Stadium Expansion

[blueroyals]

The fact is guys we only sold 8,000 seats when we played Gillingham in 2005 therefore based on that figure we don't need an expansion....

[SWLR]

Based on the number of views and comments on the 'man city tickets' thread we should be building for when all those moaners turn in to regular STH. Start planning now.

[bigmike]

based on the fact that we havent sold out the stadium once this year why do we need more empty seats in the ground?

[Wimb]

Because people can't see the Madejski written into the east stand, more seats means we could move people and have the name more clearly visible.

[SpaceCruiser]

Does Reading selling out almost the entire allocation of their wembley tickets prove that we still have the potential fanbase to make it worthwhile expanding the stadium? Or is Schards going to stick fingers in his ears and say "na na na not listening!"

[SLAMMED]

So just because a load of day trippers want a day out at Wembley you suddenly think we need a bigger stadium?

[SpaceCruiser]

Every daytripper is a potential long term Reading fan!

[Rex]

Certainly not Spacey. The humdrum of any league we are in means we might up to around 22-25K for a while and drop off again. Wembley is a big event and though the time frame has surprised me for the sell out this would not transfer to the league.

[paultheroyal]

Get to the Premiership and increase the south stand to accommodate a further 5 thousand = job done.

Its all about the away following and other than the likes of Wigan etc, you could easily fill 2/3 of an increased stand for away following, more for the bigger clubs, and with decent segregation like now some can be kept back for home fans.

[roadrunner]

Stay in the Premiership more than 2 years and expand to 30k. No need for more than that.

[Schards#2]

The 40,000 average home gates after the Simod Cup Final clearly demonstrate the need to expand the stadium NOW!!

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Can't see where money to extend would come from at this point in time, cannot see JM using the Prem money to increase the ground, and cant see banks lending it either at this stage in the economy.

[The Rouge]

With Schards on this one.

[Barry the bird boggler]

The club have to apply for planning permission again as I believe the last approval expired recently. Presumably that would be a formality given that it was granted before but the club do still have to do that before starting any work .....

[No Fixed Abode]

Might be worth expanding for London Irish - they get bigger home g8s don't they?

[Platypuss]

That's getting towards homeopathic levels of weakness.

[Rob-Royal]

The 40,000 average home gates after the Simod Cup Final clearly demonstrate the need to expand the stadium NOW!!

This was the catalyst which showed we had the potential to warrant a move from EP, until then it was unknown what the interest in the local area could generate! So you're actually contradicting yoursefl without realising it...

The club have a better idea than you about the justification in increasing the stadium and this has also been warranted again by the speed in which the PO final tickets were sold and the number of registered members we have.

If it was up to you we would still be at EP playing in front of 6,000 flirting with relegation to the conference....

[Wimb]

Bit harsh on Schards there, I see his logic but do think we could fill 30,000. As others have said, extra away support alone would help push the attendances above 24,000 for the majority of our home games. I'm unsure how much the expansion would cost but if the whole Stadium cost £50m then I'd doubt an expansion on the South Stand would cost us much more then £4million?

If we sold 6,000 extra tickets at a cost of £35 = £210,000 per match so we'd need to sell out 20 times to make it worthwhile. You'd have to figure we'd sell out 10 games a season over two years to cover the cost. We'd also have the benefit of maybe attracting some bigger non-football events to the stadium as well, music events etc.

Obviously that's very rough maths but if we were looking like having a prolonged stay in the PL it would be worthwhile.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Somewhere in the previous 67 pages there is a pretty detailed cost-benefit analysis, ISTR.

It basically all comes down to two different schools of thoughts :

a) Schards and others who believe that you need to consistently be sure of filling extra capacity before it's worth having;

b) Those who believe that its worthwhile having extra capacity because even if you don't fill it all the time you can do things like give cheap tickets to the next generation of Royals supporters.

Where (a) and (b) diverge is just on personal levels of risk-acceptance and optimism.

[Rob-Royal]

Maybe it was a bit harsh, didn't mean to come across that way but you can't accumulate unless you're prepared to speculate...

The club had that vision a few years ago and who's to say it won't happen again. The argument is not about avg gates in the championship as a justification not to expand. It's about foresight & potential and also about building this club up continuosly over time of which I & the club evidently believe we are yet to reach our maxium potential....