Grosses and Attendance for '05-'06 Bway Season Set Records

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. has released its end of year statistics for the 2005-2006 Broadway season, which began May 30, 2005, and ended May 28, 2006. Thirty-nine plays and musicals opened during the 2005-06 season:

• For this 52-week period, paid attendance to Broadway was 12,003,148 million, up 4.1% from last season (11,527,349). This is the first time that Broadway attendance has crossed the 12 million mark.

• The percentage of seats filled for the season was at an all-time high of 81.6%.

• The number of playing weeks--the sum total of all shows multiplied by the number of weeks each show played and considered one of the best indicators of activity in a given Broadway season--which was the third highest on record. The 2005-06 season totaled 1501 playing weeks, up from 1494 in 2004-05.

• Grosses increased 12% from $768.5 million to $861.6 million – a new record.

A main contributor to these increases was strong attendance by tourists. Domestic tourists accounted for more than 5 million tickets and international visitors, more than 1.3 million (estimated).

"This season was marked by tremendous new musicals and plays, offering audiences a diversity of shows from which to choose," commented Jed Bernstein, President of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. "Although the strong business results continue to underline Broadway's revenue stakes in New York, increasing cost pressures have resulted in no increase in the number of shows making a profit. Broadway is still a high risk investment."

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., founded in 1930 and operating under the trademark "Live Broadway," is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League's 500-plus members include theater owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 140 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theater industry.

Broadway industry programs initiated by the League include Kids' Night on Broadway, Broadway On Broadway, an annual outdoor concert in Times Square, The Broadway Line, a national toll-free Broadway information hotline (888-BROADWAY), Broadway Ticket Center, LiveBroadway.com, and IloveNYTheater.com, a multi-lingual Broadway website, and IBDB.com (Internet Broadway Database).

Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 25 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada, contributing $4.8 billion to the New York economy and billions more to the national economy.