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SOL expansion
- Thread starter Father Larry Duff
- Start date
magic snood
Midfield
I think it would be utterly mental to not build it and the sooner the better. Forest were averaging 20k less than 10 years ago, are by no means secure in their PL position and are currently set to expand and have a bigger capacity than us.
42
Striker
But also depends on how high up you build it. Itll be possible to go much higher than the 63k. However there'll then be an issue around parking as youd lose a fair bit of the car park, and not much room to create new spaces.
rubberface
Striker
Supposedly.
Roker Mackem
Striker
Theyve done a good job keeping the same colour scheme etc. Im still not convinced but we'll see what the final version is like
Hendon Mad Frog
Winger
Welcome to Wrexham?
FalkirkMackem
Striker
Stadium looks manky like
get the pressure washer outSurely it lights up? Currently it just looks like slightly faded red lettering
Sea to Shining Sea
Striker
That sounds right to me.
Stadium looks manky like
Surely it lights up? Currently it just looks like slightly faded red lettering
I can’t believe they’re putting that up and unveiling it before finishing the paint job. It’ll look a clip
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Roker Mackem
Striker
Stadium looks manky like
Surely it lights up? Currently it just looks like slightly faded red lettering
No the lettering is spot on, it matches the turnstile numbers. Assuming theyll fit little spotlights underneath maybe?
ftm1971
Striker
Pushing the boat out for Farage's visit?
Mnemonic
Midfield
The club need to plan for that demand, by being in the premier league and raising the profile.
Businesses don't sit back and hope demand appears by magic.
Build the full expansion, along with plans to fill it.
42
Striker
Id imagine EU funding wouldve just been to pay for land preparation, which generally benefits the city public infrastructure. Cant imagine theyd have funded a private business in that way.
Someone mentioned Villas is costing £100m which is a full demolition & complete rebuild. Ive no idea how much it'll cost, but it should be a fair bit cheaper than what villa are doing, given it was designed to be easily extended.
Also will depend on how high end you design it, cheap cladding like the north stand or fancy brick work & glass fronts like the west stand.
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oddbod
Striker
I think yer wrong mate !they will build it if it makes financial sense big projects like this get cheaper and cheaper as you look back and as long as the finances(loans ect) are structured right it would make sense to do it!....your plodding 19c thinking would have had us in a 24000 roker park surrounded by housing!Businesses move with the times or die! The sol was built with a pie and a pint mindset and if we stay like that we will never attract the global fan that our CEO obviously wants us to attract.
If we have the aim to compete at the top end of this league we have to have a ground befitting a top six club!
Local Lad
Winger
I get why people dont want to extend and us end up with a whole tier empty but hopefully that doesn't happen.
We could have more demand for seats than we have for 25 years and the season after we extend we get relegated and demand plummets.
We've got so many fans wanting tickets they cant get, we've got people wanting to move seats but cant becuase they end up at the end of the list. If we keep this up for 5 years there will be si many more people wanting to buy tickets for their family/friends to sit with them but wont be able to. If we dont extend with the demand we have now we never will.
JackL
Midfield
I'm not saying we definitely shouldn't do it, and pretty sure my whole argument is based on it making financial sense. Its not plodding 19c thinking to think that
Sea to Shining Sea
Striker
oddbod
Striker
The business has to grow as long as the loans are structured right i see no reason not to invest in an extension (other than the present inflated prices coz of trump)Businesses have good and lean times and as long as we can carry the repayments during these lean times the price of the extension will look peanuts in ten years time .
The club knows what its minimum revenue is for the next 4 years and im sure they will try to grow within that revenue stream and that might just involve a commitment to purchase a long term loan to extend the stadium .Lets wait and see what type of players we bring in next season,will it be to push on or consolidate and that might give a clue to what our goals are. I still find it strange that Bruce has gone but i will be interested to see if the temp CEO is replaced by someone focused on the club rather than KLD's portfolio ....were supposed to be trying to become a global brand and i dont see how that happens without sustained success and possibly creation the sol as a top notch arena used for more that 20 days a year.
Sorry but it is! I think we differ in what makes financial sense .My view is we need to grow the club and its revenue stream and extending the ground is one sure way of doing that ...now i would be looking at can we afford it ?can we service the loan over a 23-30 year period even under very lean times and if we can i would say go ahead and extend,now thats financial sense to me.Basically we build the best stadium "we can afford" to derive the maximum revenue possible from it in both fat and lean times. Now i believe you would like to wait until some sweet spot in the future when the decision is guaranteed to be a success and my view no guarantees can be made and it always comes down to can we afford it ..and we can!
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Really interesting interview.
The fact he knows that an extension would add 10k seats, and 3k would need to be corporate, suggests they are at least considering its feasibility.
I also liked the comments re the £30 away ticket cap - while you could charge more it would add comparatively little additional revenue at the cost of changing the demographic of away supporters and conseqently the special atmosphere.
We have intelligent people running our club.
The fact he knows that an extension would add 10k seats, and 3k would need to be corporate, suggests they are at least considering its feasibility.
I also liked the comments re the £30 away ticket cap - while you could charge more it would add comparatively little additional revenue at the cost of changing the demographic of away supporters and conseqently the special atmosphere.
We have intelligent people running our club.
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Sgt Pepper
Striker
I posted about this the other day talking about how tremendous our West Stand exterior looks compared to the others, and how I wish they’d done the same with the North Stand after the extension rather than cover half with the white cladding. It looks good where the big cats are on the wall.
Tbf yes it is for atmosphere for those of us left if shit hits the fan and the ones who fancied it after we became decent again suddenly decide they don’t again and ‘won’t be back until [insert name] goes’. All I want is for us to wait to see if the demand is sustainable. Even just this year after the season we’ve had, 1,000 plus didn’t renew which is likely down to cost - and unfortunately that will also only get worse.
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DiscopantsSoL
Midfield
If they continued the Premier Concourse around the South and East plus North East Corner you can get to around 66,000 seats losing rows 42-44 of the lower bowl in the process. Building it out as far as West Stand wont take away much parking behind the East Stand, maybe 1 or 2 rows as the road will need to move back. There is more than enough space in the West Stand levels 1 & 3 that could be mirrowed over in a newly extended East Stand. Level 2 of the West Stand is obviously the Food/drink Concourse for the Premier Concourse ticket holders. Having corporate packages included doesn't affect the number of seats facing the pitch. They will be just padded seats with access directly into posh lounges. I think what they will do is create a package where the back 8 or so rows of the lower tier become padded and corporate and you access the bar like 76 yards and the bottom 5 rows of the upper tier like the old BCB and the current offerings in Riverview and Banks on the Wear. Thats the only way i can see them fitting in 3k corporate.
The original plans where for it to be all brick and glass like the West Stand. Was devastated they went for the cheap cladding. Having the exterior of the West Stand all around the South and East would look superb and thankfully the Swimming Pool and Beacon block the view of the North Stand now anyway.
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