.......it would generate about £6m over a season plus additional sales but minus extra overhead costs. That assumes we could fill the stadium to capacity for every game. The cost of building the extension would be quite considerable and when you look at the relatively small return as a result there are better ways of generating that extra income without the high costs such as player development and sales, TV money and sponsorship etc. etc. I have come to the view that fans are no longer an important source of revenue for the club but are extras brought in to create the noise and atmosphere for the match. The point in saying all of this is do you think it would be a sensible and cost effective strategy to extend St Mary's?
An initial extension to 40,000 is possible on paper, but it's also possible that building regs have moved on and our foundations aren't up to the snuff. The cost of each seat added is much higher than the initial seat cost during the original build. It's no good talking about what the fans want...it has to add up on paper as well. A couple more successful years and who knows. There are also the council plans for the waterfront to consider. I'm sure there are plans and it is being considered and revisited at intervals, but doubt it's the first priority...more part of the long term plan.
I don't see this at all. £6m pays for £120k a week in player salaries, plus with good cup runs or European competition that could go up considerably. Not to mention the effect on loyalty, goodwill, etc from the extra fans who are able to attend, and the increase in the club's stature with players we might like to sign or potential fans around the world. Also you can't rely on the TV deal being this lucrative forever, if that decreases in future, as is likely, ticket sales will become a much more important source of income. Yes the up-front cost is considerable but a loan could be taken to cover it with repayments of less a year than you would get in profit from the new seats, so you'd be profiting immediately. If you are confident of filling the extra capacity, which I would be, it's a no-brainer.
This the key for me. With crowds of 30,000 we will always be viewed as one of the smaller clubs punching above our weight.
I'm against expanding the current stadium to 40,000 and these are my reasons. I want a new stadium mimum capcity of 60000 because that's what we will need need to compete with the top 4. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I like to be able to buy a match day ticket before a game. I like NC's style he's ambitious and I hope that he delivers this with the new stadium which has to be one of the best in country!
There is simply not another 10,000 Saints fans who will suddenly turn up week in and week out. They turn out for Wembley & Man U etc, but very doubtful we'd get that many buying season tickets or attending more than 70% of home games. Especially as ticket prices will continue to rise. Its a myth that a bigger stadium equals cheaper tickets.
Think this all hangs on the council's plans for an extensive development of the waterfront. However, monetary considerations may delay that somewhat. Will NC consider that a temporary solution is feasible?
The whole match experience could be enhanced with the redevelopment of the whole area of river front. Shops, bars, hotels and restaurants in the immediate area surrounding the stadium.
There may not be another 10,000 die-hards waiting for extra seats, but I bet there are 50,000 or so who would go to at least every fifth match and that has the same result. Plus with continued success and some better players to pull in the punters, you might be surprised how many seats we could fill.
It possibly means some cheap seats (with distant views) are available in a stadium already built, but the price of the build has to be recouped first. The main advantage is that it will be easier to get match day tickets, but I think it will be years before the benefits outweigh the risks as far as Nicola is concerned.
Don't forget too, that if we expanded the stadium, the away allocation would go up, so it ain't about finding 10,000 extra Southampton supporters, as it would be offset by extra fans in the away end.
This could be a key point; we could extend the capacity of the ground but not the capacity of the surrounding area which is pretty confined currently (and would be even more so by an enlarged stadium), and the development plans would help with that. I'm sure the board are working with the council to create a situation where extension is feasible as soon as possible.
I am all for the extension (although I agree a brand new stadium somewhere close to the motorway would be far better). I am a long distance fan who has a 150+ mile round trip, I can't get to every game especially especially Monday night, Sunday afternoon games soI rely on the scramble for tickets when they come up for general sale which very often leads to between two and four of us not being able to go to the game. The additional spaces would prevent this. Additional capacity at the less attractive/smaller opponents would allow us to offer bargain tickets to kids who become full time fans of the future. A larger capacity would allow us to increase the number of away fans allocation. Most of the London teams, both Mancs, the scouters and Villa would probably be able to fill up to a 10k end and build a fantastic atmosphere. Come on let's get it on! We want to be top four club then we have to act like a top four club and not the little country bumpkins down on the south coast
We are the biggest club in England south of Birmingham, apart from a few of the London clubs. Nowadays football fans do not simply support their local team, sad as that might be. I know it will make people like CBK spit feathers but we do need to compete for support with the other "big" clubs. Transport links to Southampton, apart from the ****pile that is the A36, are good enough for fans to travel long distances to home matches nowadays, so a much larger stadium is a viable business proposition, provided we stay in the Premier League and have a few stabs at Europe.
The foundations to the stadium will have been designed for the potential additional loadings of another stand. Foundation design hasn't really changed since the ground was built from a building regs point of view.
I think an extra 7,000 might be too few given the cost. If Nicola had an end goal for where the stadium could/should be, doing it bit by bit would not be the way forward.
There are instances of teams increasing their capacity in the premier league......but most have gone for complete new grounds.
