GdS: The San Siro paradox – Milan continue to draw more fans than Inter | OneFootball

AC Milan will take on Como in front of around 74,000 fans at San Siro tonight, continuing to build their advantage over Inter in terms of attendance.

La Gazzetta dello Sport speak of the ‘Meazza paradox’ with Inter sitting top of Serie A but struggling to fill the stadium, compared to Milan who ninth in the table but top for attendances, despite having a fanbase largely angry because of a season that has largely fallen short of expectations.

Since Inter-Como on December 23, the Nerazzurri attendance count has exceeded the threshold of 70,000 only once (3-0 against Monaco). Meanwhile, the game against Como tonight is sold out for Milan, despite a match that is obviously not a top tier and will played in front of a depressed crowd.

Why is this the case? Pricing could explain things. For example, some of the average prices for Inter-Monza were more than €20 higher than those expected for Milan-Como, which were heavily regulated by the Rossoneri.

The second caveat is that the actual presence of season ticket holders cannot be quantified precisely: it is reasonable to think that not all the fans who bought a season ticket have showed up at the turnstiles every week.

Instead, we are talking about reflections based on data that consider the full quota of season ticket holders (around 40,000) in addition to the tickets sold specifically for that game. In short, there might be empty seats visible that have been counted as occupied.

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Net of the accessible pricing and the fact that a Saturday 18:00 kick-off is welcome for fans, there still remains the ‘oddity’ of the Como match being sold out. Evidently, there is a section of the fan base who still want to be consistent in sitting in their seats until the end of the season, regardless of the results.

Then there is a ‘sociological’ explanation. Como – even if we are still in the early stages proportions – have now channeled themselves into the wake of Milan in terms of media and global exposure. Investments, foreign ownership, the unique charm of the lake and the characters who frequent those areas.

For many people it is likely that Milan-Como is something bigger than the 90 minutes of the match. Almost a glamorous event, where perhaps you can glimpse some famous character (35% of paying non-season ticket holders will be foreigners: a figure that tells a lot).

Meanwhile, the numbers say that this match will allow the Rossoneri to exceed one million spectators in the league. In Serie A Inter have fallen below 70k six times, against four for Milan.