http://www.hullcityindependent.net/?page=news&news_id=819 Think that if left to the council we'd finish up with a few park benches around the touch side.
We don't really need this. We wouldn't fill it unless we gave tickets away. Our attendances at the minute are fluctuating. You'd have thought we'd get more in because of our position in the league, but we were getting more last season. Which is bizarre to say the least. Gone are the days since we used to get 30K and even higher at BP. Also, there's hardly ever a decent away following at the KC, Leicester, Forest, Leeds, Boro, West Ham, Derby are the exceptions. But even then there's loads of empty seats. And it's a real eye sore. What are they planning to bring the money in and to get bums on seats? Gigs don't sell out, neither do the RL internationals and we don't seem to be in the running for get anymore football U21 internationals. Also the Black & Whites fans would whinge more than ever.
Expansion would be far more aesthetically pleasing but if we're going from that point of view I'd rather them use the money to tidy up the areas around the stadium where away fans will generally pick up a feel for the City and make judgements.
Don't believe a word of it. It's typical political posturing which will keep the voters happy; they will string it along to stop the vote drain from their past cock-ups. Don't hold your breath.
What I don't understand is why don't they, instead of an empty north stand, they give a couple of hundred tickets to say two primary and two secondary schools to fill one or two blocks in the stand? Obviously they don't make money off the tickets and will have to pay to staff that part of the stand, but it dos have positives. They make money on food/drink they wouldn't have normally with an empty stand. The kids can create noise, we saw that against Burnley and it gets them interested in their local club rather than the Man Utds and Liverpools of the world meaning they are more likely to come back for more games, generating more ticket sales and more noise. Much of the 'policing' of the block would be done by the teachers/parents accompanying the kids and they are hardly going to cause trouble to the away fans being mostly kids. The wages of the stewards is like 26 pound a match, surely a couple hundred kids buying hot dogs/bottles of pop generates more than that back? Win win?
No point in expanding the stadium capacity unless we are seriously investing in the team in order to achieve promotion to the PL and investing further in order to stay there.
I Coached an U/11 Aussie rules Football Team here in Adelaide we were invited to play the main curtain raiser befrore the Port Adelaide v Hawthorn match in2009. Each boy and 1 of their parents were given a free pass into the stadium (which holds 51515 spectators ) and a lot more were sold due to this as all the Uncles,Aunties, and grandparents, not to mention siblings wanted to go to see their brother,nephew,grandson play on AAMI Stadium. To top things off we won!
The point in expanding was always to reduce ticket prices as many who would go are at the moment priced out of doing so.
Knowing the council, you just can't think it's anything more than a PR stunt. If the KC is to be ramped up to 30,000 or more, surely wait until we get promotion to the PL. Particulaly at the moment, with the economy on it's arese. The attendances of the football team or the rugby team simply don't justify expansion at this time. Did we fill the KC for the international even? Unless our Chairman has scared them all at City Hall with his talk of a new super stadium in Melton, I can only think they are point scoring at Hull City Council.
