[Albion] Ground extensions - that old chestnut!

[essbee1]

Surely as the sale of Caicedo was enough to have paid for the build of the Amex and the training ground, when we sell Ferguson for £200m we can just go and build a bigger ground somewhere else??

Perhaps Gillingham...

And to think I used to envy Gillingham as a club because they were in the Championship and we were in the pits of the old fourth division.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Just my humble opinion ....

From an engineering point of view, it's difficult and vastly expensive rather than impossible.

From a ticketing capacity point of view, do we need more than 30ish k? I'm of the view, if we build it they will come, as long as it's accompanied with visible proactive marketing and sensible pricing. I think there is still plenty of latent demand, people unaware tickets become routinely available, or only want to go with a partner or a few mates and rightly or wrongly think it's hard to get that.

The even bigger problem is the transport arrangements. How are we getting another 10k people to and from the ground?

I reckon you could use half the Caicedo money to take out the roof at the end, bung another modest tier in, put a new roof back on. We would get another 10k as we did when the stadium opened. However the bigger problem is Southern Trains

 

[amexer]

I think 32k if fine. With so many including now Seagull travel buses arriving well over an hour before the game would just like them first to get on with external improvements.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I reckon 32k is perfect for us

I think we’re at about 31,800 ish…

Planning permission and designs were obtained for a 32.5k capacity. The 700 extra seats (probably 1901) were in the south east corner and a new north stand shelf (with bar etc behind). The club didn’t go ahead with these for ‘cost’ reasons. I’m guessing that the demand for 1901 seats is not there.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Give the ground to the women’s team and build a new 45k seater stadium that’s easy to get in and out

A cursory look at club history of the last 30 years suggests to me that it's finding and agreeing the location of this ground which might prove a challenge

 

[Monkey Man]

Imagine if we became regulars in European competitions, picking up a bit of silverware here and there, attracting top players and a bigger fanbase. (A lot of assumptions being made there but not really so far from our current reality.)

Like other teams in that position I wonder if the subject of a bigger ground would ever come into the club's thinking.

How might it work? Buy some neighbouring land, like Tottenham did, and build a 50,000-seater there while the Amex stays in use for a couple more seasons?

Or could you create a temporary ground, with modular seating, then either demolish the Amex and start again or do some very major changes?

Neither option seems likely but then neither did European football 20 years ago.

 

[Hugo Rune]

A cursory look at club history of the last 30 years suggests to me that it's finding and agreeing the location of this ground which might prove a challenge

The University of Brighton is on its knees financially. They’d not be able refuse a reasonable offer for the rugby pitch adjacent to the stadium and opposite the railway station which they hardly ever use because of flooding issues which they can’t afford to fix.

A little 8,000 capacity (or so) mini Amex for the Women’s team and maybe the U21s could be plonked there for less than the fee we got for Caicedo.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

The University of Brighton is on its knees financially. They’d not be able refuse a reasonable offer for the rugby pitch adjacent to the stadium and opposite the railway station which they hardly ever use because of flooding issues which they can’t afford to fix.

A little 8,000 capacity (or so) mini Amex for the Women’s team and maybe the U21s could be plonked there for less than the fee we got for Caicedo.

The fella was talking about putting a 45k stadium somewhere and giving the Amex to the women!

 

[A mex eyecan]

I’m sure you could buy a flat pack stadium from Ikea and put that in Bennett’s Field whilst we are in demand, then simply send it back for a refund should we ever not need it in the future.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

A cursory look at club history of the last 30 years suggests to me that it's finding and agreeing the location of this ground which might prove a challenge

That development on the Sackville trading estate is a good of example of how that isn't as true as it once was.

That would have been an ideal location for a city centre stadium.

Now we are a successful Premier League club, I think we'd find the planners more accommodating than we did when football was a dirty word, overrun by hooligans.

 

[brighton_tom]

I don’t think we need a 40k+ stadium or anything like that. But a small tier over the north and south, plus a box in the north east corner could be possible, would bring us closer to 35k, and would make the interior of the Amex feel more balanced and complete.

 

[A1X]

Give the ground to the women’s team and build a new 45k seater stadium that’s easy to get in and out

I like the idea of treating the grounds as single use and within a century Sussex is just littered with ever larger football grounds as the Albion has outgrown it and moved on, by this time playing in a 350,000 seater stadium with it's own airport somewhere near Crowborough

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I think the most realistic suggestion someone made in another thread is relocation of the Sky lounge and security box and then carry on the west stand seating as an extra shelf above the north stand.

The will give the stadium a more finished look and will maximize the number of seats.

Anything more significant then that I can't see as being viable. Maybe the North stand can be taken back a few rows into the space behind the concourse.

 

[BNthree]

How might it work? Buy some neighbouring land, like Tottenham did, and build a 50,000-seater there while the Amex stays in use for a couple more seasons?

There's talk that Brighton Uni want to give up their campus in Falmer and move all their staff/students to the new buildings on Lewes Road in Moulescomb so this does have a minuscule chance of being achievable.

 

[Gazwag]

It doesnt matter if its possible or not the current transport links will make it impossible

 

[BNthree]

It doesnt matter if its possible or not the current transport links will make it impossible

There'd be plenty of room for some multi-storey car parks. Which I sure would go down well with the planning application!

 

[Monkey Man]

There's talk that Brighton Uni want to give up their campus in Falmer and move all their staff/students to the new buildings on Lewes Road in Moulescomb so this does have a minuscule chance of being achievable.

It would be entirely in keeping with the current media narrative for BHA.

"It's amazing, Gary. They sold a world class stadium and somehow replaced it with an even better one. How do they do it?"

 

[Spiros]

Imagine if we became regulars in European competitions, picking up a bit of silverware here and there, attracting top players and a bigger fanbase. (A lot of assumptions being made there but not really so far from our current reality.)

Like other teams in that position I wonder if the subject of a bigger ground would ever come into the club's thinking.

How might it work? Buy some neighbouring land, like Tottenham did, and build a 50,000-seater there while the Amex stays in use for a couple more seasons?

Or could you create a temporary ground, with modular seating, then either demolish the Amex and start again or do some very major changes?

Neither option seems likely but then neither did European football 20 years ago.

You obviously have no grasp at all of the difficulty the club had in finding the Falmer site in the first place. What is this 'neighbouring' land that the club could buy then? One reason the club actually got permission to build the current stadium is because there is simply no alternative viable site anywhere nearby. What we have now we have for the foreseeable future, and I for one am very happy with it

 

[gullshark]

I guess everything can be done for a price. I always liked how the away fans at the Valley were in the smallest stand with 3 others towering over them, and a bigger north stand would mimic that.

 

[Brok]

Just for reference...

Unfortunately, I've lost the side view of the North and South stands.