An interesting bit in the Times today by Matt Dickinson and I quote, "I live in West London.On my street are supporters of Chelsea, Fulham and QPR. But there is nobody who moans they cannot get a ticket for the game. Chelsea are looking to move to a new 60,000-capacity stadium, Fulham want to upgrade Craven Cottage byalmost 5,000 and QPR believe they need a new stadium to become competitive in the top flight. It makes you wonder where they are going to find the bums for all those extra seats." I hope the Chelsea board have picked up on it!
At the right price we could. I live in an area that is pretty much all Chelsea, with the odd Arsenal and Fulham. In fact my next door neighbour was an ST at the Bridge back in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. You speak to your average Chelsea fan and they will tell you they can't go because they can't afford it. Unlike Arsenal we cannot fill 60,000 with all middle/upper class fans, Chelsea's traditional fanbase has always come from working class areas in South and West London as well as the Home Counties. You might get the odd hundred from the Midlands and Milton Keynes but that is pretty much it. Arsenal are just a Southern version of Man Utd IMO, full of gloryhunters and cling ons from the successful 90s era. Their fanbase increased exponentially after Italia 90 when football began to grow, they have more members than any other club but even their fanbase is being stretched at the moment due to the prices. Every Arsenal home game bar Liverpool has gone on general sale, now at both Highbury and Emirates in it's first 5 years that was unheard of. If we sold Carling Cup games at Arsenal's prices i.e £10, £5 concession I'd be willing to bet we could fill 60k with fans to spare. We shouldn't forget that up until the price hike and the abolition of Concession rates for students and young adults, we were filling the Bridge with 41k against the likes of Man Utd, with many missing out because they hadn't got enough loyalty points or hadn't woken up by 7am to get tickets, so I don't buy into all the anti-Chelsea hype that we would "Never" fill a 60k stadium, because for about 40-50% of league games, even at current prices we could.
Of those teams only 2 sold their entire ST allocation last season and it wasn't United or Liverpool and certainly not Newcastle. United could only pull in 43k when they tried to charge fans £38 for a League cup game in midweek, yet days later pulled in 75k for a league game. Liverpool pulled in 35k for a league game on a NATIONAL HOLIDAY and traditional fixture, yet both these clubs reckon they need 80k and 60k respectively. People shouldn't buy into the anti-Chelsea hype. When CC games were £20 a pop, it was only us and Arsenal that were selling out even against League 2 opposition.
District Gotta agree with you there, I work with a couple of guys who stopped going when they couldn't afford the season ticket. We are talking about families that went to the bridge all through the late 60's am 70's. They would definitely start going again should the season tickets go down or make CC nights £20 pop.
The whole issue is really about ticket pricing! If the building of a new stadium is about increasing club revenues then a 60,000 seater stadium will be of no use if we reduce the entry price, If we keep the current tariff then my guess is we wont fill the stadium. Sentiment apart, I cant get to grips with a move from SB,
Not just about the ticket prices though. More bodies through the door means more food and drink, programmes, merchandise etc being sold as well. Also you just reduce tickets for lower priority and make your money on the big games when we'd get 50000 - 60000 no probs.
bluemoon - I totally get your sentiment, but if there really is NO option to get sufficient seats at the Bridge, we have to move. For a club of our size, with the aims that we have, we just dont have a stadium that is big enough. A real chance to make a corker. Sure, whatever we do, whenever we do it, we're bound to get pelters from all the other clubs (and even some of ours), but it's time to do it. I don't know how long these projects take once they are decided (2-3 years?) but I think we need to get a move on. I'm already getting a little excited about sitting amongst 50-60,000 other Chelsea fans.
I know the club have "explored" all the possibilities of increasing capacity at SB. The egress of the entire attendance on to Fulham Rd at present is the sticking point .We cant exit West (listed housing) or East (Brompton Cemetary), but although the railway runs to the north, has there been any thought given to creating a bridge from the ground over the rail lines?
I am staggered to see JT who chairs the CPO meetings is now trying to persuade them to sell their stake back to the club.! Was this a gesture from the heart or has he been primed by those "upstairs"?
