AMEX expansion - there must be a plan hidden away somewhere......

[Superseagull]

Above and behind the North has scope for something in the same style as has been done to the South. The North East corner has possibility for some corporate bboxes or something similar to the north west shelf. Disabled fans would need to keep their access to the area. Maybe this could add 500 to 700 extra seats max but I guess this would mean consent from council regarding transport and I guess the cost per seat would just not make it viable?

My hunch is nothing will happen apart from maybe extra hospitality areas if demand is high enough.

 

[Weststander]

E

The roof trusses are anchored in big concrete blocks behind both ends so all of that would have to come out too, I believe. The calculations of the expense versus the extra income and factoring in the likely impact on gates of possible relegation might make it a non-starter. But I’m not an engineer.

That's true. All made plain by the club during construction.

The roof trusses are anchored into 1000's of tonnes of concrete, effectively underground.

The cost to dismantle and start all over again would cost many £10m's, all to add a few thousand seats.

Plus BHCC would obsess with the transport plan.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

E

That's true. All made plain by the club during construction.

The roof trusses are anchored into 1000's of tonnes of concrete, effectively underground.

The cost to dismantle and start all over again would cost many £10m's, all to add a few thousand seats.

Plus BHCC would obsess with the transport plan.

30,000 is plenty enough. We can see the sort of clientel that materialises with a 'big' stadium by looking at the return of the bald head fat necks at Wet Sham in their Olympic largesse. I saw a few of our returnees in West Upper last season, looking ferrety and out of place. Not pretty, certainly pink, but robustly un-fairy.

 

[wehatepalace]

To an absolute simpleton, yes.

You really can’t leave the bloke alone can you ? If he bothers you so much put him on your ignore list !

 

[Icy Gull]

30,000 is plenty enough. We can see the sort of clientel that materialises with a 'big' stadium by looking at the return of the bald head fat necks at Wet Sham in their Olympic largesse. I saw a few of our returnees in West Upper last season, looking ferrety and out of place. Not pretty, certainly pink, but robustly un-fairy.

I think gate receipts in the Premier League are not worth spending millions to expand, when you take into account how many millions we get every year as Premier League club. Also can you imagine the carnage of another 10,000 people post match.

30k is plenty unless we establish ourselves as one of the top six imo. We will never justify the need for more than 30k in the Championship or below.

 

[The Oldman]

Surely the only way to increase capacity significantly would be to do a Spurs and do total rebuild. So where we we relocate too whilst that happens? Withdean? Leave as it is as we are not guaranteed Premeir survival and 30000 seats are fine if we were to go down, which I hope we do not.

 

[The Large One]

You really can’t leave the bloke alone can you ? If he bothers you so much put him on your ignore list !

Good grief. I was agreeing with him.

Talk about YOU having a spiteful agenda...

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

30,750 is fine - I'd rather have that than rattle around a 40k ground.

Maybe we could get another 500 or 1000+ seats in there somehow with a bit of ingenuity, possibly by doing something with the North Stand, but that'll surely be it.

 

[Silverhatch]

Tony’s working on a stadium that can morph from 50000 on 80 minutes to 15000 on 90.

 

[Knocky's Nose]

30,750 is fine - I'd rather have that than rattle around a 40k ground.

Agreed. Empty seats are SO negative by their very existence... They look awful.

As we are is just fine. If we become an established PL side who look like being a permanent fixture, then maybe in 5-10 years have another look. For now, 30,750 is perfect.

 

[wakeytom]

Surely they could sort the re-sell market as each week there seems to be pockets of unused seats

 

[Weststander]

Surely they could sort the re-sell market as each week there seems to be pockets of unused seats

 

[wakeytom]

It would make sense. Grounds do look terrible half full, just look at the Stadium of Light

 

[blue-shifted]

a few thoughts.

Given that we have 8000 on the waiting list and there is still plenty of potential to grow our support base, i'd say another 10000 seats would be desirable. I think we could fill them for most games if we pull the stops out with advertising, marketing etc.

The logistics of doing this would be utterly mindbending though. It would surely take more than one close season meaning lots of disruption and parts of the ground being closed during the season, potentially affected ST holders may not be able to attend games for a period of time.

Financially, I do think it's do-able, (but only due to the crazy crazy world of PL finance).

Agree with whoever said that surely the easiest way is to refine and improve the ticket exchange. I can't remember the last game where I couldn't see empty seats

 

[Weststander]

It would make sense. Grounds do look terrible half full, just look at the Stadium of Shite.

Corrected.

 

[wehatepalace]

Good grief. I was agreeing with him.

Talk about YOU having a spiteful agenda...

Horrendously spiteful....you’ll be screaming for a policeman soon.

 

[Official Old Man]

It would make sense. Grounds do look terrible half full, just look at the Stadium of Light

Or Wembley on Saturday with Spurs v Cardiff. I think 40K turned up with the entire upper tier closed all around. That said 90K watched Messi a few day earlier.

 

[withdeanwombat]

How’s about less commodious seats, being closer to your neighbour, or safe standing areas with more snug accommodations?
There’s an extra few thousand.

Or what about “hot seating” to allow half and half seating so as one fan leaves on ,say, 63 minutes , another full paying fan is let in?

 

[Driver8]

Maybe somebody will find the component parts of the Lego Stand mouldering away in a lock-up somewhere in deepest darkest Hove (along with the cup final money in bin bags underneath it!) Surely we could tuck it in a corner somewhere!

They could put it in the bus park and use it for away fans. The view would still be better than at Everton.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

How’s about less commodious seats, being closer to your neighbour, or safe standing areas with more snug accommodations?
There’s an extra few thousand.

Or what about “hot seating” to allow half and half seating so as one fan leaves on ,say, 63 minutes , another full paying fan is let in?

Can't be done due to safety rules about the maximum number of seats between aisles, the number of seating area exits ( for non pitch level areas ), and the number of concourse exits.