Great to see the club hit another 7k gate, poor show from Northampton for an opening day though at around 400.

Still can't wrap my head around the numbers though. So the home attendance was about 6700, but the site was showing almost every seat as sold.  With Northampton having about 500 free seats and 300 lost to segregation, that should mean there were 7800 home seats available yesterday (if the 9k capacity  is true). Almost every ticket gone but we well short of that.

Does that mean 1000 no-shows? Seems a bit high that's almost one in every six season ticket holders not turning up.

How did it look did it look like we had about 1000 empty seats dotted around the ground?

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Great to see the club hit another 7k gate, poor show from Northampton for an opening day though at around 400.

Still can't wrap my head around the numbers though. So the home attendance was about 6700, but the site was showing almost every seat as sold.  With Northampton having about 500 free seats and 300 lost to segregation, that should mean there were 7800 home seats available yesterday (if the 9k capacity  is true). Almost every ticket gone but we well short of that.

Does that mean 1000 no-shows? Seems a bit high that's almost one in every six season ticket holders not turning up.

How did it look did it look like we had about 1000 empty seats dotted around the ground?

On the Northampton forum a lot of fans saying there was only one turnstile open and they were waved through the "big gate"

Are these counted?

If all our seats are sold why can't they be included in the attendance figure?

Looked a lot of empty seats in the main stand. Could see a few in the ponny. Sounds like some small blocks in the osmond and upper were empty. Probably about right.

Apparently no shows are typically around 10% and more like 15-20% at the Holiday period. Probably explains it

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

On the Northampton forum a lot of fans saying there was only one turnstile open and they were waved through the "big gate"

Are these counted?

If all our seats are sold why can't they be included in the attendance figure?

I saw that on their forum but I dunno, because when I first saw their crowd I thought it looked about 200 fans. So was definitely surprised it was even as much as 495 tbh

Quoted from pen penfras

Looked a lot of empty seats in the main stand. Could see a few in the ponny. Sounds like some small blocks in the osmond and upper were empty. Probably about right.

Apparently no shows are typically around 10% and more like 15-20% at the Holiday period. Probably explains it

A few in the pontoon is because a few of them decide it is better to stand at the back and leave the seats empty! 8)

It's simple really. Seats sold doesn't equate to on the day attendance. There was half a dozen empty reserved seats within 10 feet of me.

Highest first home game of the season attendance in at least 20 years!

Having wittered on about the subject for a year now whether the subject is the real ground capacity or whether we need more I still find the clubs attitude to the need for more capacity odd ranging from not apparently knowing what our capacity is to assuming we don’t have 2000 people in the area without season tickets who are likely to want to attend if there is even a sniff of further progress at the club
Cutting through it all the key tale aways for me are summarised as follows.
1 Where there any tickets available to bu for her me fans on the day . Answer no.
2 what was the attendatnce yesterday answer 7100 implying home attendance of 6700.
3 Is it a good thing that potential or returning fans without season tickets face buying seats with poor views or access . Answer no.
4  Are crowds in football up generally and is 7000 good enough for League 2 then League 1 . Answer no
5 Conclusion Is capacity adequate now Answer no.
Only when this becomes the clubs acknowledged postion and there is action to do something about it can we continue to move forward in a significant way.

Quoted from ginnywings

It's simple really. Seats sold doesn't equate to on the day attendance. There was half a dozen empty reserved seats within 10 feet of me.

So why does Tottenham capacity 62 k have a crowd of 61.5 yesterday do people in London not go on holiday and
why do other clubs crowds consistently match there ground capacity

Quoted from HerveJosse

So why does Tottenham capacity 62 k have a crowd of 61.5 yesterday do people in London not go on holiday and
why do other clubs crowds consistently match there ground capacity

You’ve heard of Stubhub, buy back and the fact they’re a flipping huge club with hundreds of thousands of fans and not a tin pot lower league club?

Interesting that you seem to want everything on a plate? Do you ever do anything yourself? I know two non STH who managed to get tickets on the day, it was simple really, they asked…

If you think there’s 2000 or more that don’t have STH that may want pay on the day type tickets you’re flipping deluded. I’d argue, right now we’re peak attendance until we go up again I’d say. Of all the people I know who used to pay on the day, only 2 don’t have STs now…

I’m beginning to think that any post/thread related to attendance or capacity be best deleted or locked Becauee the same excrement just gets regurgitated.

Quoted from HerveJosse

Having wittered on about the subject for a year now whether the subject is the real ground capacity or whether we need more I still find the clubs attitude to the need for more capacity odd ranging from not apparently knowing what our capacity is to assuming we don’t have 2000 people in the area without season tickets who are likely to want to attend if there is even a sniff of further progress at the club
Cutting through it all the key tale aways for me are summarised as follows.
1 Where there any tickets available to bu for her me fans on the day . Answer no.
2 what was the attendatnce yesterday answer 7100 implying home attendance of 6700.
3 Is it a good thing that potential or returning fans without season tickets face buying seats with poor views or access . Answer no.
4  Are crowds in football up generally and is 7000 good enough for League 2 then League 1 . Answer no
5 Conclusion Is capacity adequate now Answer no.
Only when this becomes the clubs acknowledged postion and there is action to do something about it can we continue to move forward in a significant way.

Let’s say, for arguments sake they suddenly increase the capacity at BP to 12k tomorrow, do you think there’ll be 12k at the next home game?

Quoted from aldi_01

Let’s say, for arguments sake they suddenly increase the capacity at BP to 12k tomorrow, do you think there’ll be 12k at the next home game?

There might be in a new purpose built modern stadium with parking.
Even if the ground we’ve got had seat that you had a totally unrestricted view might add a few more

Quoted from grimps

There might be in a new purpose built modern stadium with parking.
Even if the ground we’ve got had seat that you had a totally unrestricted view might add a few more

But this discussion is about extending BPs capacity and to be honest cause there weren’t a couple of thousand disappointed they didn’t get a ticket yesterday.

We’re over egging this capacity thing a bit. Almost like we’re so used to the club being run by a flipping moron and being a joke that we moan, now we have little to moan about so this is becoming a thing…

Quoted from aldi_01

You’ve heard of Stubhub, buy back and the fact they’re a flipping huge club with hundreds of thousands of fans and not a tin pot lower league club?

Interesting that you seem to want everything on a plate? Do you ever do anything yourself? I know two non STH who managed to get tickets on the day, it was simple really, they asked…

If you think there’s 2000 or more that don’t have STH that may want pay on the day type tickets you’re flipping deluded. I’d argue, right now we’re peak attendance until we go up again I’d say. Of all the people I know who used to pay on the day, only 2 don’t have STs now…

I’m beginning to think that any post/thread related to attendance or capacity be best deleted or locked Becauee the same excrement just gets regurgitated.

It’s not 2000 pay off n the day is it it’s 2000 who  can’t or don’t want to attend enough matches to buy a season ticket for multitude of reasons. So if we do wiell innLeague 2 you don’t think more people want to attend.? So you think we have reached our natural  that’s where you are happy to for us to stay?

Quoted from HerveJosse

It’s not 2000 pay off n the day is it it’s 2000 who  can’t or don’t want to attend enough matches to buy a season ticket for multitude of reasons. So if we do wiell innLeague 2 you don’t think more people want to attend.? So you think we have reached our natural  that’s where you are happy to for us to stay?

I mean there’s literally a line in my post which says ‘until we go up again’…

Nobody is saying there’s a ceiling but I didn’t see 2000 clamouring for tickets yesterday?

A mate is a Spurs ST holder and you can offer your ST on some fan sale platform and he always manages to shift his.

Quoted from HerveJosse

So why does Tottenham capacity 62 k have a crowd of 61.5 yesterday do people in London not go on holiday and
why do other clubs crowds consistently match there ground capacity

Quoted from aldi_01

Let’s say, for arguments sake they suddenly increase the capacity at BP to 12k tomorrow, do you think there’ll be 12k at the next home game?

No probably only 10000 if they are all good seats with good viewing and access and facility issues building to 12000 as we progress.

BP is what it is and the facilities, as they are, have to be managed/improved as best they can be managed/improved. Everything takes time and we've only just entered a new era. Can't people just be patient to see how things evolve? 7k yesterday was a pretty respectable number compared to the recent history of the club.

Quoted from Happy_Mariner

A mate is a Spurs ST holder and you can offer your ST on some fan sale platform and he always manages to shift his.

We have a button on our ticket website allowing non attendees to release tickets if unable to attend but the club hasn’t publicised it so doubt many are aware.

Quoted from HerveJosse

So why does Tottenham capacity 62 k have a crowd of 61.5 yesterday do people in London not go on holiday and
why do other clubs crowds consistently match there ground capacity

Mate of mine has two season tickets at Spurs. He was on holiday and his son is working overseas so I bought both for my son and his mate while I went to BP. Guess they're more saleable?

Quoted from Southwark Mariner

Highest first home game of the season attendance in at least 20 years!

24 years to be precise.

First time I’ve ever been in a full Main Stand since there was terracing at the front of it - so that means 42 years - Sheff Utd game. It’s cramped and uncomfortable for my long legs. But the pie was exquisite. Pies in the Upper are rubbish - next time I’ll do swap.

The ground is a shithole but it’s our shithole and we should makes the most of it - ideally make opposition players think it’s a shithole full of noisy fans who get in their faces all game. Also there shouldn’t be any question of away fans having the whole Osmond again.  Do more separation works if necessary - 919 that’s all that should be given no matter who it is.

Quoted from aldi_01

You’ve heard of Stubhub, buy back and the fact they’re a flipping huge club with hundreds of thousands of fans and not a tin pot lower league club?

Interesting that you seem to want everything on a plate? Do you ever do anything yourself? I know two non STH who managed to get tickets on the day, it was simple really, they asked…

If you think there’s 2000 or more that don’t have STH that may want pay on the day type tickets you’re flipping deluded. I’d argue, right now we’re peak attendance until we go up again I’d say. Of all the people I know who used to pay on the day, only 2 don’t have STs now…

I’m beginning to think that any post/thread related to attendance or capacity be best deleted or locked Becauee the same excrement just gets regurgitated.

I give in your type who criticise the pst so incessantly have no vision for where this club should be in the future.

but the maths prove 1878's point.
Capacity 9200, home capacity c8000 - home attendance at peak time of interest 6600/6700 means about 1000+ tickets still available .
Make the resale of non attending season ticket holders much more efiicient and we are still not filling BP, so proving their point

Quoted from HerveJosse

I give in your type who criticise the pst so incessantly have no vision for where this club should be in the future.

If one wishes to complain about others having a different opinion or, in your case, one wishes to throw criticisms please attempt to use the correct grammar and punctuation.

It’ll certainly help the point.

Quoted from aldi_01

If one wishes to complain about others having a different opinion or, in your case, one wishes to throw criticisms please attempt to use the correct grammar and punctuation.

It’ll certainly help the point.

Haven’t seen any punctuation on here since Alan Buckley was manager

I think, urgh oh no, I just want, omg I’m biting my lip, I saw the attendance, that’s it, I spaffed my load.  Fuckwits, listen, I know you cum your muck with the mere thought of a record crowd.  Let me simplify it, the gate is people through the turnstiles, cash is who paid to attend.  Bin the sensationalist bollox for fûcks sake, doesn’t matter if there are 500 empty seats as[code][/code] long as they’re paid for.

If we do well this season, our current capacity will hinder growth. There's nothing wrong in saying that, don't know why some are so touchy about it, and it's already being discussed at boardroom level. Having a residual allocation of mainly restricted view tickets for most home games after season ticket sales can't be an attractive proposition for either the shift worker, the occasional fan who can't afford to go every game or even the floating fan. Although we are hitting new numbers in home attendances after many years of stagnation, we still have much more potential growth. The 15k or so that made it to the Olympic Stadium with only a week's notice identifies at least a broad fanbase to work with, and less than half of those fans were at BP yesterday..

If the feelgood factor continues, and why the hell should it subside, we're going to have to bite the increase the capacity bullet sooner rather than later..

Quoted from forza ivano

but the maths prove 1878's point.
Capacity 9200, home capacity c8000 - home attendance at peak time of interest 6600/6700 means about 1000+ tickets still available .
Make the resale of non attending season ticket holders much more efiicient and we are still not filling BP, so proving their point

I see it exactly the opposite way, it disproves their point. The system said it was a virtual sell out and yet we had 1800 seats not taken, 1000 in the home end. So someone casually looking at the availablilry last minute would not have known those seats could be free.

Not virtually a sell out - it was a sell out - not one seat left in the home areas to buy. As Stockport and Wrexham last season - maybe Notts as well.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Not virtually a sell out - it was a sell out - no one seat left in the home areas to buy. As Stockport and Wrexham last season - maybe Notts as well.

Exactly so we are filling the stadium nomatter how many actually rock up on the day.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Exactly so we are filling the stadium nomatter how many actually rock up on the day.

Yep. And maybe for say the Swindon game - most back from holiday, trains not so fecked up (hopefully) ST holders getting more used to releasing their seat if they cant use it - and more people looking for released seats, we might find that the attendance gets closer to tickets sold. I think tickets sold yesterday would have been circa 7,400/7,500 depending on whether the corporates in the Upper were not sold or no shows.

Yeah don't know why people get their knickers in a  twist about people expressing concerns about capacity , it has obviously been reached and breached already and we're only 1 home game in. No home tickets available according to the system implemented to manage it.

Quoted from aldi_01

Let’s say, for arguments sake they suddenly increase the capacity at BP to 12k tomorrow, do you think there’ll be 12k at the next home game?

Put it this way if Lincoln can get crowds of 10000 while they’ve always been historically a worse supported club than us we can get 12000.
Our problem as we’ve all known for nearly 30 years is the ground

Quoted from toontown

Yeah don't know why people get their knickers in a  twist about people expressing concerns about capacity , it has obviously been reached and breached already and we're only 1 home game in. No home tickets available according to the system implemented to manage it.

First game of the season always gets a big crowd anyway. Let's see how many are still there in October before we decide on one game our ground can't hold everyone who wants to go every week.

The problem when you look at the situation is that the tickets sold will never equal the attendance figure. Whether the ticket is an ST or bought the day before people may not attend for a host of reasons.

Therefore the attendance figure will always be less unless there is an unusual circumstance Prem Team in a cup etc. However, the good news is that the club receives revenue from the tickets sold; the bad news is that fans who don't have an ST may not be able to buy a ticket on the day.

This problem has only come to the surface this year and I am sure John, Andrew and Debbie will do their utmost to maximise the club's income from match days.

Quoted from DB

This problem has only come to the surface this year and I am sure John, Andrew and Debbie will do their utmost to maximise the club's income from match days.

Jesus, he’s not back is he?

Quoted from aldi_01

If one wishes to complain about others having a different opinion or, in your case, one wishes to throw criticisms please attempt to use the correct grammar and punctuation.

It’ll certainly help the point.

are you aruslly using that as your reply. I lotwrelly can't read your posts in one go because of the poor spelling

Quoted from pen penfras

are you aruslly using that as your reply. I lotwrelly can't read your posts in one go because of the poor spelling

Not great with sarcasm I see…

I get it's easy to say 'poor from Northampton'
But i can't imagine i will get to many away games this year.

The cost of living is ridiculous, to the point me and my partner work full time with 2 kids, yet still having to cut back on certain things.
An away day for me and my son will be £30-£40 for tickets. Northampton round trip is approx £60. 2x meals £40, so all of a sudden, you're at £125-£150 to watch 90 minutes of football.

Let’s be realistic about this.

We play in a stadium that is outdated but improvements are ongoing and the atmosphere on Saturday sounded incredible
We’ve spent almost 1/4 of a century ‘trying’ to move to a new ground
1878 have only had their feet under the table 18 months and are steadying a ship that was on par with the Mary Celeste
The benign one will soon be paid off
We don’t know what’s going on in the background

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Let’s be realistic about this.

We play in a stadium that is outdated but improvements are ongoing and the atmosphere on Saturday sounded incredible
We’ve spent almost 1/4 of a century ‘trying’ to move to a new ground
1878 have only had their feet under the table 18 months and are steadying a ship that was on par with the Mary Celeste
The benign one will soon be paid off
We don’t know what’s going on in the background

I’ve often wondered if the obsession with a new ground has become part of the fan base because it was the only thing Fenty seemed to go on about so it became part of our psyche.

We’ve owners who will monitor attendances, look to make improvements before just spaffing cash on a stadium. If attendances remain stable and consistent then yes, we need to explore options (they’re already doing this, they’ve told us but apparently that’s seemingly not enough for some).

In the same way our home attendances early on will be relatively high, our away followings have already taken a hit.  It wasn’t a challenge getting an Orient ticket, same for Rochdale. There’s various factors for that but I’d imagine what the club actually want is a consistent attendance at home games that is 6k plus…

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Yep. And maybe for say the Swindon game - most back from holiday, trains not so fecked up (hopefully) ST holders getting more used to releasing their seat if they cant use it - and more people looking for released seats, we might find that the attendance gets closer to tickets sold. I think tickets sold yesterday would have been circa 7,400/7,500 depending on whether the corporates in the Upper were not sold or no shows.

Capacity stated as 9200 and repeated by CEO when stating there would be room for everyone
Northampton unsold 430
Leaves 8770
Home tickets available to buy Nil
Your estimate tickets sold 7400/7500 seems reasonable given attendance less empty seats in home areas
What’s the missing 1300?

Same sort of number crops up repeatedly in any logical analysis of the subject .

Quoted from HerveJosse

Capacity stated as 9200 and repeated by CEO when stating there would be room for everyone
Northampton unsold 430
Leaves 8770
Home tickets available to buy Nil
Your estimate tickets sold 7400/7500 seems reasonable given attendance less empty seats in home areas
What’s the missing 1300?

Same sort of number crops up repeatedly in any logical analysis of the subject .

Away end is 1200 and they bought 500, so that's 700.
Main stand had a big block of a hundred or so seats behind the dugouts empty and you could see a lot more red seats dotted about that looked like they said reserved on.
Somebody said back couple of Osmond rows were empty.
Corporates had lots empty.
Could see plenty of seats in the ponny.
Several people saw lots of empty seats in the upper near to them.

I thought there were more than 1000 empty seats including away end, and if the upper had as many empty as it sounds like, 9200 is about right

Quoted from pen penfras

Away end is 1200 and they bought 500, so that's 700.
Main stand had a big block of a hundred or so seats behind the dugouts empty and you could see a lot more red seats dotted about that looked like they said reserved on.
Somebody said back couple of Osmond rows were empty.
Corporates had lots empty.
Could see plenty of seats in the ponny.
Several people saw lots of empty seats in the upper near to them.

I thought there were more than 1000 empty seats including away end, and if the upper had as many empty as it sounds like, 9200 is about right

Maths not your strong point there would need to be 2100 empty seats iincluding away end  for 9200 capacity and 7100 attendance to reconcile

I know of a few people who work most weekends but have purchased a season ticket for those few weekend games they can make plus the midweeks.

I think the ticket system needs developing further. The first thing that needs doing is to stop people buying one ticket in the middle of 3 available seats. Buy an end one so a parent and child can potentially have those 2.

If people are going to give up their season ticket as they can't attend, there needs to be an incentive for them to do it but there also needs to be a clear criteria for when it can be implemented and that should be before a sell-out. I think a fair incentive is that fans release their season tickets and get a £5 credit towards the cost of next seasons season ticket once their seat has been purchased. In theory, this would encourage people to declare their non-attendance sooner as the longer you leave it, the less likely the club are to sell your seat.

Quoted from DB

The problem when you look at the situation is that the tickets sold will never equal the attendance figure. Whether the ticket is an ST or bought the day before people may not attend for a host of reasons.

Therefore the attendance figure will always be less unless there is an unusual circumstance Prem Team in a cup etc. However, the good news is that the club receives revenue from the tickets sold; the bad news is that fans who don't have an ST may not be able to buy a ticket on the day.

This problem has only come to the surface this year and I am sure John, Andrew and Debbie will do their utmost to maximise the club's income from match days.

Apologies to all I meant Jason of course.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I know of a few people who work most weekends but have purchased a season ticket for those few weekend games they can make plus the midweeks.

I think the ticket system needs developing further. The first thing that needs doing is to stop people buying one ticket in the middle of 3 available seats. Buy an end one so a parent and child can potentially have those 2.

If people are going to give up their season ticket as they can't attend, there needs to be an incentive for them to do it but there also needs to be a clear criteria for when it can be implemented and that should be before a sell-out. I think a fair incentive is that fans release their season tickets and get a £5 credit towards the cost of next seasons season ticket once their seat has been purchased. In theory, this would encourage people to declare their non-attendance sooner as the longer you leave it, the less likely the club are to sell your seat.

Good post - I think this is really important. Do we have a fanbase with a higher proportion of people like this, and the converse, exiles that can do all Saturdays but not midweeks, than other clubs? Probably. In which case GTFC need to adapt the ticketing system to reflect this. There are so few unrestricted seats available now that I agree this should be implemented when a certain ticket sales point is achieved and not a full sell-out. This will incentivise STH to renew. Blundell Park was ill-suited to all-seater conversion - probably the most ill-suited in the football league at the time, and even the newest part is poorly designed. Therefore we should adapt the ticketing system accordingly. Walk-up fans shouldn't have to sit in restricted view seats (and I include the back rows of the Main and Osmond in this, even though they are not designated as such) when there are better seats not being used by STH.

With the Osmond corner open home ticket sales of about 6.5k would be the threshold.

I don't where 9,200 capacity came from the club state the official capacity as 9,031 on their website.

https://gtfc.co.uk/visitors/

Seating at Blundell Park

Blundell Park has a capacity of 9,031 and is an all seater, no smoking stadium.

Quoted from DB

I don't where 9,200 capacity came from the club state the official capacity as 9,031 on their website.

https://gtfc.co.uk/visitors/

Seating at Blundell Park

Blundell Park has a capacity of 9,031 and is an all seater, no smoking stadium.

And now add up the capacities of the individual stands from the same link (8,777). I rest my case - biggest ever crowd for all seater is 8,450 v Northampton. 8,777 less no-shows, plus empty seats behind the dugouts. Can we just stop this now - the useable / saleable capacity of BP in its current form is not 9,031 and never has been, despite what Debbie said.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

And now add up the capacities of the individual stands from the same link (8,777). I rest my case - biggest ever crowd for all seater is 8,450 v Northampton. 8,777 less no-shows, plus empty seats behind the dugouts. Can we just stop this now - the useable / saleable capacity of BP in its current form is not 9,031 and never has been, despite what Debbie said.

Don't shoot the messenger, take it up with the club and tell them they're wrong.

Quoted from DB

Don't shoot the messenger, take it up with the club and tell them they're wrong.

Not shooting you in particular - every game with a sell-out or near we have people querying the attendance and asking where all the empty seats are. The reference point without tarped seats, empty corporates and more absent STH than typical, is 8,450 for a full house - if people use that instead of some theoretical figure including extra seats in corners, then the attendances make sense and are clearly correct.

Quoted from aldi_01

I’ve often wondered if the obsession with a new ground has become part of the fan base because it was the only thing Fenty seemed to go on about so it became part of our psyche.

We’ve owners who will monitor attendances, look to make improvements before just spaffing cash on a stadium. If attendances remain stable and consistent then yes, we need to explore options (they’re already doing this, they’ve told us but apparently that’s seemingly not enough for some).

In the same way our home attendances early on will be relatively high, our away followings have already taken a hit. It wasn’t a challenge getting an Orient ticket, same for Rochdale. There’s various factors for that but I’d imagine what the club actually want is a consistent attendance at home games that is 6k plus…

I would respectfully disagree, unless you have a ST.  I tried to get extra for a friend and couldn't even get through to the ticket office.

Quoted from Lost in Lincoln

I would respectfully disagree, unless you have a ST.  I tried to get extra for a friend and couldn't even get through to the ticket office.

I know loads of people that went to quite a lot more away games than they did at  home.
When you ye tickets used to make general sale they was always snapped up quickly , the thing is now we have so many season tickets they’re not being put on general sale so quickly

I am sure that Debbie reads this stuff.
All it needs is someone with A level maths to help the club explain what is going on.
I am Available if required

Can't we just be happy that we are getting crowds over 7000, instead of the usual 4 to 5 thousand. That's a big percentage increase, but shows that despite what people keep saying, we don't yet need more seats or a bigger ground as JS has pointed out.

Quoted from ginnywings

Can't we just be happy that we are getting crowds over 7000, instead of the usual 4 to 5 thousand. That's a big percentage increase, but shows that despite what people keep saying, we don't yet need more seats or a bigger ground as JS has pointed out.

Not sure on your conclusion there. Most of our available walk up seats for each game are now restricted view, we will be restricting away fan numbers for a few teams who would sell more this season. Our corporate offer is inadequate. If we have any ambition to compete in League 1 we clearly need a new ground or work doing to BP to improve it and increase capacity. At league 1 level we would be losing out on revenue from away ticket sales alone of 6 figures if we only have 919 tickets available.

We can’t wait for promotion before planning for this. We need to be planning now. I’m sure we are

My conclusion is that JS has said more than once that a new ground is not a priority right now, yet it and attendances seem to have become a bit of an obsession with some fans.

Quoted from ginnywings

My conclusion is that JS has said more than once that a new ground is not a priority right now, yet it and attendances seem to have become a bit of an obsession with some fans.

Yes I’ve heard the same interviews and notwithstanding what JS has said about a new ground we clearly do need a bigger capacity.

I don't think it is an obsession, but it is a lost opportunity and a huge one.

The point JS makes about us needing to reach a certain threshold to make the case for a new stadium is already being reached.  I'd be inclined to remove any restricted seats from that measure because they are substandard, but even those sold out against Northampton.

I'm totally behind what they are trying to do short term but we also need a long term view to go with that. In the close season  they talked about working on their strategy, which is likely a five or possibly ten year time horizon. Infrastructure though should be looked at over 60 years minimum and that's how the cost should be seen.

I think IF the club are selling out each week then the buy back scheme should be something along the lines of if you give your seat up and someone pays to use it your account is credited £5 each time. So say I missed 10 games I have £50 to spend either online or on my next season ticket

Quoted from lukeo

I think IF the club are selling out each week then the buy back scheme should be something along the lines of if you give your seat up and someone pays to use it your account is credited £5 each time. So say I missed 10 games I have £50 to spend either online or on my next season ticket

Funny you should say that.

The real test for me is one that we probably can't quantify.  

If we had 100% of views that were completely unrestricted, would we be selling out and have people effectively knocking on the door trying to get in.

I can't shift away from the thought that whatever percentage of seats are considerably restricted should be counted in the capacity, from the viewpoint of what we can and would aspire to sell.

Again, it will never really have any substance behind the thought but it has to be a deterrent to someone who's thinking on a Saturday morning that they might rock up to BP and get a walk-up ticket knowing it's going to be with a excrement view.

The number of empty seats on Saturday was a little disappointing to be honest, but expected.  I know of a few ST holders who have got them knowing they'll miss a fair few games, but they either got caught up in the excitement or the fear of then missing out.  It's also peak holiday season, add that to the usual 10% no-show rate and it's expected.

But I'm in full agreement with jamesgtfc here, one of the priorities for the club should be about having an incentive led and easy to use sell-back scheme.  Gifting your ticket back isn't enough.  Whilst it's a nice gesture and I'm sure some will do it, most probably won't.  It's not in their interest.  Something like a £5 discount, hell even a free drinks voucher, will encourage people to do it.  Of course it has to be dependent on that ticket actually getting re-sold.  The club still make an additional profit on the resold ticket, the ST holder gets something back, the walk-up fan gets a decent view, more bums on seats.  Everyone wins.

If we then get to the point where the number of empty seats (not taking into account the excrement views) is reduced, then I think there needs to be a further conversation about what we do to increase capacity options.   This summer I've been very adamant that we need to get increased capacity options there, i.e. the temp seats in the corner.  Saturday made me realise that it's probably the next step.  The first step is maximising the occupancy of the decent seats we've got.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

The real test for me is one that we probably can't quantify.  

If we had 100% of views that were completely unrestricted, would we be selling out and have people effectively knocking on the door trying to get in.

I can't shift away from the thought that whatever percentage of seats are considerably restricted should be counted in the capacity, from the viewpoint of what we can and would aspire to sell.

Again, it will never really have any substance behind the thought but it has to be a deterrent to someone who's thinking on a Saturday morning that they might rock up to BP and get a walk-up ticket knowing it's going to be with a excrement view.

The number of empty seats on Saturday was a little disappointing to be honest, but expected.  I know of a few ST holders who have got them knowing they'll miss a fair few games, but they either got caught up in the excitement or the fear of then missing out.  It's also peak holiday season, add that to the usual 10% no-show rate and it's expected.

But I'm in full agreement with jamesgtfc here, one of the priorities for the club should be about having an incentive led and easy to use sell-back scheme.  Gifting your ticket back isn't enough.  Whilst it's a nice gesture and I'm sure some will do it, most probably won't.  It's not in their interest.  Something like a £5 discount, hell even a free drinks voucher, will encourage people to do it.  Of course it has to be dependent on that ticket actually getting re-sold.  The club still make an additional profit on the resold ticket, the ST holder gets something back, the walk-up fan gets a decent view, more bums on seats.  Everyone wins.

If we then get to the point where the number of empty seats (not taking into account the excrement views) is reduced, then I think there needs to be a further conversation about what we do to increase capacity options.   This summer I've been very adamant that we need to get increased capacity options there, i.e. the temp seats in the corner.  Saturday made me realise that it's probably the next step.  The first step is maximising the occupancy of the decent seats we've got.  

I’d tend to agree, if we consistently sellout the unrestricted view seats, even during those grim winter months then perhaps we need to look at expansion.

Is it worth putting them in now and creating a habit for people? Probably but the people running our club are sensible business people and won’t just intercourse about. It’ll be carefully planned, after all, putting in temporary seats for them to sit empty is futile.

Not for a second doubting their business acumen.  They're clearly quite analytical and will look at the numbers in great detail.

Sometimes you have to test something out to see the impact though.  I've no idea how much it costs to get temporary seating in, wouldn't even like to hazard a guess.  I'm just not convinced that anyone who walks up as a casual fan, misses half the game because the roof/police box/a massive pillar is in the way is likely to return soon.  Equally so, when it's November and pissing it down, if given the option to you sit exposed to the elements with a decent view or prefer a roof over your head and guessing what's happening at the other end?

Quoted from diehardmariner

Not for a second doubting their business acumen.  They're clearly quite analytical and will look at the numbers in great detail.

Sometimes you have to test something out to see the impact though.  I've no idea how much it costs to get temporary seating in, wouldn't even like to hazard a guess.  I'm just not convinced that anyone who walks up as a casual fan, misses half the game because the roof/police box/a massive pillar is in the way is likely to return soon.  Equally so, when it's November and pissing it down, if given the option to you sit exposed to the elements with a decent view or prefer a roof over your head and guessing what's happening at the other end?

I'm sure you can get a temporary structure with a roof on. I saw on Twitter the other week that there needs to be a 19ft gap or something like that for evacuation both sides of the ground which means the green seats we had previously wouldn't be suitable but something needs doing.

I think it's Bristol Rovers who had basically a big marquee with some seats underneath it in one of their corners.

In fact going back to the early 2000's I remember going there and the away end was not much more than that.

Quoted from ginnywings

Funny you should say that.

?

I think their priority was to get the club on ship shape first while completely getting rid of the cancer that was here before.

I completely expect the board once honest John has gone will be looking at investment for a new ground, they probably have something long term in the pipelines.
These sort of business guys don’t go round spouting of plans until something is pretty much set in concrete.

They aren’t stupid and will know the benefits of a new ground .

Quoted from monkeyboy

I think their priority was to get the club on ship shape first while completely getting rid of the cancer that was here before.

I completely expect the board once honest John has gone will be looking at investment for a new ground, they probably have something long term in the pipelines.
These sort of business guys don’t go round spouting of plans until something is pretty much set in concrete.

They aren’t stupid and will know the benefits of a new ground .

Yeah, but I built an ace 60,000 seater stadium on LMA Manager 2003 on the Playstation so y'know...

There's a massive part of me that just wants to sit back and enjoy what's happening.  Almost smug in the confidence that we're in such good hands and 1878 are genuinely the best people we could ever imagine in charge of this club of ours.  

But I've become engrained in this culture of second guessing everything that the club has done.  It's nothing personal or even to doubt what 1878 have done, are doing and will do here.  It's just a bloody horrible habit to shake.

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.

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.

I think there is some truth in this. I still harbour a suspicion that a lot of the new season ticket holders will soon ebb away from attending if we have a poor or even mediocre season

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.

I don’t think it’s just a mathematical calculation would a new stadium generate more profit then on he old one. At some point an asset becomes obsolete and needs replacing. Peoples expectations change. What didn’t bother me twenty years ago does now the disgusting toilets the narrow stairs to get in and out the lack of catering or the impossible queue to get a drink the pa that is inaudible etc.Fortunately I have had my seat for many years and it has a good view if I was a potential new fan and I also had to contend with a poor or restricted view along with the other issues then it could easily cause me not to bother.