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SOL expansion


Father Larry Duff said:
It would be delusional if we were thinking of extending to 70k. Adding on an extra 5000 seats and upgrading hospitality is far from delusional it’s just looking to the future and it’s pretty sensible
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What happens if we are stuck in the championship for a few more years?

Unless you mean if we get promoted this season then I'd agree it would make sense to add extra capacity.
 
RTGAdmin said:
We wouldn't though, especially once the original novelty wore off. The attendances would obviously increase, but we have a lot of die-hard fans who will attend come what may and most the people who would want season tickets will already have them now.

Like it or not, Sunderland will never attract the "tourists" like London or Manchester clubs can. We are in the wrong part of the country for that and the City's other attractions will never be a match for those places.
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We are as big as our catchment area, which isnt that big tbh.... its half the size of the mags
 
Thornton said:
The problem with our ground is since extending the North Stand, like at the mags, it doesn't look finished. And, never will look finished, until it's the same height all the way round. Symmetry 😎
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That really winds me up that :lol: we must have lost 1k seats by the missing 6 rows.
 
Skylon said:
We aren't far off. I think capacity has been cut to about 45 thou, we are at 42 now. A few more wins and we'll be selling out regularly
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They state 42k every week. 🤣🤣🤣

Also we lost all the 'not renewing lot' because Clarke was sold and Speakman is still in post. 🤔🙄
RTGAdmin said:
We wouldn't though, especially once the original novelty wore off. The attendances would obviously increase, but we have a lot of die-hard fans who will attend come what may and most the people who would want season tickets will already have them now.

Like it or not, Sunderland will never attract the "tourists" like London or Manchester clubs can. We are in the wrong part of the country for that and the City's other attractions will never be a match for those places.
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Will the film studios not generate interest. Margot Robbie getting her chebs out on Roker beach has to improve our chances.
 
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Rotherham red'n'white said:
The club originally applied for planning permission back in 1999 for an extension to the South Stand (circa 7k seats), and a hotel in the car park behind the main stand, with a bridge over the car park for hotel-guest access. Being a bit nerdy, I downloaded the planning applications from the council's planning page at the time and kept them. They're an interesting read from a "what might have been point" of view. Bob Murray said at the time he hoped to then double the east stand, as part of the WOrld Cup (or was it Euro?) bids of 2004/2006 etc, knowing there would be government funding available. Of the three applications the only one that happended was the north stand.
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Interesting from that is the main concern to consider during expansion is the number of fans using the millenium and wearmouth bridge causing congestion. The new footbridge taking footfall naturally away from the other routes eradicates that concern completely. I know that was the intention of the footbridge but it's interesting to see the original planning documents and how they triggered that.
 
Trauntrian said:
Interesting from that is the main concern to consider during expansion is the number of fans using the millenium and wearmouth bridge causing congestion. The new footbridge taking footfall naturally away from the other routes eradicates that concern completely. I know that was the intention of the footbridge but it's interesting to see the original planning documents and how they triggered that.
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How many fatties can the new bridge howld?
 
The club need to ensure that the land is available to expand into if/whenever the time comes. But unless we go the German route and make tickets a reasonable price instead of £32, there's no use case for expanding based on our current attendance levels. summer gigs at the SoL help but not enough.

Reasonable ticket prices attract more customers, more customers also spending on food and drink inside the round and contributing to the businesses around it.
 
seaham ftm said:
There wasn’t 5-10k empty seats in 1996.
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We have added 20,00 to our support since 1996.

By encouraging kids through cheap tickets who then go n to buy adult tickets and the general growth of footy added to a return to the premier league no one can say we wouldn’t add a further 20,000 to our support in the next few years particularly if we ever had a decent team in the premier league.

SAFC is uniquely placed, out of all the top clubs, to increase capacity due to owning the land and ease of expanding the SOL. At the very least we should be looking at it and by all accounts we are.

As a club and fan base let’s not be defeatist. We should be bold, keep letting kids in cheaply and build the fan base and extend.
 
I dont see it happening myself, purely down to the owner.

If we're ever at the point where we're selling out then i think hes much more likely to just increase ticket prices.

I dont see KLD putting in/or sanctioning the club to spend 20/30/40 million on an expansion when he will see very little of that back when he sells up.

Imagine a fully expanded SOL in a Champions League semi final though...one can only dream!
YorkMackem said:
There's certainly a case from a matchday customer experience though.

I totally understand Murray wanting the stadium built for as little as possible, else it may not have been built at all. Now though, if the money is there, I'd love to see plans to widen the concourses, more toilets and better bars and catering.

For older fans, women and children, it is far from an enjoyable experience.
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As a youngun i always dreamt of the stadium being fully expanded.

The older i get the more id be happy if we just focused on the concourses like you say. Would help in many ways but for me, id love to see more space for some independant, street food style places. Outside smoking area, better bars etc. And would make leaving the the stadium much faster.
 
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The said:
The club need to ensure that the land is available to expand into if/whenever the time comes. But unless we go the German route and make tickets a reasonable price instead of £32, there's no use case for expanding based on our current attendance levels. summer gigs at the SoL help but not enough.

Reasonable ticket prices attract more customers, more customers also spending on food and drink inside the round and contributing to the businesses around it.
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Tickets for kids have to be appealing and we have to get them in, considering Saudi utd up the road.

Disgusted to hear we are turning kids away because they can only pay in cash as a side.

With the devepment of sheepfolds we can’t risk nimbys effecting future development. Extend it and continue letting kids in for next to nowt. Take the long term view and build the fan base whilst future proofing the stadium.
 
Brett said:
The real money these days is in hospitality, if we are to expand it should be in these areas.

We don't have to think about increasing seating but we do need to think of what modern day stadium looks like .

If we do get promoted the demand for hospitality will increase
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Didnt the club send out a survey recently asking fans if they use hospitality and how much they would pay ?I know i filled one in around six months ago!...... its clearly in their mind to improve the hospitality offerings ,especially for concerts and corporate so something is going to happen! We all know KLD likes to do stuff on the cheap so i personally hope they make a carbuncle of our beautiful stadium by hoying boxes up on the cheap .....Personally i hope the development follows the aesthetics of the premier concourse but i do doubt that will happen.
 
Thornton said:
Yeah that too. Doesn't look right how half way round the NW corner upper, it drops 6 rows. But, that's "the road". Great planning!
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Thats what Bob Murray and John Fickling were thinking and changed the South Stand Extension plans from a mirror image of the North Stand at 5,500 extra seats to the full 27 rows all the way round at 7,232. It takes the stadium footprint right to the edge of the road behind South Stand.
 
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