The Price of Aiming Too High.... (Darlington)

[Razi]

Darlington are being forced to move out of their new ground since it's just too expensive to use....

The Quakers had been based at the venue since it was completed in 2003. However, they attract an average of only 2,203 fans to the 25,000-capacity stadium.

It's bizarre that some owners think that they can build such a large ground, and just assume that people are going to suddenly start turning up in their thousands. But it does make you wonder what may happen if we, for whatever reason, have a few poor years and end up back down the leagues and attracting crowds of 6k into our 30,750 seater stadium...

BBC Sport - Darlington set to quit Arena home

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

What are they gonna use the 'Arena' for now then?

 

[Beach Hut]

What are they gonna use the 'Arena' for now then?

Sure I read Newcastle Falcons would move in

 

[Razi]

Maybe the ground could be sold, knocked down land could be used for a Retail Park - Comet, DFS etc...... I hear it's quite profitable.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

darlington is a completely different kettle of fish to us

-they have 3 large clubs on their doorstep who most of the people in the town support
-they don't have any history of large crowds
-the town or catchment area aren't particularly big
-the stadium itself isn't that easy to get to, especially when you consider their previous ground was in the town centre

the move to the arena made absolutely no sense at all, and was essentially the ego-trip of a crooked ex-owner....feethams was a ground that was perfectly adequate for their needs with a bit of renovation

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Bishop Auckland developed their ground not long ago, it looked beautiful when my mate and I went past on our way to the remote and deserted Darlington Arena. They never had the fanbase or the interest for that stadium. No comparisons between them and Brighton at all.

 

[Jack Daniels]

Darlington are being forced to move out of their new ground since it's just too expensive to use....

It's bizarre that some owners think that they can build such a large ground, and just assume that people are going to suddenly start turning up in their thousands. But it does make you wonder what may happen if we, for whatever reason, have a few poor years and end up back down the leagues and attracting crowds of 6k into our 30,750 seater stadium...

BBC Sport - Darlington set to quit Arena home

This is very very sad. But It was flawed from the start. You only need to look at mboro to realise this was never going to work.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

What are they gonna use the 'Arena' for now then?

heard talks of newcastle falcons moving in, personally i can't see much sense in that as most of their fans live in newcastle, and in fact the areas of newcastle that are quite close to kingston park.....they also pull in crowds with student deals due to the fact that there are two large universities in the city...can't say that about darlington

there's also no chance of the falcons attracting the crowds to fill the darlington arena....their current ground is perfectly fine for their needs and has seen a decent amount of renovation in previous years with a large main stand and a new terrace at one end

 

[kevo]

One thing we could learn from the Darlington Arena tho - doesn't it have escalators? Might be handy for getting up to the WSU!

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

without googling it, just to join in, am I right in thinking the population of Darlington is only about 75,000?

 

[Washie]

without googling it, just to join in, am I right in thinking the population of Darlington is only about 75,000?

Around 98,000

 

[Springal]

Weren't they relying on the council Or something at the time of building? Or a shopping thing being built next to it?

 

[Billy the Fish]

When I went to Darlington and walked down the main high street I remember thinking at the time that it looked like a shit and dilapidated version of Burgess Hill. No way could that town ever sustain a ground of that size, personally I think they did well just to sustain a league club for all those years.

For the money that tosser spent on the ground he could've made Feethams into an amazing 10,000 seater and sustained the club for the next 20 years.

 

[beorhthelm]

isnt there a problem with their council who having allowed them to build the thing, restricted the crowds to a quarter or so of the capacity? as well as all the other problems of a small town northern club with lots of other clubs nearby and a dodgy owner.

dont really see the comparison.

 

[Fungus]

But it does make you wonder what may happen if we, for whatever reason, have a few poor years and end up back down the leagues and attracting crowds of 6k into our 30,750 seater stadium...

No, it really doesn't.

 

[teaboy]

The Albion have NEVER had average crowds as low as 9% of capacity. Even in the darkest of dark days we were up to at least 15% for total capacity, and much higher for usable capacity.

 

[Exiled in Exeter]

Taken from Wikipedia
The Darlington Arena

Full name The Northern Echo Darlington Arena
Location Darlington, England
Opened 2003
Owner Darlington F.C.
Operator Darlington F.C.
Surface Grass
Capacity 25,000[1](restricted to 10,000 by local planning regulations)[2]
Field dimensions 110 × 74 yards
The Darlington Arena (known as The Northern Echo Darlington Arena for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in England that hosts Darlington Football Club's home fixtures.
Contents· 1 History· 2 Other uses· 3 Names· 4 References
History


Prior to moving to the ground in 2003, Darlington had been playing at Feethams, located near to the town centre. The current stadium is built on a greenfield site next to Darlington's A66 bypass.
Upon completion the arena was originally called the Reynolds Arena, after the club's then-owner, George Reynolds. However, following Reynolds' bankruptcy and arrest on charges of money laundering, the name was changed to The New Stadium in April 2004. Since then the club have sold the naming rights for the stadium to sponsors, firstly as the Williamson Motors Stadium then as the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena between November 2005 and September 2007, and then as the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena between September 2007 and February 2009. The ground took its current name in February 2009 when The Northern Echo began sponsorship. It is the largest Blue Square Premier venue with a capacity of 25,000,[1] although attendances are restricted to 10,000 by local planning laws.[2]
A crowd of 11,600 watched the first game in the new stadium for a 2–0 defeat to Kidderminster Harriers.[3] Since then the ground has averaged a gate of around 1,500 to 2,000 supporters, although certain fixtures such as derby match against local rivals Hartlepool United in March 2007 (10,121 spectators), have pulled in a significantly larger turnout.
The capacity of the stadium is currently capped at 10,000 for football matches due to poor access roads around the stadium, although the club are allowed to apply for an exception for certain occasions.
The Darlington Arena consists of four equally sided stands. The West Stand, which is located just behind the goal, is generally the more vocal of the two sides used by home supporters.
Attendances at the stadium were particularly low in the 2009-10, when a terrible season in League Two saw the club relegated to the Football Conference for the second time in just over 20 years. Their average attendance for the season was the second lowest in the whole Football League at just under 2,000. Their highest crowd of the season was 2,744 and their lowest was a mere 1,296. They went into the 2010–11 season with the largest capacity ground ever seen in the Football Conference.[4]
Other uses
Darlington plan to use the stadium for musical concerts to increase club revenue. The first set of concerts, called Pitch Invasion, were due to take place in June 2007 but were cancelled by the club just three months before.[5] However, Elton John was the first act to play at the stadium, on 5 July 2008.[6]
The Arena also played host to first ever professional rugby league match in the history of County Durham, when the Gateshead Thunder used the ground for their fifth round 2009 Challenge Cup game against the Oldham Roughyeds due to a fixture clash.[7]

 

[Mutts Nuts]

One thing we could learn from the Darlington Arena tho - doesn't it have escalators? Might be handy for getting up to the WSU!

You were told at the presentation that you needed to be reasonably fit if purchasing tickets in wsu, as the lifts will not be available for supporters to use

 

[Exiled in Exeter]

Some old NSC threads. Some of it makes interesting reading in retrospect.
Reynolds quits Darlington
will we end up like darlington ?
New Stadium + Poor Crowds + Poor Form = Administration
Darlo in Administration
Save Darlington FC - Sign the Online Petition

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

always thought queen's park playing at hampden park never made any sense

hampden was the biggest stadium in the world up until the maracana being built

average gate under 1,000

they obviously don't pay for it,i guess the SFA foot all the bills

surely they would benefit from a much smaller stadium