Most Hashtagged Sporting Arenas

Players come and go, but sports stadiums and arenas are there to last. The headlines may be hogged by today’s modern athletes, but where would they be without their platform to showcase their ability? Ticket-Compare.com is shining a light on the most celebrated sports stadiums in the UK in the digital age by revealing those which are most talked about on on social media. We have reviewed over 100 stadiums and arenas from all major competitive professional sports including football, cricket, rugby, and athletics to produce an accurate analysis of the top performers according to how many hashtags they have received by real users on Instagram. The results proved that stadium capacity and media buzz surroundings popular sports teams isn’t always on par with social engagement from the fanbase. We uncovered some interesting data from behind the scenes, which includes:

Old Trafford (1) has received over 400,000 hashtags, making it the most talked about sports stadium of all time, ahead of Anfield (2), Stamford Bridge (3) and The Emirates Stadium (6).
Chelsea FC stadium – Stamford Bridge has been tagged approximately twice the amount of arch rival Arsenal stadium, The Emirates – with the gap being close to 100,000 users hashtags.
There’s a huge contrast in the derby’s: Manchester United’s ground is six times more popular on social media that neighbouring stadium The Etihad; Arsenal’s hashtags are double that of nemesis Tottenham’s stadium.

On to the results in full Table one illustrates the overall rankings for sports stadiums by the number of hashtags received, placing the top 20 as of January 2017.

Most Hashtagged Sports Stadiums in UK

[table id=6 /] Old Trafford, the third biggest stadium in the UK, has the most social mentions on Instagram with a total of 424,767; that’s double the amount of tags for Stamford Bridge (221,372) and triple the number of tags allocated to St James’ Park (144,988) and quadruple the total of The Emirates (111.309), despite the huge social media push the Arsenal team have focused on in recent years. Lagging behind is White Hart Lane, with almost ten times fewer hashtags than The Red Devils (48,020) – it seems the Gunners have pipped their rivals in the standings yet again! Outside of football, it comes as no shock that Wembley Stadium is leading the charge with the most social hashtags with 144,292; the 90,000 capacity building is considered the flagship arena for sports and entertainment after all. Closely following is The Olympic Stadium (93,507), possibly owing to the hosting of the Olympic Games. The question is: will engagement rates remain high now that the West Ham football club has claimed ownership? Centre Court, always a favourite with patriotic Brits, has a mere 15,000 capacity but has racked up 29,846 social tags, quite a feat for tennis’s iconic landmark.

Most Hashtagged Football Stadiums in UK

[table id=7 /] It’s been a while since Newcastle fans had something to cheer about, yet spirits must be high at St James’ for the social media hashtags are coming thick and fast; the UK’s eleventh largest stadium is in fourth place with 144,988 tags, behind the stadiums of usual suspects Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea. Interestingly, the battle of Scotland’s stadiums goes to Celtic Park (19,123) which has amassed almost double the number of hashtags of Scotland’s national arena, Hampden Park (11,622); Rangers are nowhere to be seen on the list!

Most Hashtagged London Sports Stadiums

[table id=10 /] A culmination of major sporting events is helping arenas Wembley and Olympic Stadiums dominate amongst top flight football complexes in London. Although size doesn’t count for everything, as Stamford Bridge is still way ahead with 221,372 hashtags, double the amount of the closest competitor. Honorary mentions go out to The Oval (16,518) and Twickenham (13,543) for keeping up with the mainstream attractions.

Most Hashtagged Non-London Sports Stadiums

[table id=9 /] The top performing stadiums for hashtags are dominated by the north of England, Manchester’s Old Trafford, Liverpool's Anfield and City’s Etihad all feature. Birmingham is represented by Aston Villa (34,301). Elsewhere, hashtags for stadiums in all major built up areas are generally equal; Glasgow features as Scotland’s number one area, whereas Swansea’s Liberty Stadium (7912) has the majority of social tags within Wales. All data was researched independently by Ticket-Compare.com in January 2017.