Maybe one day, they will be. It lends itself to it. Who knows why the club are not going straight into safe standing, and why they are doing seats first that can relatively easily change to it. Maybe they think it is too much of a jump and filling it is their first priority and then seeing after that whether there is appetite for safe standing. Maybe they think it is an easier ride through planning, or the build. Agree though, that would be great to see.
I can't imagine it being about money. Not primarily. Just how much extra money can that 8% of new seats really bring in as a blick itself, what maybe an exta 5-10% income to the whole? Hardly that noticeable in the grand scheme of things, there will be far more profitable areas of the stand than that, including the hotel suites and vip offerings. I would imagine it is more about making it seem more attractive to a large group of varied fans they can sell it to, or help decide to relocate there. Maybe there is a bit of planning apeasement in it too. Again, just my own guesswork.
I can't see it being for any other reason mate. I'm cynical about what the club are trying to do. We saw cheap tickets with SSL3 and it was great. I'm hopeful we see benefits in reduced prices for loyal fans, and the GA+ being for loyal fans willing to pay a little bit more for great seats. Then the skybar suites getting flogged.
We need to increase matchday revenues. Hopefully the additional seats and wider offering do that, and we see some incentives financially to get this off the ground.
But I'm cynical because we see a CL QF game full of away fans and tourists despite having specific sales criterion. And away games are the same now, tourists getting tickets. I don't believe blues are selling tickets on. I believe the club are selling groups of tickets to tout sites to make more money.
And I'm worried the GA+ is a touted section where it's full of neutral/away fans for Real Madrid in the CL QFs and then empty for Burnley at home.
There are a few critical things to address.
Ultimately our revenue from matchdays is £72m. The rags are £110m, Spurs £115m and Barca £160m. Per fan it's £42 vs £43.60 for Rags, £78 for Spurs/Barca.
There's not much more we can do to the hardcore fanbase. There's a London premium. More seats helps. Flogging the hospitality also does. But the club have probably identified the fact that they can make more touting tickets than getting people to buy cityzen membership and selling properly.
It's front and centre of the new stand and an ideal place to maximise revenues. We're seeing so many random tourists/away fans in the home end for games that have strict criterion for tickets. So the club are selling to tout sites. I'm sure 650 people per game would pay big money for seats together in the "home end" in a great location via a ticket tout website. And that's why people are concerned. Because then you'll get empty seats there for Burnley at home, and a bunch of away fans for the big games undoubtedly. The club really aren't helping themselves and it's why so many people are cynical.
I'm hopeful it's a seasonticket offering for a price slightly above the GA pricing and it's full of proper blues. But when you see away fans in the home end so often, tourists galore at away games and tickets for every City game available on tout sites you have to be sceptical.