Stadium Expansion

[flipmode]

Surely one summer would be feasible, if you paid the resource to do it.

If you had something like 2,000+ builders on it, wouldn't that speed up the process?
I'm not a builder myself so wouldn't really know how the logistics of putting up a new stand would work.

 

[Skashion]

I don't really think it could be said to be a limiting factor. When it starts getting like it was at Maine Road, then yeah. What sort of crowds do you think we could get in the games where we do sellout? I think we could probably get a few more thousand for the derby, Chelsea, Arsenal etc. but there's no real pent-up demand for tickets. If you want to get to a game, you can, as the vast majority of games go to open sale, even the Carling Cup semi-final did as I recall. If our owners want to pre-emptively expand, rather than expand as demand dictates, that's fine by me, it's their money, but right now I don't think it's really necessary and I don't like seeing thousands of empty seats.

The thing is we never sold out Maine road in the final season, with an average attendance of 33,660. Look how far we have come. We are now regulars over the 45k mark and next season i feel demand will be even greater. For this club to move forward and become self sustainable attendance will play a huge part. Who wants to support a club that you struggle to et tickets for?

We never sold out Maine Road? Are you on acid? Honestly, I'm having difficulty recalling when we didn't sell out Maine Road in the Premier League in 2000-1 and 2002-3.

 

[Marvin]

The average League attendance is 45,264 and will be 46k by the end of the season.

Where are the thousands of empty seats that you are talking about? They don't exist.

If we had a capacity of 60k we'd fill it. Development of the club develops the supporter base. Look what happened when we moved to Eastlands, or when Sunderland moved to SOL.

The empty seats I was talking about were hypothetical. IF we expanded there WOULD be thousands of empty seats.

We wouldn't fill 60k. If we could fill 60k then we wouldn't get the big games going on open sale. The reason why our attendances shot up when we moved from Maine Road was because the pent-up demand I mentioned was there. Back then, I could only get tickets for matches like Birmingham and Fulham. Getting to the derby, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, was out of the question.

So we haven't sold out this season then, or set 2 record attendances for the stadium? This week of all weeks the ambition of the club should be obvious to all City fans. How do we grow the supporter base if we are already at the limit?

 

[kp789]

City are averaging over 45k at home, and when you take into account TV, and limited away support it is obvious the stadium size is already a limiting factor.

There's a thread on Derby Tickets already and we haven't won anything yet.

The way the world works there will be 10s of thousands of people who will suddenly consider watching City when a sniff of success comes along. Look at Chelsea. More or less doubled their crowds in 5 years, and they have nowhere near the supporter base that City have

I don't really think it could be said to be a limiting factor. When it starts getting like it was at Maine Road, then yeah. What sort of crowds do you think we could get in the games where we do sellout? I think we could probably get a few more thousand for the derby, Chelsea, Arsenal etc. but there's no real pent-up demand for tickets. If you want to get to a game, you can, as the vast majority of games go to open sale, even the Carling Cup semi-final did as I recall. If our owners want to pre-emptively expand, rather than expand as demand dictates, that's fine by me, it's their money, but right now I don't think it's really necessary and I don't like seeing thousands of empty seats.

Unless the ticket prices become very cheap maybe?<br /><br />-- Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:49 pm --<br /><br />Surely if a stadium expansion did take place then the ticket prices would become very cheap.

 

[Skashion]

The empty seats I was talking about were hypothetical. IF we expanded there WOULD be thousands of empty seats.

We wouldn't fill 60k. If we could fill 60k then we wouldn't get the big games going on open sale. The reason why our attendances shot up when we moved from Maine Road was because the pent-up demand I mentioned was there. Back then, I could only get tickets for matches like Birmingham and Fulham. Getting to the derby, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, was out of the question.

So we haven't sold out this season then, or set 2 record attendances for the stadium? This week of all weeks the ambition of the club should be obvious to all City fans. How do we grow the supporter base if we are already at the limit?

Yes, we've sold out plenty of times this season and set record attendances but that doesn't mean we'd sell out 60k. When we were at Maine Road our attendances jumped by 11k in a season because it was hard to get tickets for every single game. Now, it's easy to get tickets for any game. That's the difference. Our fanbase didn't suddenly just expand by 11k matchgoers in one season. The support was already there. If we expanded by 12k I think our average attendance would go up by maybe 1 or 2k thus leaving thousands of empty seats.

Attendances would certainly go up if prices were dropped but Shirley that's not the intention? Have the rags' prices gone down? The point would be to expand to get more people in at the same prices thus increasing turnover and profit. I know our owners are exceptionally generous but I think even they eventually want the club to be self sufficient. Expanding the stadium and reducing the prices wouldn't achieve that.

 

[Forzacitizens]

whats the likelihood of city reducing the ticket prices? i honestly can't see it, even if we do expand the stadium

 

[kp789]

whats the likelihood of city reducing the ticket prices? i honestly can't see it, even if we do expand the stadium

They would, by how much is a different question. If we were not filling the stadium then they might.

 

[Skashion]

Yes, we've sold out plenty of times this season and set record attendances but that doesn't mean we'd sell out 60k. When we were at Maine Road our attendances jumped by 11k in a season because it was hard to get tickets for every single game. Now, it's easy to get tickets for any game. That's the difference. Our fanbase didn't suddenly just expand by 11k matchgoers in one season. The support was already there. If we expanded by 12k I think our average attendance would go up by maybe 1 or 2k thus leaving thousands of empty seats.

Attendances would certainly go up if prices were dropped but Shirley that's not the intention? Have the rags' prices gone down? The point would be to expand to get more people in at the same prices thus increasing turnover and profit. I know our owners are exceptionally generous but I think even they eventually want the club to be self sufficient. Expanding the stadium and reducing the prices wouldn't achieve that.

lets just condence all this into one simple well known fact

more success .more fans, when we win the league and have millions of people visiting the new development then we will automatically have more followers, therfore why miss the boat with a 48 k capicity stadium, 60k is a MIMIMUM requirement in my opinion.
there are people on here who still not understand the EPIC scale City will be at in the medium to long term,

we are talking Real Madrid huge in the next 10 -15 years

I've never said that we won't need to expand at some point. I just don't want to see thousands of empty seats by expanding too soon. If our owners and my fellow blues are unanimous in wanting to expand now, so be it.

 

[kp789]

lets just condence all this into one simple well known fact

more success .more fans, when we win the league and have millions of people visiting the new development then we will automatically have more followers, therfore why miss the boat with a 48 k capicity stadium, 60k is a MIMIMUM requirement in my opinion.
there are people on here who still not understand the EPIC scale City will be at in the medium to long term,

we are talking Real Madrid huge in the next 10 -15 years

I've never said that we won't need to expand at some point. I just don't want to see thousands of empty seats by expanding too soon. If our owners and my fellow blues are unanimous in wanting to expand now, so be it.

If the stadium was bigger and the price of tickets was cheaper a larger profit can still be made compared to what they are making at the moment on ticket sales.

 

[Skashion]

I've never said that we won't need to expand at some point. I just don't want to see thousands of empty seats by expanding too soon. If our owners and my fellow blues are unanimous in wanting to expand now, so be it.

If the stadium was bigger and the price of tickets was cheaper a larger profit can still be made compared to what they are making at the moment on ticket sales.

Let's not get into the economics of it all because it's all about the ticket price/attendance ratio, and where the profit is greatest. That maybe with an expanded stadium or it may not be. We have no idea. What we know for certain is that higher attendances with the same or higher prices equals higher turnover and profits.

 

[Shooter 83]

Let's not forget we filled the ground week in week out 1st season at CoMS. Plus we had a waiting list. Alot of them fans can not afford it atm, they will be back. Had Rags and Liverpool not had alot of gloryhunters it would be funny to see their attendences.

 

[bluemanc]

historically we have never acheived 40,000 plus 'average' attendances until the move to coms. yes of course we had the odd 80000 plus crowds in the 30's and we had a spell of averaging 40k plus in the 70's but even during our successful spell in the mercer/allison years we only ever really got late 30k crowds.

so, with our (fingers/toes/legs etc crossed) impending success are we to hope for 60,000 crowds? well hopefully but if thats acheived it will be with glory hunters and band wagon jumpers. i'm extremely proud of our 'where were you when you were shit' reputation, i'm proud that the majority of our current support are loyal supporters, not sure i'd be so proud of an additional 20000 glory hunters... do we then not turn into united??

just a thought

we have never acheived 40,000 plus 'average' attendances until the move to coms.

Bad start,that's wrong.

 

[Ricster]

The thing is we never sold out Maine road in the final season, with an average attendance of 33,660. Look how far we have come. We are now regulars over the 45k mark and next season i feel demand will be even greater. For this club to move forward and become self sustainable attendance will play a huge part. Who wants to support a club that you struggle to et tickets for?

We never sold out Maine Road? Are you on acid? Honestly, I'm having difficulty recalling when we didn't sell out Maine Road in the Premier League in 2000-1 and 2002-3.

Maine Road had a capacity of 35,151. My apologies. Once that season against Liverpool we filled it. The rest was close, but we didn't even fill it for the derby that year.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

We never sold out Maine Road? Are you on acid? Honestly, I'm having difficulty recalling when we didn't sell out Maine Road in the Premier League in 2000-1 and 2002-3.

Maine Road had a capacity of 35,151. My apologies. Once that season against Liverpool we filled it. The rest was close, but we didn't even fill it for the derby that year.

security and stewarding.

 

[kippax_blueboy]

If I had the money or it was more affordable.

I would buy 3 tickets for me and my two lads.
I lost my job didn't renew and got out of the habit of going.
If the thought we were going a ground with 60K plus in it and it was more affordable we would go.
City street would make you want to go earlier too.
If there was a Sega world, a megabowl, other sports you could try it would be worth going more.
The kids would love it.

It all makes sense to me as long as it was affordable.
£20 a game is about right for me.

 

[Skashion]

We never sold out Maine Road? Are you on acid? Honestly, I'm having difficulty recalling when we didn't sell out Maine Road in the Premier League in 2000-1 and 2002-3.

Maine Road had a capacity of 35,151. My apologies. Once that season against Liverpool we filled it. The rest was close, but we didn't even fill it for the derby that year.

Have you got any evidence at all to back you up on that one because it certainly goes against what I can remember which is that I couldn't get a ticket for love or money. I didn't even get a ticket for the last game at Maine Road against Southampton. I was outside the ground with a few thousand other City fans who couldn't get one of the tickets that were apparently freely available.<br /><br />-- Sat Mar 13, 2010 3:41 pm --<br /><br />All I want from City Street is a few decent pubs! Anything like that is a bonus.

 

[Ticket For Schalke]

to be fair, with the quality of player we have, and the investment that goes on, we are so lucky at our prices, HRH aint here to give us a free ride, which as of yet he has.

 

[Marvin]

Maine Road had a capacity of 35,151. My apologies. Once that season against Liverpool we filled it. The rest was close, but we didn't even fill it for the derby that year.

Have you got any evidence at all to back you up on that one because it certainly goes against what I can remember which is that I couldn't get a ticket for love or money. I didn't even get a ticket for the last game at Maine Road against Southampton. I was outside the ground with a few thousand other City fans who couldn't get one of the tickets that were apparently freely available.

-- Sat Mar 13, 2010 3:41 pm --

All I want from City Street is a few decent pubs! Anything like that is a bonus.

Tickets wereundoubtedly more difficult to get then. That's not an argument for extending the ground now though.

The ground is full now, and if we get into the top 4 we will be turning away supporters next season - we've done that for several home games this season - so if we can afford to extend the stadium we should.

We are not standing still. If we were, I'd agree with you

 

[Skashion]

Have you got any evidence at all to back you up on that one because it certainly goes against what I can remember which is that I couldn't get a ticket for love or money. I didn't even get a ticket for the last game at Maine Road against Southampton. I was outside the ground with a few thousand other City fans who couldn't get one of the tickets that were apparently freely available.

-- Sat Mar 13, 2010 3:41 pm --

All I want from City Street is a few decent pubs! Anything like that is a bonus.

Tickets wereundoubtedly more difficult to get then. That's not an argument for extending the ground now though.

The ground is full now, and if we get into the top 4 we will be turning away supporters next season - we've done that for several home games this season - so if we can afford to extend the stadium we should.

We are not standing still. If we were, I'd agree with you

But you're oversimplifying my argument. With me it's a question of when not if we extend the ground. Right now is not when for me. However, I've already said that if our owners and fellow blues want to extend it now, fair enough. If our owner and fellow blues aren't bothered about thousands of empty seats in the seasons immediately ahead of us then it should be done and I won't moan about it.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

lets just condence all this into one simple well known fact

more success .more fans, when we win the league and have millions of people visiting the new development then we will automatically have more followers, therfore why miss the boat with a 48 k capicity stadium, 60k is a MIMIMUM requirement in my opinion.
there are people on here who still not understand the EPIC scale City will be at in the medium to long term,

we are talking Real Madrid huge in the next 10 -15 years

I've never said that we won't need to expand at some point. I just don't want to see thousands of empty seats by expanding too soon. If our owners and my fellow blues are unanimous in wanting to expand now, so be it.

I've said this previously. I've got mates, parents, uncles+cousins who are massive City fans but don't go to the CoMS for various reasons: they think the ground is shit, they find it difficult to get to and from, they haven't found a decent pub to go to before and after the game and they stopped enjoying the day out, the team was shit never won or even scored for 8 months, one of my uncles hasn't attended games since they knocked the old Kippax and Platt Lane down saying that totally changed City from what he knew them as and he's only in his early 40's!

a top shit 60,000+ stadium and a great day out that is easy to get to and from would easily coax all of these people to come and attend games again - I know it cos they are as big a bunch of blues as I am, they're why I support City!