Sunday's NOTW re Stadium expansion ...

[*singingtheblues*]

I hope that's just more of the usual nonsense from the NOTW.

We really don't need to increase the capacity, it's completely unnecessary.

We can already squeeze in more than Liverpool and Chelsea.

Any increase in capacity would purely be for the novelty of it, we simply just don't have the fanbase to regularly fill anything above 50,000.

Even the previously mooted 60,000 is unrealistic, just 4 years ago we had an average turnout of 40,000. Is it realistic to assume that we'll have 20,000 extra regular match-goers than we did 4 years ago?

Where would these people come from?

And would you want to be sat next to one of them with their digital camera flashing away while dressed head to toe in official club merchandise?

All jokes aside, and increase in capacity would achieve nothing more than further dampening the atmosphere while adding an additional spectacle of thousands of empty blue seats.

And 70,000 plus?

Utterly ridiculous.

Ticket prices are going up, and regardless of what some people would have you believe we wouldn't be giving them away for nothing should we see an increase in capacity, probably the opposite once you consider the recent trend, and that's even excluding the cost of the rumoured expansion.

An increase in capacity would be ill-advised, and a significant increase would be nothing short of a disaster.

 

[Interstate 5]

while dressed head to toe in official club merchandise?

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[Soulboy]

I hope that's just more of the usual nonsense from the NOTW.

We really don't need to increase the capacity, it's completely unnecessary.

We can already squeeze in more than Liverpool and Chelsea.

Any increase in capacity would purely be for the novelty of it, we simply just don't have the fanbase to regularly fill anything above 50,000.

Even the previously mooted 60,000 is unrealistic, just 4 years ago we had an average turnout of 40,000. Is it realistic to assume that we'll have 20,000 extra regular match-goers than we did 4 years ago?

Where would these people come from?

And would you want to be sat next to one of them with their digital camera flashing away while dressed head to toe in official club merchandise?

All jokes aside, and increase in capacity would achieve nothing more than further dampening the atmosphere while adding an additional spectacle of thousands of empty blue seats.

And 70,000 plus?

Utterly ridiculous.

Ticket prices are going up, and regardless of what some people would have you believe we wouldn't be giving them away for nothing should we see an increase in capacity, probably the opposite once you consider the recent trend, and that's even excluding the cost of the rumoured expansion.

An increase in capacity would be ill-advised, and a significant increase would be nothing short of a disaster.

We average 45,000 at the moment, and that's after 34 years without winning anything. Do you not think we could conjur up 15,000 extra bodies once we start winning things?

The rags went from 35,000 to 75,000 in the space of just over ten years... are you suggesting we couldn't do that?

And if so, why not..?

 

[alera]

I had a conversation with a couple of friends the other week, the topic how many fans could we realistically get in every week if the ground was to be expanded, on the assumption we are playing champions league every season and actually start winning things.

Greater Manchester is a huge conurbation, in the manchester area there are as many city fans as utd, what we dont have is the irish and fans comming from other parts of the country (and in some cases world)

But would this change with success ? The general thinking was if we had success we could expect around 60,000 fans if we had the facilities. Based on us being near enough sold out every week 45 - 47,000 in the league with no success for 30 years or champions league.

To be a top club these days you need a stadium that holds 65,000 at least. To do this a big extra tier is likely to be required at each end of the ground, the roof will also have to be completely replaced. Most of the money is in structural works if you are going to add an extra tier at either end you may as well add 30,000 seats as 20,000, the works will be extensive and extremely expensive in any event. It comes down to the economics and the scale of the clubs ambition at the end of the day.

Its pretty obvious the owners are not lacking in ambition or the funds to fullfill them to be perfectly honest.

If we had enough space we could drop the prices or at least maintain them for current fans, offer further disounts for oaps and juniors. More space for lucrative hospitality. If we had success over a number of years I honestly believe we could fill a 75,000 seater stadium for the big games at the very least - Rags, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle if they stay in the league. Possibly Villa, SPurs, Everton. At the end of the day we always have the option of giving a larger allocation to away sides with big support bases and making these tickets reasonably priced in comparision to other away venues.

Its down to money and what the owners want to do. Its largely expected at the very minimum one of the the 2 tier stands will be increased in size to increase the capacity to around 60,000 at the very minimum.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/9313/rafael-vinoly-architects-battersea-development.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/ ... pment.html</a>

The suggested arcitects designed for Battersea power station. I must say they look amazing. As they say build it and they will come.

 

[quiet_riot]

To be a top club these days you need a stadium that holds 65,000 at least. .

So only the rags are 'a top club' in this country?

 

[BrianW]

Maine Road, before the North Stand was seated, held something like 64,000. I will grant you it was definitely not filled every week, but it certainly got near full at times, and it should be remembered that a lot of people were dubious about the accuracy of 'reported' figures.

Given that the good times are (supposedly) coming back, I don't see why the Club can't aspire to something of a similar size. Prices can be adjusted if there isn't the demand initially, the guys in charge are smart enough to work out how to maximise profit.

A lot have stopped going because you can no longer roll up at 2-55 on a whim and pay cash on the gate. Not everyone can be arsed paying for the necessary bit of plastic and so on or for that matter to phone up/use the internet to book tickets. If a way can be found round this restriction I reckon that alone would add a few thousand to the attendance.

 

[Soulboy]

To be a top club these days you need a stadium that holds 65,000 at least. .

So only the rags are 'a top club' in this country?

I think he might also be thinking of the top European clubs such as Barca. Madrid, Bayern, Milan... all above 65,000 capacities.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

How long had it been since Sunderland had drawn anything like 48,000 proir to leaving Roker Park?

 

[ancoats]

if and when we do build a bigger ground to 65.000

what are we going to do with low gates for a season we could be down to 30.000 a game even lower if we have to put more seat in the colin bell stand

i was talking about this the other week about having 2 grounds
and have a new ground on the site of the aston new road side
that way we could keep the coms for our cups games youth team and 2nd team even have the ground for a rugby team like sale sharks

or the other way is to ground share with utd for a season

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

if and when we do build a bigger ground to 65.000

what are we going to do with low gates for a season we could be down to 30.000 a game even lower if we have to put more seat in the colin bell stand

i was talking about this the other week about having 2 grounds
and have a new ground on the site of the aston new road side
that way we could keep the coms for our cups games youth team and 2nd team even have the ground for a rugby team like sale sharks

or the other way is to ground share with utd for a season

I might be wrong but I think our lowest gate at Eastlands for a league game is around 38,000 and after scoring 10 goals at home in a season thats pretty good!