Expanding Falmer Further

[BensGrandad]

the problem with that is the design of the structure placed above is inherently inefficient space wise, so i doubt it could ever get that near that capacity. to get it built we had to push aesthetics (and make it look like the 25k limit was the limit... :wink.

Thats the important point I think: but I am sure to even contemplate that kind of capacity would mean extensive alteration and terrific expense.

 

[Grunty]

What The Amex needs is another bar and another [cheaper] restaurant so we can be comfortable before the match....

 

[Working class pride]

If we don't get into the Prem next season the plastics will be off so what's the point

Wrong club mate, we are Brighton not Palace, we get 30,000 plus playing lower league football, its Palace who need the top flight or else they rely on 14000 paying punters and then freebie 2 for 1 deals on groupon. Obviously the Amex needs o be expanded as if you get 30,000 for a nothing game against Wolves then top flight football would see demand ranging from 35000/40000 for an average top flight game and 50,000/60000 for a Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs type club and who knows what for Man United

 

[stripeyshark]

Wrong club mate, we are Brighton not Palace, we get 30,000 plus playing lower league football, its Palace who need the top flight or else they rely on 14000 paying punters and then freebie 2 for 1 deals on groupon. Obviously the Amex needs o be expanded as if you get 30,000 for a nothing game against Wolves then top flight football would see demand ranging from 35000/40000 for an average top flight game and 50,000/60000 for a Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs type club and who knows what for Man United

Possibly inflated figures! However I wouldn't want nearly 10,000 fans from the top clubs in the ground wanting our opponents to win. The amount of Liverpool in the ground for the league cup game pissed me off.

 

[Working class pride]

Possibly inflated figures! However I wouldn't want nearly 10,000 fans from the top clubs in the ground wanting our opponents to win. The amount of Liverpool in the ground for the league cup game pissed me off.

I'd love to see Leeds, Arsenal, and other to bring down 10,000 plus and we can do the same to Palace, Arsenal and a few others. The Goldstone used to rock when they did and just imagine the amount of money it would make for the Brighton economy leaving aside the Albion

 

[Spider]

I really don't want to see any further expansion for a long time. We need to prove that the current 25-30k gates are going to be sustainable long term or whether we are still riding a new stadium/attractive football wave. There's nothing worse than watching football in a ground filled to a low percentage of its capacity.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

The most significant improvement to the Amex would be somehow making the North Stand more imposing. It's far too small for a home "end". A second tier wouldn't be the answer. The best and noisiest ends are all single-tier. Maybe taking out and moving some office space and extending the seating deck up and back would be feasible - it wouldn't involve disturbing the roof structure and would reduce the amount of blank wall behind the north goal.

 

[yxee]

Wrong club mate, we are Brighton not Palace, we get 30,000 plus playing lower league football, its Palace who need the top flight or else they rely on 14000 paying punters and then freebie 2 for 1 deals on groupon. Obviously the Amex needs o be expanded as if you get 30,000 for a nothing game against Wolves then top flight football would see demand ranging from 35000/40000 for an average top flight game and 50,000/60000 for a Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs type club and who knows what for Man United

Sceptical... we've gotten over 30,000 exactly once at the Amex. The play-off semi wasn't even sold out on the day of the game.

 

[countryman]

The most significant improvement to the Amex would be somehow making the North Stand more imposing. It's far too small for a home "end". A second tier wouldn't be the answer. The best and noisiest ends are all single-tier. Maybe taking out and moving some office space and extending the seating deck up and back would be feasible - it wouldn't involve disturbing the roof structure and would reduce the amount of blank wall behind the north goal.

The north stand could also do with being a bit steeper. And hopefully, in the not too distant future, there will be safe standing in it. Then the north would become a wall of noise.

 

[kevo]

Let's quash this now. There is absolutely no more scope for increasing the seating at the stadium. The arches above the West and East Stand roofs essentially are holding the entire structure in place, and if you look carefully, the rods for holding them in place go under the roof in each stand. They meet at the points in the North and South stands, effectively ruling out the ability to increase the seating.

If they could they would have just done it this time round.

Yes, it's been stated several times that it can't be expanded further because of the roofs.

It was once mentioned that one possibility would be to lower the pitch! Not sure how that would work - presumably could squeeze in a few more rows by bringing the crowd closer in or narrowing the playing surface slightly

 

[8ace]

The seats in the WSL (one sat there for the Sussex Senior Cup Final) are "on rails" and can be slid closer together. The Dallas Cowboys have a similar set up at their new ground and they regularly adjust the width between seats depending on demand for the game. So you could get a least one more seat every row, every block for that stand.

http://www.stadium-advisor.com/CowboysNewStadiumFacts.html

 

[The Large One]

The most significant improvement to the Amex would be somehow making the North Stand more imposing. It's far too small for a home "end". A second tier wouldn't be the answer. The best and noisiest ends are all single-tier. Maybe taking out and moving some office space and extending the seating deck up and back would be feasible - it wouldn't involve disturbing the roof structure and would reduce the amount of blank wall behind the north goal.

That phrase does make me smile. I suspect you would mean 'move the entire office'. And most people's solution to that is to move it 11 miles away.

And to 'raise the roof' would be to alter the entire underpinning of the stadium (almost to start again), which would cost tens of millions.

 

[Notters]

The seats in the WSL (one sat there for the Sussex Senior Cup Final) are "on rails" and can be slid closer together. The Dallas Cowboys have a similar set up at their new ground and they regularly adjust the width between seats depending on demand for the game. So you could get a least one more seat every row, every block for that stand.

http://www.stadium-advisor.com/CowboysNewStadiumFacts.html

It's the same in all the stands. We actually lost seats when they converted the back of the ESL to 1901. No-one has ever explained what happened to them and how it didn't affect our capacity.

 

[The Large One]

There was a recent Albion Roar (search on iTunes) with Martin Perry where he went into some detail on this. I think the question he was responding to was along the lines of 'is the Stadium finished?'. From memory, they have identified several areas for more seating but the transport infrastructure has reached capacity so it's a no for the time being.

I had the transcription of that part of the conversation typed out yesterday, and then NSC went down.

Basically, the stadium is finished; they would struggle to get significantly more seats in; transport costs would be a further issue; they're looking around the ground to see where they can tack on a few seats here, a few seats there.

 

[Working class pride]

Sceptical... we've gotten over 30,000 exactly once at the Amex. The play-off semi wasn't even sold out on the day of the game.

A monday night on telly with the hint of crowd trouble, and it still did sell out. Give us top flight football and Arsenal at home with Arsenal bringing 10,000 then 45,000 / 50,000 would be a breeze for a club that can can 30,000 for Wolves in an end of season nothing game.

 

[dougdeep]

Sceptical... we've gotten over 30,000 exactly once at the Amex.

Not true. Check the attendance figures for the last few games.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

You can't put the foundations required for extra seating without taking the whole stadium apart (or certainly all of the roof). Given that the stadium was designed by a 'can-do' architect, I don't fancy the chances of finding a way around it.

This. If you intend to design an 'upper' tier you will have to remove the 'dogs heads '.

To remove the dogs heads, both East and West Stand roofs have to come down. Because without them you'll be relying on skyhooks.

 

[Working class pride]

I had the transcription of that part of the conversation typed out yesterday, and then NSC went down.

Basically, the stadium is finished; they would struggle to get significantly more seats in; transport costs would be a further issue; they're looking around the ground to see where they can tack on a few seats here, a few seats there.

That is my fear also and if so the Albion will never reach its potential. However I expect Bloom will look at options if we ever do get back to the top flight

 

[Return of the Rev]

What about getting smaller moulds for smaller fans?

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

The most significant improvement to the Amex would be somehow making the North Stand more imposing. It's far too small for a home "end". A second tier wouldn't be the answer. The best and noisiest ends are all single-tier. Maybe taking out and moving some office space and extending the seating deck up and back would be feasible - it wouldn't involve disturbing the roof structure and would reduce the amount of blank wall behind the north goal.

That's certainly technically possible ( but still not cheap ), although the sight lines would be compromised, and where would the scoreboard go?