Stadium expansion. Have we goofed up?

[SeagullSongs]

1.9 to 1 is not marginal

Apparently, structurally the North stand can't support another 4000 (or however many) people, so it would need strengthening to accommodate them.

 

[TottonSeagull]

1.9 to 1 is not marginal

Source? I've was under the impression it was not that high.

 

[Bob!]

I have heard that there is a plan to change the 1901 seats to standard ones without arms, this would allow another 1200 in the West Stand middle tier.

 

[Weststander]

You could get 32,000 in the Amex. This is how, The south east corner has a huge gap behind so extend the seating to the back of the stadium and the north east corner then do away with the disabled seating and extend that as well as have never seen any disabled fans in there and hardly see any disabled fans in the front of the north anymore or front of the east stand so if they aren't going to use those front rows then put seating in.

And why does the ESU seating end abruptly, far from each end, with a viewing platform, or similar? Are those additional disabled viewing areas?

As well looking odd and incomplete, it prevented a few hundred more beautiful blue seats going in.

 

[Titus]

The back row of the WSU is devoid of seats. I've no idea why.

 

[el punal]

Well I think it is. So does the club, which is why they're examining their transport measures and seeing if there's ways to streamline the process. The reason the transport is slagged off is because it's difficult compared to most grounds. If you added another 10,000 people on top of that it'd be stretched further.

Is it worth is to see beautiful football in a beautiful stadium, of course! But let's not bury our heads in the sands and pretend it's a doddle.

Initially, at the start of 2011/12 season, there were problems, especially with the trains, these problems have been rectified in the main. I've only missed one home league game since we moved to the Amex and have found that the transport system, both train and park & ride buses, have improved considerably.

It helps I suppose that I stay behind for 20-30 minutes after each game to have a beer and a chat then stroll down to the station or park & ride and find little or no queue.

Surely though, your point applies to most grounds with large attendances - I remember when we played West Ham in the cup in 2006? the police at Upton Park station told us to walk to Plaistow because of the congestion.

Give the Albion their due, they do advise/invite away fans to stay behind and have a drink and mix with home fans. I can't think of any other club that has this policy.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Build a second tier or North and South?

We'd lose the giant screens.

 

[Sam-]

I don't fancy reading all the way through so it may have been said, but what I can see happening is that the cost of going to games will be put up.
Structural changes to the AMEX would be very costly. If demand is significantly higher than possible supply, I would imagine that we would simply raise the price of tickets to £45 (for example). This would maximise the potential revenue.
Obviously, no one would want the cost of football to go up, but as long as it's still a sell out for 80% of games I don't think anyone should grumble too much.
However, lets just see where we are with attendances. Because we will be on TV more often, not winning a lot and it being slightly more expensive I expect 32,500 to be plenty.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

I believe that the way that the Amex has been designed the roof can be raised and other tiers can be added.

I was told that as well...

 

[Phat Baz 68]

no it can't

Oh yes it can !!!

 

[Phat Baz 68]

We'd lose the giant screens.

Why ?? They could easily be re-positioned somewhere

 

[Sheebo]

Btw it COULD be increased but would be major, major reconstruction of the roof.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

There are plenty of empty seats caused by non-attending ST holders. If there is the demand, the ticket exchange will kick in more often and let's be honest, how many times has it been used so far? It hasn't been needed too often, so we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit here.

 

[Vatican Citys No.2 Keeper]

The back row of the WSU is devoid of seats. I've no idea why.

When I did the stadium tour a year or so ago the guide said that when we reached the prem it would be extra seating for journalists when the main section in WSL can't fit them all in.

 

[Weretheweststand]

The back row of the WSU is devoid of seats. I've no idea why.

It's because if/when we get to the prem, they require more press seats, so that's the area allocated for it

 

[The Birdman]

We need to be careful about talking about a bigger ground as it would mean huge cost to improve the infrastructure and extend the capacity. I believe it is possible to expand the ground but also it could be long planning process. How long did it take to get The Amex. Lets fill what we got.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Getting ahead of myself a bit, but lets just fantasise about 5 years time from now. We are an established Premier League team, on the up with a growing support.

in he meantime fellow south coast club Southampton, have bolted on another tier onto the Ikea flat pack that is St Marys, increasing to 40k.

we on the other hand still have our wonderfully designed stadium, but suddenly find we cannot increase capacity further and meet the demand from our new JCLs. What do we do? How have we catered for this inevitable growth in support?

I think the phrase I've highlighted shows how deluded you've become.

We are at best a Premier league - Championship yo-yo Club, and the Club would be foolish to build a 40K capacity on that basis - the table below gives average Championship attendances this season and there are a number of ex- Premiership clubs in there with substantially greater capacities than attendances:

1 Brighton & Hove Albion 25.949
2 Sheffield Wednesday 23.751
3 Derby County 23.118
4 Nottingham Forest 22.858
5 Cardiff City 22.677
6 Leicester City 21.891
7 Wolverhampton Wanderers 21.758
8 Leeds United 21.641
9 Charlton Athletic 18.452
10 Bolton Wanderers 17.691
11 Ipswich Town 17.311
12 Middlesbrough FC 17.019
13 Hull City 17.004
14 Crystal Palace 16.987
15 Birmingham City 16.548
16 Huddersfield Town 14.784
17 Blackburn Rovers 14.781
18 Blackpool FC 13.879
19 Bristol City 13.407
20 Watford FC 13.271
21 Burnley FC 12.917
22 Millwall FC 10.517
23 Barnsley FC 10.001
24 Peterborough United 7.916

 

[LamieRobertson]

Why ?? They could easily be re-positioned somewhere

Chuck them in the car park along with some deck chairs

 

[The Birdman]

That's why teams like Norwich city want to do slightly better than just survive each season before they build and increase capacity at Carrow Road. They are also developing an academy. They have a very loyal fan base. I am sure TB understands the situation. Lets get to the Premmiership first?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

A feasibility report is all that's needed for now.

When we consistently sell out, and on top of this have 2-3K on the waiting list, we then need to finally assess the economics of an expansion and be ready to implement the proposal as soon as possible.