearoa compared to the opening seven rounds of the 2020 Super Rugby season had increased by 105 per cent.
To put those numbers into perspective, those same figures saw an average of 11,538 in attendance across the 39 regular season matches played in New Zealand during 2019.
Kiwi crowds have another chance to turn out in droves this weekend, with the Blues' clash with the Highlanders on Saturday night already having sold 21,000 tickets, according to Stuff.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders' home match against the Chiefs has already sold 11,000 tickets - well over half of Christchurch's Orangetheory Stadium's capacity of 17,400.
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