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SOL expansion

BaconButty said:
I think you lose around 5 rows at the back, North stand took around 1 season to complete. Probably one of the reasons it’s so relatively inexpensive to do compared with other stadiums as they can sometimes take 2 - 3 seasons to complete
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You only lose rows at the back if they build boxes. North stand back seats are in the same place they always were as far as I can tell.
 

AndrewP said:
You only lose rows at the back if they build boxes. North stand back seats are in the same place they always were as far as I can tell.
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The North Stand Doesn't Have Boxes so is 41 Rows as built. The NW/SW Corners and West Stand only go to Row 36 with the Boxes behind. They added Rows 42-44 behind the Supporting Columns in 2002 on the metal platforms to the rest of the Stadium so you would lose 8 rows if boxes were installed or 3 rows with the extension and a bar built in behind like 76 yards at the back.
 
DiscopantsSoL said:
The North Stand Doesn't Have Boxes so is 41 Rows as built. The NW/SW Corners and West Stand only go to Row 36 with the Boxes behind. They added Rows 42-44 behind the Supporting Columns in 2002 on the metal platforms to the rest of the Stadium so you would lose 8 rows if boxes were installed or 3 rows with the extension and a bar built in behind like 76 yards at the back.
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They're not continuous rows though?
 
Rob the Ref said:
I’m sure over last season or two we’ve upped the kids sc costs a fair bit and reduced the number of age bands.
Makes sense to keep costs down to get more kids and families in for future fan base rather than empty seats in an expanded stadium.
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Aye they've changed the U16 to U14 and removed the U14 concession from the centre of East Stand completely. They've also increased the concession prices in the East and West as the club want adults paying the higher price in there rather than the concession but some have gone up considerably, more so for new STs which could well be the renewal price next season.

Even so, it's still cheap yet some people would prefer a sell out and therefore fans, especially kids would be missing out. These kids would be the next generation of fans going no matter what. Some say we shouldn't have expanded from 42,000 but if we hadn't then you can guarantee the concessions wouldn't have been as generous, nor available around 90% of the ground and ticket prices in general would have been higher.

That's why this time around in the lower divisions and 8 years without PL footy we had such fantastic crowds as the bairns got hooked years ago but went regardless. It's not just going to watch PL footy, it's going to the game with family and friends as a social event as memories can still be made. If not then why do lower league teams fans who will never be PL even bother going?

If those kids don't get hooked then many won't suddenly start going when times are shit as the glory seekers have gone leaving seats for them. They'll have probably done summit else instead and those who could go either way could end up following the mags if they can only watch either team on TV.

These kids will also be putting money into the club with merchandise etc so it's not all about tickets, it's making sure you have future fans that will support the club no matter what is happening on the pitch.

When did this thing about empty seats come about? We had a huge capacity at Roker Park, yet in the 50s and 60s crowds dropped into the 20,000s yet the same season would hit 40,000s and 50,000s. Are people really bothered about what some mag will say about empty seats that they'd prefer kids (and potential lifetime match goer) miss out when times are good just so the stadium is still fullish if we get relegated?
 
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If we had the equivalent of the North Stand extension now in the South stand, we would sell most if not all of it for every home game this season. If that continues into next season and the season after then its no brainer.

Also we should be looking to massively increase the corporate as part of any extension. Our corporate is tiny by most premier league clubs standards.
 
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tynevalleyblackcat said:
If we had the equivalent of the North Stand extension now in the South stand, we would sell most if not all of it for every home game this season. If that continues into next season and the season after then its no brainer.

Also we should be looking to massively increase the corporate as part of any extension. Our corporate is tiny by most premier league clubs standards.
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I think hospitality will be the forefront of any thinking of expansion plans. We are a canny bit behind other clubs. Though, at the same time, a few mags I know say there’s isn’t great either.

What’s the max capacity it will go to as planned?
 
Stormo said:
I think hospitality will be the forefront of any thinking of expansion plans. We are a canny bit behind other clubs. Though, at the same time, a few mags I know say there’s isn’t great either.

What’s the max capacity it will go to as planned?
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64,000 or there abouts if we did the South and the East and went two tiers all round.

I worked on the design side of the planned (but never built) South stand extension and attended the design team meetings at the SOL. We still have the CAD drawings of it on our system at work. At that time, the away fans were in the South stand and the club, then run by Sir Bob and Mr Fickling, wanted to build a dedicated away fans corporate area above the away fans section as part of the extension. Think the black bar but about half the length. They reckoned that would sell well in the premier league and I am sure they were right and even more so now. Wealthy fans of the big clubs would probably pay double or treble what our fans pay in the black cats bar for a one off away day experience when they maybe otherwise would not get tickets.
 
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tynevalleyblackcat said:
64,000 or there abouts if we did the South and the East and went two tiers all round.

I worked on the design side of the planned (but never built) South stand extension and attended the design team meetings at the SOL. We still have the CAD drawings of it on our system at work.
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I worked for Mowlem who built the North Stand Extension and who were gonna build the South Stand and tried my very best to get my hands on the plans but failed miserably. The Cross Section Homes Miller have released will be pretty much the same thing.
 
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK said:
Aye they've changed the U16 to U14 and removed the U14 concession from the centre of East Stand completely. They've also increased the concession prices in the East and West as the club want adults paying the higher price in there rather than the concession but some have gone up considerably, more so for new STs which could well be the renewal price next season.

Even so, it's still cheap yet some people would prefer a sell out and therefore fans, especially kids would be missing out. These kids would be the next generation of fans going no matter what. Some say we shouldn't have expanded from 42,000 but if we hadn't then you can guarantee the concessions wouldn't have been as generous, nor available around 90% of the ground and ticket prices in general would have been higher.

That's why this time around in the lower divisions and 8 years without PL footy we had such fantastic crowds as the bairns got hooked years ago but went regardless. It's not just going to watch PL footy, it's going to the game with family and friends as a social event as memories can still be made. If not then why do lower league teams fans who will never be PL even bother going?

If those kids don't get hooked then many won't suddenly start going when times are shit as the glory seekers have gone leaving seats for them. They'll have probably done summit else instead and those who could go either way could end up following the mags if they can only watch either team on TV.

These kids will also be putting money into the club with merchandise etc so it's not all about tickets, it's making sure you have future fans that will support the club no matter what is happening on the pitch.

When did this thing about empty seats come about? We had a huge capacity at Roker Park, yet in the 50s and 60s crowds dropped into the 20,000s yet the same season would hit 40,000s and 50,000s. Are people really bothered about what some mag will say about empty seats that they'd prefer kids (and potential lifetime match goer) miss out when times are good just so the stadium is still fullish if we get relegated?
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Yeah I was one of those but more so just how it gave the ground an imbalanced look and was a reminder of our past failures to kick on, mind changed at the Coventry semi final when the place was bouncing
 
tynevalleyblackcat said:
64,000 or there abouts if we did the South and the East and went two tiers all round.

I worked on the design side of the planned (but never built) South stand extension and attended the design team meetings at the SOL. We still have the CAD drawings of it on our system at work. At that time, the away fans were in the South stand and the club, then run by Sir Bob and Mr Fickling, wanted to build a dedicated away fans corporate area above the away fans section as part of the extension. Think the black bar but about half the length. They reckoned that would sell well in the premier league and I am sure they were right and even more so now. Wealthy fans of the big clubs would probably pay double or treble what our fans pay in the black cats bar for a one off away day experience when they maybe otherwise would not get tickets.
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Was the old plans where you could lift the roof off the east stand a slide an extention on?
 
BaconButty said:
Take the roof off, build a steel frame to sit the new seating deck on top of, put a new roof on. Concourse area is built into the space between steel structure.
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This extension needs to be built now.

We owe so much to Bob Murray for the SoL - when you consider the disruption that many clubs face when grounds are rebuilt, we remove a roof and build.

I am reading the reservation on here about whether we should extend and it was the same in the early 2000s.

Sheepfolds might be forcing us to act but I suspect KLD is also looking at increased revenue which will help to fund future ambitions.

That is something for opponents of the plan to consider.

If we had stepped back twenty years ago, some of us might never has shared experiences like Coventry.

If we don’t build this now, some of us, our children, friends and family will miss out on nights like that - imagine missing out on the Derby, another cup run or a European fixture.
 
Lord Lucan said:
This extension needs to be built now.

We owe so much to Bob Murray for the SoL - when you consider the disruption that many clubs face when grounds are rebuilt, we remove a roof and build.

I am reading the reservation on here about whether we should extend and it was the same in the early 2000s.

Sheepfolds might be forcing us to act but I suspect KLD is also looking at increased revenue which will help to fund future ambitions.

That is something for opponents of the plan to consider.

If we had stepped back twenty years ago, some of us might never has shared experiences like Coventry.

If we don’t build this now, some of us, our children, friends and family will miss out on nights like that - imagine missing out on the Derby, another cup run or a European fixture.
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I think it will tbh
 
Smiter said:
Completely disagree mate, there’s no way for me we don’t sell out generals sake tickets if we are in bottom 3, they aren’t lasting longer than 2 hours currently.

Re cost, the way these ground extensions are built now, is by financing, then paying them off against the extra revenue they create.

We currently get great rates of finance from Kyril’s mother, I’m not sure that would extend to a ground extension, but it may.
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Last time we were in the premier league we were consistently 15-20 percent under capacity. It’s great we aren’t this year but once that novelty wears off for the fair weather fans it will dip again. There’s a core of around 35,000 fans who will be there almost no matter what but the rest of our fans rely on novelty to go, whether it’s a derby, a playoff final or our first season back for a while. They won’t hang around when things get tough and they’ve proven that for decades
 
cowan86 said:
Extend the south one massive end. This should be enough for the maximum attendance around 55k would be perfect. Then the east stand for corporate. Tv cameras should be this end be better view if we can somehow block the sun out.
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Alright burnsy 😂😂
 
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