Brightons new ground!

[EYR]

away end a BHA doesnt look right if you ask me

[blueboy]

You normally build a new ground for a reason, which are mainly
A capacity eg arsenal
B ground is in such a poor state eg Brighton
C Local council pumps in the funds eg Hull
D. We move to tap in on new markets (eg spurs wanting to move to Olympic stadium)

Cannot see any of the above applying to us.

A. We hardly sell out our current ground, Bolton game isn't even sold out
B. Facilities are not great but it's no dump and on the whole you get great views
C. Local council has 3 premiership clubs and wouldn't even allow a parade.
D. Our fan base is traditionally very tribal in the sense it's mainly made up of west londoners (whether they still live in the area or moved out). I don't think the club has pulling power of say a spurs to bring in a new Market of fans especially considering the big clubs that border us.
I think the club has other priorities rather than a stadium. Build up our team, try to keep ourselves in the premiership, control wages and maybe get revenue streams from outside the uk assisted my the contacts of our owners.

we have to look at the next generation of fans,and where are they going to come from...a lot of kids growing up now support Chelsea/Arsneal etc even if their parents support the R's.add to that parents who dont already support us who want to take their kids to watch a game but either can't afford/and or simply can't get a ticket to the likes of the Emirates or Stamford Bridge.We should be the alternative,but because of our limited capacity and/or our pricing policy(you could argue one dictates the other)we are losing out on them...extra revenue and new fans....Fulham have learnt this lesson,thats why they are getting average gates of 25k,there is plenty of untapped support out there...my mate,who has a season ticket,has managed,over a period of a few years,to change his son from being a Chelsea supporter to an R's fan,simply by bringing him along to games when he could get a ticket.From next season,this is going to be harder and harder..if we manage to hold our own next season we are going to be in the ridiculous situation of locking fans out..i wonder where they will go for their football fix,i'm guessing Craven Cottage

[Nik29]

Been doing some work at Brighton's new ground and while it is quite nice and spcaious, it isn't that different from many of the other new ones.. looks like a cross between Cardiff/Coventry to me, except a little less "bowl" like.

If we were to establish ourselves as a Premier League team and move grounds, I'd prefer us to build a modern version of LR.. close to the pitch, on top of the action. And make it unique, because as nice as Brighton's ground is, it's not reall unique.

[Gerryhatrick]

Brighton sold over 16000 ST this year, which is double the previous year.
If we had a new stadium, I really believe we would get 25-30k. Many don't go to LR due to being too cramped and uncomfortable.

[Nik29]

Brighton sold over 16000 ST this year, which is double the previous year.
If we had a new stadium, I really believe we would get 25-30k. Many don't go to LR due to being too cramped and uncomfortable.

At first, possibly, but the question is what happens if we get relegated. The euphoria will wear off and we'll end up with a half-full stadium with the atmosphere of a morgue.

Look at Coventry.

[blueboy]

At first, possibly, but the question is what happens if we get relegated. The euphoria will wear off and we'll end up with a half-full stadium with the atmosphere of a morgue.

Look at Coventry.

i think Coventry went too big,32K for them was too large.We have to look at the likes of Reading,Soton,Charlton,Derby and Norwich,who,despite being relegated,managed to keep their average attendances to a decent level.

[Gerryhatrick]

At first, possibly, but the question is what happens if we get relegated. The euphoria will wear off and we'll end up with a half-full stadium with the atmosphere of a morgue.

Look at Coventry.

Coventry's new stadium is well out of the city, so has lost contact with the community. Its too sterile and has a very poor atmosphere. I was there for last years away agem, and there is a strange echo when it's quiet. Not surprised fans have lost interest ther.

I prefer to look at Leeds, Southampton, Derby, Sheff Weds, they haven't suffered too much.

[TBLOCKRANGER]

we have to look at the next generation of fans,and where are they going to come from...a lot of kids growing up now support Chelsea/Arsneal etc even if their parents support the R's.add to that parents who dont already support us who want to take their kids to watch a game but either can't afford/and or simply can't get a ticket to the likes of the Emirates or Stamford Bridge.We should be the alternative,but because of our limited capacity and/or our pricing policy(you could argue one dictates the other)we are losing out on them...extra revenue and new fans....Fulham have learnt this lesson,thats why they are getting average gates of 25k,there is plenty of untapped support out there...my mate,who has a season ticket,has managed,over a period of a few years,to change his son from being a Chelsea supporter to an R's fan,simply by bringing him along to games when he could get a ticket.From next season,this is going to be harder and harder..if we manage to hold our own next season we are going to be in the ridiculous situation of locking fans out..i wonder where they will go for their football
fix,i'm guessing Craven Cottage

Fully agree with you mate but what you say IMHO isn't a reason for a bigger ground. Arsenal and Cardiff fans ticket prices have both gone up considerably since moving and a mate of mine has a Brighton st and when I mentioned the cost of mine he wasnt shocked, forgot what he paid but thought my gold for premiership football was reasonable.
I just don't think a larger ground automatically equates to cheaper tickets, more likely equates to a club charging more to recoup build cost plus having more seats in which to try to rip fans off with. Also bigger ground leads to fans having bigger expectations which leads to expensive signings and you know who ends up paying for them.
You quote Fulham but they are a club who didn't build a new ground and instead made an effort to try to control ticket prices within the confines of the existing stadium. I hope our lot can do the same. Therefore if we can have a fairer pricing structure that would be great saying that I bought a general sale ticket for Bolton for my kid cost me a tenner. I just don't think we need a bigger stadium.

[Nik29]

Coventry's new stadium is well out of the city, so has lost contact with the community. Its too sterile and has a very poor atmosphere. I was there for last years away agem, and there is a strange echo when it's quiet. Not surprised fans have lost interest ther.

I prefer to look at Leeds, Southampton, Derby, Sheff Weds, they haven't suffered too much.

I was there too, and hated it. It's a truly **** place to watch football.

I definitely think we could attract around 25K while in the Prem, but woud prefer it to have something different to the Derby, Southampton, Reading type stadium that seems to be everywhere now.

I guess a bigger stadium means more seats to fill, perhaps at lower prices which would attract fans. (though with our current board, I doubt that would be the case!)

[Gerryhatrick]

I was there too, and hated it. It's a truly **** place to watch football.

I definitely think we could attract around 25K while in the Prem, but woud prefer it to have something different to the Derby, Southampton, Reading type stadium that seems to be everywhere now.

I guess a bigger stadium means more seats to fill, perhaps at lower prices which would attract fans. (though with our current board, I doubt that would be the case!)

Could be that all new stadiums seem to be similar due to health and safety guidelines, so perhaps it would prove impossible to create a 'new' Loftus Rd style of close to pitch structure.

Also, with a bigger stadium, there would be a greater range of prices, with £399 ST for corner located seats, then a range as we have now, Gold/Silver/bronze etc, and then balanced with more hospitality boxes. Proper marketing would be important to expand the fan base, and entice fans back.

[blueboy]

Fully agree with you mate but what you say IMHO isn't a reason for a bigger ground. Arsenal and Cardiff fans ticket prices have both gone up considerably since moving and a mate of mine has a Brighton st and when I mentioned the cost of mine he wasnt shocked, forgot what he paid but thought my gold for premiership football was reasonable.
I just don't think a larger ground automatically equates to cheaper tickets, more likely equates to a club charging more to recoup build cost plus having more seats in which to try to rip fans off with. Also bigger ground leads to fans having bigger expectations which leads to expensive signings and you know who ends up paying for them.
You quote Fulham but they are a club who didn't build a new ground and instead made an effort to try to control ticket prices within the confines of the existing stadium. I hope our lot can do the same. Therefore if we can have a fairer pricing structure that would be great saying that I bought a general sale ticket for Bolton for my kid cost me a tenner. I just don't think we need a bigger stadium.

we are already paying premium prices...the reason Arsenal's prices are so high is as much do to with supply and demand,they have 40k on a waiting list..when demand starts to outstrip supply,prices go up.....the reason our season ticket prices went up so much was that the owners knew a large chunk of our support would bite the bullet and pay,otherwise they knew that getting in next season would be a problem

[Factamondo]

why move to a five bedroom house if you only need four????.....until we 'sell'out' week after week(which is still unlikely) dont go all hyacynth bucket just yet!

[blueboy]

people also need to remember that LR had a capacity of 27k Before the Taylor report came in,and that was in an era when average attendances across football were much lower then they are now...i dont recall those days back in the 80's fans saying our ground was too big

[Factamondo]

agreed..next week we wont top 16500................fact!

[blueboy]

the only thing stopping us selling out every week is the pricing..if we had sensible pricing we would sell out every week,with people locked out..fact