a full amex 22500 or a larger ground with 5000 empty seats?

[Return of the Rev]

Which would you prefer a totaly full house with all season tickets holders turning up 22500 or 30k capacity with around 25,000 fans 5,000 empty seats

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Cant see there being that many empty seats - would probably depend on whether the club gets a proper ticket exchange working, what the new STHs will be like and whether the away fans will bring more than last year as they will get a bigger allocation

 

[wayneb]

I would like at least a couple of thousand empty seats then maybe i could bring my grandson with me
from Somerset and convert a Liverpool fan to the cause.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Cant see there being that many empty seats - would probably depend on whether the club gets a proper ticket exchange working, what the new STHs will be like and whether the away fans will bring more than last year as they will get a bigger allocation

not saying we will have 5000 empty seats just which would you prefer?

 

[Simster]

5,000 empty seats is fine. It's when it gets up to 8-9,000 empty seats that the ground feels empty even when you have a decent crowd in. 23,000 at St Mary's (capacity 32,150) can feel quite sparse.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Its obviously better to say "we have a full house" but its also good to say we have an attendance of 25,000 - its a tough one, club makes more from the second though and its better in the long run, especially if we get promoted.

 

[Captain Sensible]

25k crowd in that stadium would be awesome.

 

[Dirk Gently]

The trouble is that potential match-goers who don't know that much about the club (i.e. just the people who need to be attracted to grow for the future) might take one look at the attendances and assume that tickets aren't available for any games and so won't bother to try and get tickets.

That's definitely happened at other clubs where tickets were available but potential new supporters had the perception they weren't.

 

[Storer 68]

Its obviously better to say "we have a full house" but its also good to say we have an attendance of 25,000 - its a tough one, club makes more from the second though and its better in the long run, especially if we get promoted.

ah, but what is a FULL house.

Is it ALL seats SOLD AND occupied Or is it ALL seats SOLD, but not necessarily occupied. either way, the club can only sell a seat ONCE.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Larger ground every time. There's plenty of ways the marketing department will be able to ensure the extra seats get filled.

 

[middletoenail]

Put it this way, I would rather live in a mansion than a flat given the choice!

 

[ees complicated no?]

25 - 27 k every game, then 29k to 30k at the big games sound good to me.

 

[Bozza]

I was thinking along similar lines watching MotD on Saturday night, particularly the Bolton game where it looked as though there were vast swathes of empty seats for the visit of QPR. Looking at the attendance and the stated capacity, there were around 7000 empty seats but it looked pretty depressing, I thought.

I was wondering, if we did manage to become a Bolton-esque mid-lower Premier League club, how many people would turn up for the non-glamour games once the novelty wears off after the first season or two? Would there still be an insatiable demand for tickets?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

ah, but what is a FULL house.

Is it ALL seats SOLD AND occupied Or is it ALL seats SOLD, but not necessarily occupied. either way, the club can only sell a seat ONCE.

Would be the amount of people in the stadium on the day, if it was seats sold then each game the number would be a lot higher as all STHs would be included

 

[leigull]

Definitely the bigger capacity with some empty seats. The ground will look so much better with the extra seats anyways and would lose the unfinished look. And there will be enough games where it is filled to make it all worth while. It's vital to capturing new fans too, if it's a lot easier to get tickets at last minute/short notice then more people will come. At the moment you have to know when the tickets go on sale and be reasonably quick off the mark in getting them.

 

[Simster]

I'd say we have a bigger support than Bolton, [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION], and you have already underestimated our support at the Amex. People turn up at the Amex because the "product" is good, and the quality of football on display is actually only part of that. Consequently, I'd guess that with a professional marketing arm, gates at the Amex will rarely dip below 24-25,000 in a 31,000 capacity stadium watching Premiership football. Even Blackburn get 21,000 minimum and they are a small mill town and the club is in disarray.

 

[Peter Grummit]

ah, but what is a FULL house.

Is it ALL seats SOLD AND occupied Or is it ALL seats SOLD, but not necessarily occupied. either way, the club can only sell a seat ONCE.

But a proper ticket exchange means they would effectively sell some seats more than once. I am fed up with the attendance being 2k+ down on the capacity even though it claims to be sold out. Let's expand the ground but also work harder at filling all seats on the day.

PG

 

[chucky1973]

I would rather have the ground finished and all seats in. If that means we have 7000 empty seasts then so be it, it also means that more people can obtain tickets which increases the fan base. We are stuck where we are now with only a 1000 general sale tickets

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

I'd say we have a bigger support than Bolton, [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION], and you have already underestimated our support at the Amex. People turn up at the Amex because the "product" is good, and the quality of football on display is actually only part of that. Consequently, I'd guess that with a professional marketing arm, gates at the Amex will rarely dip below 24-25,000 in a 31,000 capacity stadium watching Premiership football. Even Blackburn get 21,000 minimum and they are a small mill town and the club is in disarray.

The North-West has a load of Premier League teams in the area, so thats probably why there is big gaps as people go to United or Liverpool for example. Down here our nearest clubs would be Southampton (if they go up), Fulham and Chelsea (unless ive forgotten another club).

 

[ees complicated no?]

what looks better

1. Empty blue seats to match the stadium to complete the stadium?

or

2. the sight of grey concrete + white bars & a half finished stadium?