With all the attendance talk here recently I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at this. I'm going to try to make this post as free of bias or talk about the product as I can (there will be plenty of that in the comments I'm sure)
I'm no expert, but I thought it'd be easy enough to grab some basic attendance figures from Cagematch and do some light math.
This includes every show from the first night of Road to Dontaku to the show itself, including Satsuma no Kuni from both years and the Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary show from 2023, which happened during this tour.
It's worth noting the two tours are slightly different with 23 having the Goto show and this year's Dontaku being a two night event, and they ran a slightly different set of venues each year as well. I'm no expert when it comes to Japanese markets so if anyone has additional information to add regarding the markets they ran this time vs last year, feel free to comment.
2023
| Show | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|
| Road to Dontaku 1 | Nara | 712 |
| Road to Dontaku 2 | Kobe, Hyogo | 1,251 |
| Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary | Tsu, Mie | 1,753 |
| Road to Dontaku 3 | Osaka | 881 |
| Road to Dontaku 4 | Kochi | 663 |
| Road to Dontaku 5 | Yawatahama, Ehime | 504 |
| Road to Dontaku 6 | Hiroshima | 1,614 |
| Satsuma no Kuni | Kagoshima | 2,120 |
| Road to Dontaku 7 | Mashiki, Kumamoto | 1,655 |
| Road to Dontaku 8 | Beppu, Oita | 1,006 |
| Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka | 4,489 |
| TOTAL | x | 16,708 |
| AVERAGE PER SHOW | x | 1,519 |
2024
| Show | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|
| Road to Dontaku 1 | Machida, Tokyo | 1,267 |
| Road to Dontaku 2 | Chino, Nagano | 738 |
| Road to Dontaku 3 | Tokyo | 811 |
| Road to Dontaku 4 | Tokyo | 887 |
| Road to Dontaku 5 | Fukui | 632 |
| Road to Dontaku 6 | Osaka | 751 |
| Road to Dontaku 7 | Hiroshima | 2,145 |
| Satsuma no Kuni | Kagoshima | 1,780 |
| Road to Dontaku 8 | Mashiki, Kumamoto | 1,035 |
| Road to Dontaku 9 | Oita | 850 |
| Wrestling Dontaku 1 | Fukuoka | 2,440 |
| Wrestling Dontaku 2 | Fukuoka | 4,238 |
| TOTAL | x | 17,574 |
| AVERAGE PER SHOW | x | 1465 |
Conclusion
I'm no statistician but it appears there isn't a significant difference at least purely from a numbers standpoint. The average per show is slightly down by about 3.55%, and the total attendance is up about 5.18% (with an extra show this year, of course).
Again, if anyone knows more about the markets they ran this year vs last year and expectations in those markets, feel free to chime in!
by randomrule
