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Great Article on the State of Modern All Seater Premier League Obsessed Football
- Thread starter big nuts
- Start date
I understand about safe standing areas and I hope they come in. I won't use them but I'm sure lots would. But you surely aren't suggesting that, if they did, it would allow adults to see a game for much less than they pay now? That just won't happen unless something is done about the costs of running a club - and by that I mean player's wages.
Keeping The Dream Alive.
Naming Rights
Thanks for sharing.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 47,221
This is the big unspoken thing about any potential return to terracing, isn't it?
I bet many clubs will pay lip service to the concept because it's popular amongst fans, but in private they won't want them. Pick a club like Stoke City as an example. They have an average gate somewhere in the mid twenty thousands I'd imagine. Say they convert one end of the Britannia Stadium to a safe-standing terrace. Are thousands more people suddenly going to come and watch Stoke because they can stand on a terrace? No, of course they're not. Unless Stoke suddenly become hugely successful on the pitch, there is only ever a finite number of people who will buy tickets to watch them, whether in a seat or on a terrace. So overall crowd numbers won't change much.
The expectation of supporters is that standing on a terrace will be cheaper than sitting. Are Stoke going to significantly lower prices for that area of the ground simply to have roughly the same number of people in the stadium (maybe a couple of hundred more)? Of course they're not, as their overall ticket revenue will actually fall. I bet you any money that the gain made from extra supporters coming to games because they can now stand won't even come close to the cost to Stoke of lowering ticket prices to a level that you or I might think is acceptable to stand and watch a football match.
I'd love terracing to come back, but I just can't see it happening, because clubs won't want to lose revenue. Sad but true. The Albion's view (secretly, perhaps) will be exactly the same.
Keeping The Dream Alive.
Naming Rights
As has been pointed out many times though, ticket sales revenue is miniscule compared to the money clubs get from SKY/BT. You're right in that clubs will probably take a minor financial hit, but for Premier League teams it really shouldn't matter given the amount of money they rake in from TV deals. It would be nice if some clubs acknowledged that changing to safe standing won't make them any more money, but it will make their fans a lot happier. You'd like to think the goodwill generated will be a long term thing, and that can stand for a lot. Also, would stadium adjustments fall outside of FFP?
- Jul 7, 2003
- 47,221
I see what you're saying. But for clubs who aren't part of the great big Sky Pie (like us) ticket revenues are still important. And try as I might, I don't see the Albion doing something on the scale of installing terracing just for goodwill. Gestures like that really don't exist in football, unless there's some sort of monetary gain in it for the clubs, in which case it would no longer be a goodwill gesture anyway. I think that's quite sad.
It absolutely is. Tremendous and sums up many of the things I feel as a father, football fan and child of the 70s. I'm about to order the book. Just on Saturday I took my 7 year old and we sat in the WSU surrounded by people who, while perfectly nice, are not my long term friends. Those I met for a drink afterwards. I often think it would be great if we could all stand together again. Notwithstanding that standing for 90 minutes would be a challenge for a few of us for different reasons.
withdeanwombat
Well-known member
I'm with those who think that some of the crowd would just shuffle round to the safe standing, leaving gaps in the seats that would make the stadium seem half empty (or half full if you're like me). Which clubs would benefit ? Well, only those with waiting lists for season tickets - and they're in the Premier League where I imagine safe standing will never be allowed.
Like some other posters, I really liked the old style Goldstone terracing, the surging, swaying, sweating ,moaning, cheeringness of it. Nowadays, though, the years have kind of stitched me up, and a seat with an excellent view does me these days.
Like some other posters, I really liked the old style Goldstone terracing, the surging, swaying, sweating ,moaning, cheeringness of it. Nowadays, though, the years have kind of stitched me up, and a seat with an excellent view does me these days.