Stadium Expansion

[RoyalBlue]

I read somewhere that it would cost £1000 per seat to build the new stands.If you get a season ticket holder in that seat for 2 years its paid for and any use of that seat after that is profit

Of course there is nothing else that needs that money? I hope you aren't project managing anything for me!

Hang on. If the only way you can get that extra money is to provide an additional seat I think Royal Monk has a pretty valid point. No seat, no money, no profit to be used on other things.

Opportunity cost I believe. Club seemed happy to forgo spending money on players in the latter days at Elm Park because they felt there would never be a pay back through increased attendances due to the very limited capacity at Elm Park. So they invested in the Mad Stad, increased their income and then spent more on players. And no, I wasn't happy during the latter days at Elm Park!

[The whole year inn]

FaLOLmer

[Silver Fox]

Also, I don't think it was the move to the Mad Stad that set us back on our last relegation as much as our slightly dubious manager at the time.

Which of the two managers are you referring to?

How many managers did we have when we were last relegated and moved to Mad Stad?

[West Stand Man]

Sorry Royal Blue, but you are missing the point of my post. The original one said that the new seats would be paid for in 2 years and after that it would all be profit. That is not the case, as you so eloquently identify in your own post. There will be an element of the income from the first couple of years that goes some way to offsetting the building costs - but it will take a few more years to cover the full costs ( whole life costing is an art that many British procurers forget to account for, sadly).

[SpaceCruiser]

Also, I don't think it was the move to the Mad Stad that set us back on our last relegation as much as our slightly dubious manager at the time.

Which of the two managers are you referring to?

How many managers did we have when we were last relegated and moved to Mad Stad?

Are you saying you blame Tommy Burns for the relegation, when it was Terry Bullivant who was in charge for most of that season before quitting?

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

There is a realistic probability that we will get relegated over the next 2 or 3 seasons, despite what we have achived over the last couple of years. We've already seen how far back the club was set when our last relegation coincided with the move to the Mad Stad..

the move didn't "set the club back" in the slightest. Our crowds were up on the previous season. Had we still been at Elm Park you can guarantee we wouldn't have averaged anywhere near the 11,000 we had watching the crap we saw that season.

getting relegated whilst taking on a £40m debt pretty much consistutes a set back

Attendances were down to an average of 8,000 in 1999 and as low as 5,000 for one league game.

and how low would they have been at Elm Park?

And building the stadium was not a £40 million debt. We got a lot of money for selling Elm Park, and an absolute boatload of cash for selling the a huge chunk of the land the council gave us free to the builders of the retail park.

I guess Madejski should have spent £40 million on players instead, and worried about having a ground with a capacity of 2000 (as it would have been reduced to as our terraces had lost their licence) at a later date.

[Winchester Royal]

We got about £5Million for the Elm Park land, had to spend £6 Million developing the roads around the Madejski, and then £40 million on the stadium.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

We got about £5Million for the Elm Park land, had to spend £6 Million developing the roads around the Madejski, and then £40 million on the stadium.

TY.

My point being the more we spend on increasing the stadium, the bigger hit we will take if we go down in the next 2 or 3 years. Which, in my opinion, is more likely to happen than the club and a lot of our fans think.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

I guess Madejski should have spent £40 million on players instead, and worried about having a ground with a capacity of 2000 (as it would have been reduced to as our terraces had lost their licence) at a later date.

of course not you dick. I was hardly advocating we should have stayed at EP, just pointing out that relagation and spending fuk loads on a stadium took us 4-5 years to overcome. Increasing our stadium to 38000 & getting relegated from the prem might hit us just as hard

[Fezza]

I guess Madejski should have spent £40 million on players instead, and worried about having a ground with a capacity of 2000 (as it would have been reduced to as our terraces had lost their licence) at a later date.

of course not you dick. I was hardly advocating we should have stayed at EP, just pointing out that relagation and spending fuk loads on a stadium took us 4-5 years to overcome. Increasing our stadium to 38000 & getting relegated from the prem might hit us just as hard

How much will we get for finishing mid table this season? I read an estimate that suggested the bottom team would get a minimum of 30 million (the same as Chelsea got for winning last year) with the team coming top getting upwards of 50 million. Not bad as a start to pay off the debts!

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hli ... er+pay-day

[LumpWarden]

Update 22/01/07

"The works should not affect the normal seating positions in the East Stand as the construction would take place behind the existing stand.

What about the roof then?

Wouldn't the roof necessarily have to come off before they start constructing behind the existing stand? Does this mean uncovered seating in the East stand for most of next season?

[Top Flight]

Will their be more bars and drinking venues in the ground.

The Jazz cafe is not big enough right now, let alone when the stadium expands and another 6,000 people sit in the East Stand. It def won't be big enough.

I think the away fans need a bar built into the expanded south stand so that they stop whinging about how Cr*p it is to come to Reading because the ground is in the middle of nowhere and they have no where to go to have a pint before the game. I think visiting fans deserve a Jazz style bar as well.

Jazz bar needs to be bigger, at least 2 or 3 times its current size for the new ground and the North Stand should have a jazz bar as well. Maybe it could be called Jimmy Quinns bar or Kevin Doyles bar after our legends! Or even Parkys bar. Maybe there could be a bar called Coppells bar!

[Winchester Royal]

I think the club should use some of the land around the ground to build some pubs and bars.
Not nessecarily built into the stadium, just something there for fans to use on matchdays.

[SpaceCruiser]

I think the club should use some of the land around the ground to build some pubs and bars.
Not nessecarily built into the stadium, just something there for fans to use on matchdays.

And who would use those pubs/bars on non-matchdays?

[Winchester Royal]

I don't know.
Perhaps the ticket office staff could use it during thier lunch breaks, so they can get completely tanked up and be even more inefficient than they already are?

[M4 Junction 11]

Application Ref. 07/00095/FUL (Extension to existing stadium, re-alignment of Shooters Way and associated works) was submitted yesterday.

[ruprecht]

And who would use those pubs/bars on non-matchdays?

I thought most of the A33 corridor was / is being heavily developed. At the moment there are next to no decent facilities in the vicinity. Having said that I think you might have trouble getting planning application for a bar in that area though.

[Top Flight]

I think the club should use some of the land around the ground to build some pubs and bars.
Not nessecarily built into the stadium, just something there for fans to use on matchdays.

I agree......... It doesn't have to be built into the stadium but more bars are needed for fans!

If the land isn't available cause the club wanna use it for car parking or roads out of the Mad Stad then they can incorporate it into the Stadium designs!

Does anyone know if the current plans which have been submitted included extra bars and facilities or if we are just building more seats and the exisiting facilities will just have to deal with the extra capacity!

[Coppelled Streets]

Update 22/01/07

"The works should not affect the normal seating positions in the East Stand as the construction would take place behind the existing stand.

What about the roof then?

Wouldn't the roof necessarily have to come off before they start constructing behind the existing stand? Does this mean uncovered seating in the East stand for most of next season?

Like Old Trafford, they can build the extension and not affect anything within the seated bowl. They will probably wait until the end of next season before the roof comes off and the new one goes on.

[M4 Junction 11]

Does the whole area become a hard hat area