Attendance Yesterday

Quoted from Poojah

Capacity is an obvious argument for the need for a new stadium, but not necessarily the main one. Throughout the club’s history our gates have been undulating, responding to peaks and troughs on the pitch as well as characters in the boardroom. We are experiencing something of a purple patch right now which provides some useful insight into what’s possible, but I’m not sure it is wise to make decisions which will define the club for the next 100 years based on the patterns of the last 3 months.

Quoted from Poojah

Capacity is an obvious argument for the need for a new stadium, but not necessarily the main one. Throughout the club’s history our gates have been undulating, responding to peaks and troughs on the pitch as well as characters in the boardroom. We are experiencing something of a purple patch right now which provides some useful insight into what’s possible, but I’m not sure it is wise to make decisions which will define the club for the next 100 years based on the patterns of the last 3 months.

It is, however, the facilities or lack thereof which is the fundamental issue for me. Blundell Park makes precious little revenue outside of those 23 league plus cup match days a season, and even on those days fails to maximise the amount generated from each person passing through the turnstiles.

Modern, forward-thinking stadiums do a much better job at that, with swathes of corporate and premium spaces (whether you like it or not) and much easier access to food and drink once inside the ground. If you can grow attendances by 20% - 30%, justify an increase in ticket prices by 10% -  20% on account of enhanced facilities, and increase the amount spent on average per person in the ground by 50% then the compound impact of that is quite profound.

The club has done virtually all it can on that front within the limitations of BP, and that has given us an idea of how well it can work.

Beyond that, clubs need to generate income outside of match days, something BP does not. I do not know the current level of demand for such things in NE Lincs but I can only imagine there would be a reasonable degree of demand for wedding and conferencing facilities, hotel rooms, educational facilities, sporting facilities, a gymnasium, bars and restaurants - and that’s all off the top of my head.

This is the direction the club needs to go in at some point or other if it is to trying break free from the shackles of the past. That’s not to suggest it’s easily deliverable - it very well is not. But is that what the club needs? Absolutely.