Stadium Expansion

[Skashion]

Just no need for it at the moment and having thousands of empty seats every game would be deeply embarrassing. 48,000 is right on the money for the time being. I have no doubts there will be expansion in the future and at it will almost inevitably be three tiers on all sides.

You may be right, but say City were to bring in players like Villa, Ibrahimovic, Ribery, Gourcouff over the summer. Can you imagine demand for tickets? Im not saying this is going to happen but surely it is the right thing to do to get enough seats in just incase.

Well, it's all speculation for now and we need that fourth spot first, but I trust our owners to make that judgment as only they know the true extent of their plans for City's growth and success.

 

[Cellarite]

my old man always said about england friendlys at old wembley - put the prices down to a tenner and fill the stadium. you would make up the difference on what the extra people spend at the game. plus the ground looks better full and there's a better atmosphere. not suggesting they should charge a tenner for every game but if you live in another part of the country (like me in hull for example), i can easily afford the tickets at the moment but need to add another £40 fuel on to that to get there. i know it was my choice to move to hull but travel expense is the single reason i've not bought season tickets for me and my son. on the occasions where i do get there for a game i can't resist treating him to something from the shop and get something to take home for my other lad who misses out 'cos he's too young to go. sorry to bang on but if they expand the ground and put prices down to fill it, it would be more affordable for exile blues to go regularly.

 

[Marvin]

Just no need for it at the moment and having thousands of empty seats every game would be deeply embarrassing. 48,000 is right on the money for the time being. I have no doubts there will be expansion in the future and at it will almost inevitably be three tiers on all sides.

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

 

[ibennett63]

Main Road was bigger so why not, there will be alot of cockney rag prawn sandwich boys jumping ship to us when we are at the top, will need the extra seats so us real supporters can get a bastard ticket.

This.

 

[flipmode]

Whilst I must admit that this talk of the Stadium Expansion is very exciting, I cannot understandf how adding another tier to the South Stand (presumably this is what they'll do??) can add 12K to our overall attendance?

 

[bluefandk]

Whilst I must admit that this talk of the Stadium Expansion is very exciting, I cannot understandf how adding another tier to the South Stand (presumably this is what they'll do??) can add 12K to our overall attendance?

6K added on the south stand and then later 6k on the north is how I understand the plans.

 

[squirtyflower]

Whilst I must admit that this talk of the Stadium Expansion is very exciting, I cannot understandf how adding another tier to the South Stand (presumably this is what they'll do??) can add 12K to our overall attendance?

6K added on the south stand and then later 6k on the north is how I understand the plans.

the general consensus was an additional 12k on the north stand first, then perhaps on the south stand later

 

[BibbyBlue85]

Whilst I must admit that this talk of the Stadium Expansion is very exciting, I cannot understandf how adding another tier to the South Stand (presumably this is what they'll do??) can add 12K to our overall attendance?

The north stand is going to be 1 tier (kop style) holding around 18,000 which will take us to 60'000, this will be done with the south stand when demand needs it to be which will take us to 72'000

 

[flipmode]

Whilst I must admit that this talk of the Stadium Expansion is very exciting, I cannot understandf how adding another tier to the South Stand (presumably this is what they'll do??) can add 12K to our overall attendance?

The north stand is going to be 1 tier (kop style) holding around 18,000 which will take us to 60'000, this will be done with the south stand when demand needs it to be which will take us to 72'000

OK. So my next question is what happens to all the people who have SeasonCards in the SS? Just not let them see the matches for one season?

Doesn't sound at all feasible to me, no matter how exciting it sounds.

 

[BibbyBlue85]

The north stand is going to be 1 tier (kop style) holding around 18,000 which will take us to 60'000, this will be done with the south stand when demand needs it to be which will take us to 72'000

OK. So my next question is what happens to all the people who have SeasonCards in the SS? Just not let them see the matches for one season?

Doesn't sound at all feasible to me, no matter how exciting it sounds.

How do you mean?

With any ground being redeveloped there is always going to be stands shut down. Naturally the away section will become considerably smaller. We have around 32'000 ST holders IIRC so even with 1 end shut down we can still house all ST holders. Yes you may not be sat in the SS but would you not sacrifice that to see our ground and club become known as world class?

I would

 

[squirtyflower]

The north stand is going to be 1 tier (kop style) holding around 18,000 which will take us to 60'000, this will be done with the south stand when demand needs it to be which will take us to 72'000

OK. So my next question is what happens to all the people who have SeasonCards in the SS? Just not let them see the matches for one season?

Doesn't sound at all feasible to me, no matter how exciting it sounds.

that's the main reason for starting the expansion as soon as possible
the capacity will reduce whilst the stand gets built, probably to about 40,000
we have approx 33,000 season card holders so we could accommodate everyone in a reduced size for one season
if we wait too long and then close a section of the ground then too many fans will be denied access
hence act now, get the thing built!

 

[Skashion]

Just no need for it at the moment and having thousands of empty seats every game would be deeply embarrassing. 48,000 is right on the money for the time being. I have no doubts there will be expansion in the future and at it will almost inevitably be three tiers on all sides.

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.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

The north stand is going to be 1 tier (kop style) holding around 18,000 which will take us to 60'000, this will be done with the south stand when demand needs it to be which will take us to 72'000

OK. So my next question is what happens to all the people who have SeasonCards in the SS? Just not let them see the matches for one season?

Doesn't sound at all feasible to me, no matter how exciting it sounds.

If City came out and said that they were going to knock down the East Stand and build q superstand with one tier and we're calling it the 'New Kippax'! however you'll have to deal without having your seasoncard for one season!

I'd say; "Indeed, bring it on!" if it means we will have a world class stadium rather than a shite symetrical load of blue seats with a pitch in the middle, so be it! and I would be excited to go back to my world class stand the season after!

 

[Bluesince1979]

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

 

[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.

 

[flipmode]

Sorry my bad, I didn't realise we "only" had 33K Seasoncard holders. Doing the SS would then be feasible as all Seasoncard holders would get to see the game, it would just mean the fans who buy tickets as and when might loose out for one season, and away numbers would dwindle.

LET'S GET ON IT NOW THEN!!!

lol

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Sorry my bad, I didn't realise we "only" had 33K Seasoncard holders. Doing the SS would then be feasible as all Seasoncard holders would get to see the game, it would just mean the fans who buy tickets as and when might loose out for one season, and away numbers would dwindle.

LET'S GET ON IT NOW THEN!!!

lol

the way abu dhabi does property development couldnt we do it in just 1 summer?

 

[squirtyflower]

Sorry my bad, I didn't realise we "only" had 33K Seasoncard holders. Doing the SS would then be feasible as all Seasoncard holders would get to see the game, it would just mean the fans who buy tickets as and when might loose out for one season, and away numbers would dwindle.

LET'S GET ON IT NOW THEN!!!

lol

exactly, its the passing trade that would lose out for one season, and then we'd be on the up
we could even apply for special dispensation to reduce the away fans allocation for the season to try and allow more blues in<br /><br />-- Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:26 pm --<br /><br />

Sorry my bad, I didn't realise we "only" had 33K Seasoncard holders. Doing the SS would then be feasible as all Seasoncard holders would get to see the game, it would just mean the fans who buy tickets as and when might loose out for one season, and away numbers would dwindle.

LET'S GET ON IT NOW THEN!!!

lol

the way abu dhabi does property development couldnt we do it in just 1 summer?

mm
but it would be home grown/polish builders on site lol
expect it to take a lifetime

 

[Ricster]

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.

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?

 

[Skashion]

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.