Leicester crowd ?

I spent a couple of days last week on a training course using rooms at the new Tottenham stadium.

It was mindblowing just how it seems entirley based on extracting the maximum amount of cash out the attendees pockets as possible 7 days a week 52 weeks a year.

If we ever do get back into the top division and Gibbo decided we do need to expand the ground I think he has a strong argument for the plan to be based on upping the executive quota as much as the absolute attendance.

I recall during the summer a revenue per head after tax of around £12 for the Riverside being mentioned. He cant compete when a bloke from Tottenham was quoting over £80 just for the stand we were using.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
We have never had an average attendance that high, and never will, as a community club shouldn't Boro be looking to cater for bigger demand when the need arises?

Ayresome, as we know, was built to cater for over 53,000 and whilst rarely filled it did attract crowds of over 40,000 regularly to create an average gate in the high 30ks.
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How far back are you talking about there?
1950s?
I think 74/75 is an interesting one to look at. Our first season back in the top division for 20 yrs, massive feel good factor around the club, we had just 'smashed' Div 2.
For most games we were getting 23-27000 crowds.
But they did jump massively for the biggies. Over 30k for cup games and high 30s for Man U, Sunderland, Newcastle and Leeds.
So having that extra capacity was worth it for those few games.
The downside would be empty seats visible on TV for most games.
 
Rofesleg said:
How far back are you talking about there?
1950s?
I think 74/75 is an interesting one to look at. Our first season back in the top division for 20 yrs, massive feel good factor around the club, we had just 'smashed' Div 2.
For most games we were getting 23-27000 crowds.
But they did jump massively for the biggies. Over 30k for cup games and high 30s for Man U, Sunderland, Newcastle and Leeds.
So having that extra capacity was worth it for those few games.
The downside would be empty seats visible on TV for most games.
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Are you really bothered about empty seats?

It's not the first time it's been mentioned on here either. Is it a fan ego thing?

I've just watched the cricket world cup and the masses of empty seats didn't spoil the enjoyment at all for me.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
For a club happy to be in the second tier?
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Didn't we have plans in place I believe to add 7000 if necessary when we filled in the corners? If it made financial sense to do that after we were re-established in the top flight that would be the time to do it. At the moment it feels unnecessary.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Are you really bothered about empty seats?

It's not the first time it's been mentioned on here either. Is it a fan ego thing?

I've just watched the cricket world cup and the masses of empty seats didn't spoil the enjoyment at all for me.
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No, I don't care. I was being flippant because I know how important people think it is.
Although I suppose it did annoy me when were getting less than 20k and the media for some reason started expressing it as % of capacity.
It was as though our 18k was less than Preston's 12k (as an example) because we had more empty seats.
 
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Rofesleg said:
No, I don't care. I was being flippant because I know how important people think it is.
Although I suppose it did annoy me when were getting less than 20k and the media for some reason started expressing it as % of capacity.
It was as though our 18k was less than Preston's 12k (as an example) because we had more empty seats.
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That % of capacity thing is as meaningless stat as you can find.
 
Decent_Left said:
I spent a couple of days last week on a training course using rooms at the new Tottenham stadium.

It was mindblowing just how it seems entirley based on extracting the maximum amount of cash out the attendees pockets as possible 7 days a week 52 weeks a year.

If we ever do get back into the top division and Gibbo decided we do need to expand the ground I think he has a strong argument for the plan to be based on upping the executive quota as much as the absolute attendance.

I recall during the summer a revenue per head after tax of around £12 for the Riverside being mentioned. He cant compete when a bloke from Tottenham was quoting over £80 just for the stand we were using.
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I can imagine MFC slinging a load of boxes at the top of the north stand and reducing our capacity even further!
 
Rofesleg said:
No, I don't care. I was being flippant because I know how important people think it is.
Although I suppose it did annoy me when were getting less than 20k and the media for some reason started expressing it as % of capacity.
It was as though our 18k was less than Preston's 12k (as an example) because we had more empty seats.
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Fair enough; I agree we shouldn't worry about empty seats. Full seats are far more important than full houses.

TBH, I don't think we're quite at expanding the ground point yet, though I'd be giving a thought to dusting down the plans and seeing what planning permission etc is still valid. I'd think maximising the capacity of the current ground is a more relevant priority, by this I mean giving thought to where the away fans go.

I think planning permission was for an extra tier on the East stand?
Were we to look to expand, I'd probably prefer them to consider another tier on the West.
First, the quality of view is better with the sun behind you.
Second, it has greater commercial potential: Spurs' new ground looks like a giant advertising board, so it makes sense to increase capacity for that on the side facing the cameras.
I'd also think an enlarged West stand would make more square feet of usable room for corporate income etc.
Maybe all a pipe dream, but we certainly shouldn't rule out the possibility.
 
Two clubs who I’d say are basically identical to us in terms of size Sheff utd and wolves are looking to do it, people respond to ambition. People would buy tickets just for the notion of seeing the ground and it’s increased capacity. Obviously it’s not something we are in a rush to do but it we do ever establish ourselves back in the premier league with football being at an all time high in terms of popularity I don’t see any reason why 35,000 can’t be done.
 
Borokian1876 said:
We are the 16th best supported club across our history. In English football we have won one singular cup in our entire history. We quite clearly have the fanbase to do it. If we established ourselves in the premier league we could maintain. 35,000 crowds 40,000 would be a push but who’s to say it’s impossible. We have had some poor gates over the years but considering our lack of historical success our support for the most part is outstanding
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* The "sold out" stat is misleading, because it is based on total capacity, not variable segregation

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Frozen Horse said:
Talk of stadium expansion is tongue in cheek.

However we have never had a 4 figure league crowd at the Riverside.
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Correct.
The only four-figure attendances we have had at the Riverside are the likes of Carling Cup in August v Barnsley.
 
I think it would make sense to increase capacity to 40-42 thousand if the club can get back to the premier league. There are quite a few teams in there who would bring a large away following. Five thousand set aside for away fans, leaving around 33-35 thousand for home support (allowing for segregation). It may also make the stadium a bit more appealing for big musical acts to appear more often at the ground. The mackems get big names at their ground every year, whilst we’ve only had a handful in 28 years. Add in more corporate hospitality into the equation and it would all pay for itself fairly quickly.
 
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The Disciple said:
I think it would make sense to increase capacity to 40-42 thousand if the club can get back to the premier league. There are quite a few teams in there who would bring a large away following. Five thousand set aside for away fans, leaving around 34-35 thousand for home support (allowing for segregation). It may also make the stadium a bit more appealing for big musical acts to appear more often at the ground. The mackems get big names at their ground every year, whilst we’ve only had a handful in 28 years. Add in more corporate hospitality into the equation and it would all pay for itself fairly quickly.
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Thats a good point.
If we think laterally, though prinicipally a football stadium, what adaptions can be made to widen its use? (y)
 
When Forest were in the Championship, it was easy to get a ticket (I'd always go to the Boro game with my mate, lifelong forest fan but might go to 5 games a season). Now they're in the Prem there's virtually no chance of getting a ticket. Same for us in the 90s - I recall as a 18 year old going to the Chesterfield Semi replay at Hillsborough as it was the first one tickets were readily available for, and I couldn't afford a season ticket at the time.

Point I'm making - going up would bring significantly higher demand. As it stands, we are a well supported club, but don't need more capacity. We just about sold out the Leicester game but they are top and we won't (quite) sell out for home games unless we're really challenging at the back end of the season.
 
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