Stadium Expansion

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I think 30k was the figure most agreed on in the past for RFC, sounds just about right.

Love to see us get 30k home crowds, would be amazing.

Perhaps we could be the first English team to sell like the bigger boys of Europe, with a ten pound section, up the back like Barca and Munich I think

[rob the royal]

Perhaps we could be the first English team to sell like the bigger boys of Europe, with a ten pound section, up the back like Barca and Munich I think

They should do this.

[Schards#2]

Bloke on BBCRB this morning stating that an extra 10,000 seats would cost about £23,000,000 so, presumably, 6,000 would be about £13,800,000.

That's a lot of cloth to cut out of the player budget unless the new owners are going to put serious money into this.

[rob the royal]

That's a lot of cloth to cut out of the player budget unless the new owners are going to put serious money into this.

I think that's the plan listening to AZ's comments after the game, seems to want to improve the club on all levels.

Didn't realise that stadium expansion would take so long to pay itself off though, the guy on the radio this morning said 25 years or so...

[winchester_royal]

That's a lot of cloth to cut out of the player budget unless the new owners are going to put serious money into this.

I think that's the plan listening to AZ's comments after the game, seems to want to improve the club on all levels.

Didn't realise that stadium expansion would take so long to pay itself off though, the guy on the radio this morning said 25 years or so...

See, I don't understand this. If we build an extra 10,000 seats at a cost of £23m, then each seat will be at a cost of £2,300. Lets assume that we sell these extra seats at £40 a game, then it should only take close to 60 games to pay off, assuming we fill the seats but if we stay in the prem and advance (which is what TSI envisage) then it shouldn't be too difficult.

Obviously I understand that he's probably adding in maintenance/administration costs and all that, but lets not forget the extra revenues that a higher attendance will bring in terms of merchandise/refreshments/parking etc. As well as being able to expand the corporate hospitality sector.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I'd be interested to see where his 25 years come from

[Barry the bird boggler]

I took that to be the standard BBC Radio Berks cock-up. They were saying as much as 25m to extend by 10,000 and the "expert" said we'd recoup about £4m a season on them which means it would take about 6 years to start making a profit on them not 25!

Any building work HAS to start before November 2013 otherwise plans need to be resubmitted to the council for approval.

[rob the royal]

i wasn't really listening to be honest... it did seem a bit odd.

[Dare to Dr£am]

East Stand is first to about 30,000. Then it will be a couple of years before the North is considered, and then the same for the South. We're not a load of mentals who just want to expand for the sake of doing so.

What I expect to see is the East Stand going up and looking fanfuckingtastic, and that being that for several years. I can't see demand being there to push us onto Stage 2 and 34,000 capacity; but then many never dreamed we'd be where we are with these crowds, as we had in our last stint in the top flight.

Dare to Dr£am.

[Z175]

40,000 at every "cup" final suggests we'd fill it for big PL home games, and I think we could gradually get to high 20ks if we stay up.

What I want to know is how long will it take? Didnt the original plan suggest it could be done in a summer? Just a point - if the work overruns and the East Stand isn't inhabitable might we have to play a few games elsewhere?

Unlikely it may be, but hypothetically where would we play?

Watford, Southampton, QPR, Chelsea?

Can't see the Swindon, Wycombe or Oxford being big enough for our requirements.

[who are ya?]

Stade De Stone Island?

[Friday's Legacy]

40,000 at every "cup" final suggests we'd fill it for big PL home games, and I think we could gradually get to high 20ks if we stay up.

What I want to know is how long will it take? Didnt the original plan suggest it could be done in a summer? Just a point - if the work overruns and the East Stand isn't inhabitable might we have to play a few games elsewhere?

Unlikely it may be, but hypothetically where would we play?

Watford, Southampton, QPR, Chelsea?

Can't see the Swindon, Wycombe or Oxford being big enough for our requirements.

We would play at home. There was never any talk of needing to ground share. It will be done one stand at a time with an estimated 4-5 month build time to expand the East Stand.

[EPR]

What I want to know is how long will it take? Didnt the original plan suggest it could be done in a summer? Just a point - if the work overruns and the East Stand isn't inhabitable might we have to play a few games elsewhere?

Almost certainly the work will be done in such a way that the existing stand is never unavailable for use for any more than a very short period at any one time - just like they're doing at Reading Station - they'll work around everyone/thing.

I take my hard hat off to the people who project manage that kind of thing.

[Friday's Legacy]

What I want to know is how long will it take? Didnt the original plan suggest it could be done in a summer? Just a point - if the work overruns and the East Stand isn't inhabitable might we have to play a few games elsewhere?

Almost certainly the work will be done in such a way that the existing stand is never unavailable for use for any more than a very short period at any one time - just like they're doing at Reading Station - they'll work around everyone/thing.

Absolutely.

This is a decent image really to show that the build will take place behind us, out of sight if you will. There will be a maze of ins and outs to meet H&S, and the roof coming off will be the final piece. That I imagine would take a few weeks alone, so we could get wet for a few games.

[Ian Royal]

In the Premiership, I think 24,000 is just about fine. In the first Premiership season, we sold out most games quickly but I think this was largely due to the novelty factor. By the second, pretty much all games went on open sale and many didn't fully sell out. I can see this trend continuing were we to stay in the Premiership for a prolonged period.

That is BS.
Every PL match we played was virtually sold out to 97% capacity AFAIK, so if you want people to believe this propaganda you have to back it up. (Which you can't.)
Several pages ago I posted a summary of that, so you can look at that post to see my side of the argument, then reconsider yours.

Wigan was the only team where unsold tickets were available in any large number, and that's because.. well.. they're wigan.

'greed. It was only ever away allocations that let us down (Wigan for example). Ours was almost always fully sold old.

You expand when the demand is there, and we've seen that the demand will be there! I do though agree that stage 1 to 30,000 is more than enough for us, and leave the North and South as they are until the demand is there for that.

Bare in mind people won't have bothered trying to get tickets to plenty of games knowing it would be hard to do so. I certainly didn't bother trying to get a ticket for any of the big draw games. I also made very little effort to hang on long enough to be able to take any of my family, who would definitely go to at least a couple of games a season more if I knew I could wait to get a ticket for them without missing out myself.

I'm certainly going to more than I managed the last time we were up there.

[Friday's Legacy]

If you're happy to sit on your own then you should always get a ticket. I wasn't a STH in the PL but I missed only a couple of games. As soon as you can get a ticket, be the first on the phone.

[Ian Royal]

If you're happy to sit on your own then you should always get a ticket. I wasn't a STH in the PL but I missed only a couple of games. As soon as you can get a ticket, be the first on the phone.

A lot of people aren't happy to sit on their own. I am, certainly now, but it took a season or two to get comfortable doing it. And it's as much about having to wait 'til the last minute to be able to buy and not being able to plan ahead very far. Not having to be ready to buy within hours of it going on general sale or reaching your points band. And sitting in the South is a whole lot less fun than sitting in the East.

[royalp-we]

I'm all for the stadium expansion if we stay up.

What would happen to the Jazz Cafe? Makes me wonder if they build outwards, and add an upper concourse - would they extend shooters bar too?

[Z175]

I'm all for the stadium expansion if we stay up.

What would happen to the Jazz Cafe? Makes me wonder if they build outwards, and add an upper concourse - would they extend shooters bar too?

Looking at the diagram above, the jazz cafe would presumably remain as is, but could be widened, with a lot of space above it for potential new floors. I'd expect that to be an upper concourse though as access through current entrances might not be enough - imagine getting out of row ZZZZ before 7pm...

[Royal Lady]

I thought that in the original plans, they were going to use the area of the current back few rows to make into more hospitality areas? I remember being very pleased, because it meant we in row W would be the "back" row and the moaning minnies behind us would be moved elsewhere!

[Dare to Dr£am]

SJM confirmed today the expansion to 38k will start next summer if we stay up.