They've just been promoted to Serie A, 5 years ago they were playing in the Italian 5th tier. They have a ground capacity of just 4,144 (the minimum requirement for Serie A is 20,000) and a population of just 67,000. Well done to them.
They have done ridiculously well. I'm trying to think of a UK equivalent who have ever done as well, but I cant. Maybe the original Wimbledon are the best comparison. Just a couple of weeks ago Lazio's president was complaining about it being bad for football that such a small team might make the top division and from his point of view ie money I see what he's saying but - **** that - it's about sport. The average age of their squad is an incredible 21. Brilliant.
Because of ground capacity does that mean they have to increase it by 16,000 or miss out on promotion? Would be a nice trip for a pre-season with Naples a short ferry trip away and Pompeii and Herculanium just up the road. Missed out on the latter when I was in the area.
You have made the same mistake I did when I read the heading and thought it referred to Capri. However, it is Carpi which is up in the north in the Bologna area.
I'm sure BCC will know better than me, but I think in some cases an exception can be made. Either way I'd assume they were going to expand it anyway, this season's lowest ranked income via Serie A TV rights was €17.2m (Sassuolo) and they all get a fixed payment of €15.2m for just being in the league, so they should have a bit of cash to spend. Attracting players might be a touch difficult, mind.
If it's like the UK witch expansion costs around £1 million+ per 1000 seats it could eat up 1.5x what they will receive (excluding Mafia pay offs)
Their ground is pretty much like any league 2 side but there's plenty of room for expansion. This highlight from their game gives a good idea of how big it is.
They've averaged less than 3,000 a game this season, yet there are still 3 teams with a lower average attendance in Serie B. The overall average in Serie B is 6,500, lower than League One. The Championship average over 17,000. Even in Serie A there are 6 teams averaging less than 15,000 this season, which seems shocking. Congratulations to Carpi, looks to be a remarkable achievement, don't remember ever hearing first team squad with an average age of 21.
Is it? Is it any different to Blackpool? Or how about Wigan, Fulham, Blackburn and the like who - without huge away followings - would get home attendances around that figure. Plus, people always go on about Serie A attendances but every single game - and yes I mean every single one of every club - is available to watch on regular tv. People buy season tickets for their tv and sit at home. If that was available here I'm sure ****loads of fans would do it.
I went to Herculanium and Capri (not Carpi) when I went to Sorrento. The former is very interesting, apparently better than Pompeii, and the latter is just stunning. Billionaires playground and some beautiful scenery. Yeah he did.
Blackpool only average 15,500, but the others mentioned usually averaged around 20k, Blackburn and Fulham regularly averaging over 25k, there'll never be six teams in the Premier League averaging under 15k, I'm not sure there's even been one.
Bournemouth will be. Swindon got 15,740 average attendance. Wimbledon must have surely? And as I said, that was cos of away followings. Wigan and Fulham regularly had under 16,000 home fans.
A good source for attendances. http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm Saying Blackburn regularly averaged over 25,000 is a bit of a stretch though. There are only about 7 clubs who have averaged over 40,000 in a season. All predictable apart from Charlton Athletic.
