Time to lay a new pitch with better drainage?
Is 16,000 a normal gate at Ewood Park? Seems low for a Championship match
Nearly 10,000 more than that down the road at the Toughsheet for BWFC v Wigan (a League One game).
Unusually, I'm season ticket holder, I wasn't at the game as I'm in London for a few days. Friends who went tell me this was the sort of torrential downpour which simply doesn't drain quickly due to the sheer volume of water. There was a lot of local flooding. From what I gather today's rain was exceptional.
No, there is no need for a new pitch or improved drainage. The issue with drainage at Ewood is the ground drains into the River Darwen immediately behind the stadium. If the river floods above a certain level it rises above the outflow from the pitch drainage system meaning the pitch system struggles to cope. Obviously I don't know the river level today.
Attendance? The population of Blackburn is +/- 115,000, the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen is 162,000. Yes, I know folk travel from further afield, the point is the local catchment area is small. With the exception of Wrexham and PNE all the Championship clubs are based in major conurbations or cities. PNE with a population of 155,000 have an average attendance of around 16,000. Wrexham average 12,800.
There are issues surrounding the club ownership that impact attendances but even so average attendance is about on par with clubs from similar catchment areas.