St marys expansion

[saintdaz]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i did the St Marys tour at the weekend and it came up that as long as we stay up this season, consolidate next season then St Marys will be increased in size to hold 58,000.

Can we justify a stadium of this size?

also the ambitions of the club are to get Southampton as an established top 4 club.

[This Charming Man]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i did the St Marys tour at the weekend and it came up that as long as we stay up this season, consolidate next season then St Marys will be increased in size to hold 58,000.

Can we justify a stadium of this size?

also the ambitions of the club are to get Southampton as an established top 4 club.

 

And so you should be, it's been done to death. Scroll on down to the find the latest 10 page thread on the matter.

[Bearsy]

Is they actually telling people that on the SMS tour daz?

[saintdaz]

they are Bearsy, next season could be interesting as long as we stay up

[Saint Garrett]

Whats the point, we'll just be in the same situation as someone like Middlesbrough and Sunderland. Big grounds which will be sparsley populated.

[Turkish]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i did the St Marys tour at the weekend and it came up that as long as we stay up this season, consolidate next season then St Marys will be increased in size to hold 58,000.

Can we justify a stadium of this size?

also the ambitions of the club are to get Southampton as an established top 4 club.

 

Something about having more fans than Everton, a catchment area that covers 3/4s of the globe and man walking on the moon.

 

Lock thread.

[Bearsy]

they are Bearsy, next season could be interesting as long as we stay up

 

v.interesting! Don't listen to the next 10 pages calling you deluded or whatever, i appreciate the infos!

[This Charming Man]

Something about having more fans than Everton, a catchment area that covers 3/4s of the globe and man walking on the moon.

 

Lock thread.

 

Dell sized mentality. Tickets this season have been like gold dust and the waiting list for season tickets has already swelled back up to 50,000.

[Bearsy]

[saintdaz]

cheers Bearsy, i wanted to pass this on as i've only heard sparse rumours about stadium expansion.

[Webby]

Not the topic of the post, I know, but is the tour worth it Daz?

[tajjuk]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i did the St Marys tour at the weekend and it came up that as long as we stay up this season, consolidate next season then St Marys will be increased in size to hold 58,000.

Can we justify a stadium of this size?

also the ambitions of the club are to get Southampton as an established top 4 club.

 

58,000 ? Are you sure?

 

Almost double in size, bigger than every stadium in the league apart form the Emirates and Old Trafford?!?

 

40k I could see as reasonable, we have a chance at filling that.

 

However, nearly 60k is absurd unless premierhsip tickets are like £10 or less. I didn't even think St Mary's could be extended that much, wouldn't it essentially have to be re-built?

[Turkish]

58,000 ? Are you sure?

 

Almost double in size, bigger than every stadium in the league apart form the Emirates and Old Trafford?!?

 

40k I could see as reasonable, we have a chance at filling that.

 

However, nearly 60k is absurd unless premierhsip tickets are like £10 or less. I didn't even think St Mary's could be extended that much, wouldn't it essentially have to be re-built?

 

The capacity increases with every thread on the subject. We've gone from 40k to 58k in about 6 months and 20 threads.

[Webby]

Well, I doubt it will go to 58k in one go. Probably to 40-42k at first, then more later. I thought the current design allowed for a whole new layer all the way round?

[Hatch]

Not the topic of the post, I know, but is the tour worth it Daz?

 

What is there to see?

 

It can't last more than 5 minutes.

[Webby]

What is there to see?

 

It can't last more than 5 minutes.

90mins apparently.

[Elias]

I am looking forward to going to this refurbished 78,000 seater Cortese Dome.

[Andre]

Until we're a big club, there's no point pumping money into an expansion. Success first, expansion later. 32,000 is pretty damn big already you know, although I would've liked to have gotten tickets for City this weekend... grr.

[Dig Dig]

Until we're a big club, there's no point pumping money into an expansion. Success first, expansion later. 32,000 is pretty damn big already you know, although I would've liked to have gotten tickets for City this weekend... grr.

 

After a couple as well. That's at least another 4 we could expand by, FFS

[This Charming Man]

Can't we build it on a floating platform in the Solent? Really try and out-do the Skates new floating ground.

[Colinjb]

58k, That would be madness, we wouldn't fill it, not a chance.

[Thedelldays]

58k

 

 

oh dear

 

would love to know where the new 30k fans are going to come from...

Edited 4 February, 2013 by Thedelldays

[farawaysaint]

After 10 years of dominance maybe, MAYBE we could fill 58k in a regular season.

[david in sweden]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i did the St Marys tour at the weekend and it came up that as long as we stay up this season, consolidate next season then St Marys will be increased in size to hold 58,000.

Can we justify a stadium of this size?......also the ambitions of the club are to get Southampton as an established top 4 club.

 

Oh not again, please !.......besides we aren't even filling the current stadium at present.....as soon as we get into Europe.....(what's that -you don't think we ever will get in a Euro competition ?)...then why go on about it......there must be some more interesting topic up for discussion.......

[tajjuk]

58k

 

 

oh dear

 

would love to know where the new 30k fans are going to come from...

 

We're buying a city from China and having it shipped over and put in the solent.

[Thedelldays]

acid test

 

home game v QPR goes on general sale tomorrow.....it is without a doubt a monumental game....if we get a point either against city or newcastle...with 3 v QPR...we could have one foot in the prem next season

 

surely, this will be sold out by the weekend...if we have 25k extra fans waiting to get into to see the saints...

[Saint_Jonny]

No chance.

[Turkish]

58k, That would be madness, we wouldn't fill it, not a chance.

 

Such a dell sized mentality!! They said we'd never fill st Marys when we moved here!

[dronskisaint]

Cheers for the post - I'm interested that they're saying these things on an official tour. Did they say the expansion would be in one big development or staged (ends, sides etc) in line with increasing demand..or lack of it for the sake of those whose glass never gets better than half-empty

[tajjuk]

acid test

 

home game v QPR goes on general sale tomorrow.....it is without a doubt a monumental game....if we get a point either against city or newcastle...with 3 v QPR...we could have one foot in the prem next season

 

surely, this will be sold out by the weekend...if we have 25k extra fans waiting to get into to see the saints...

 

Indeed.

 

Think it will sell out. As will City.

 

We could get around 38 to 40k I reckon for about half our games in the premiership. But 60k is like another planet.

[Tokyo-Saint]

It's all about the pricing - make it cheap enough and people will come. £10 per ticket for some areas, kids for £1 etc, with the 'prime' areas at full price, with success on the pitch and 45K would be realistic.

[Thedelldays]

Indeed.

 

Think it will sell out. As will City.

 

We could get around 38 to 40k I reckon for about half our games in the premiership. But 60k is like another planet.

and if there are tickets available a week before the QPR game....? not really looking good to attract 25k more fans

[This Charming Man]

Indeed.

 

Think it will sell out. As will City.

 

We could get around 38 to 40k I reckon for about half our games in the premiership. But 60k is like another planet.

 

Even Spurs and Liverpool have mentioned they are unsure that they could fill 60k on a regualr enough basis to build a ground that size.

[Colinjb]

Such a dell sized mentality!! They said we'd never fill st Marys when we moved here!

 

Now, how do we update that cliché to reflect a 'but 32k is fine and about right' attitude?

[Restark19]

I honestly think our ground is exactly the right size for where we are now. Look at it again in 2-4 years and see where we are then

[Tokyo-Saint]

Even Spurs and Liverpool have mentioned they are unsure that they could fill 60k on a regualr enough basis to build a ground that size.

 

It would be impossible with the current system but if they moved to a more German system, changed peoples mentality then 45k or 50k for the big games would be possible. If it was £10 for behind the goals, season tickets for just over £100, family tickets, company group tickets etc and the 'match experience' in other parts of the ground (for the plastics looking for a day out) were improved, it might be possible. Most on here would hate it though as they would see tickets advertised on billboards etc but as a business concept, I wouldn't rule it out.

[Smirking_Saint]

58k, That would be madness, we wouldn't fill it, not a chance.

 

58k is absolute madness TBH, 45k is probably the max achieveable limit, if playing decent football at a reasonable price and in Europe etc. Still it probably wouldnt ve sold out every week.

 

What is interesting though is if this actually was said it does show the gutsy ambitions that they have right now, mind you they need to back it up.

[niceandfriendly]

58,000? not even MLG would argue that was a good idea.

 

cortese isn't stupid. he won't expand the stadium until we are selling out on a regular basis and have been competing with the bigger boys of this league.

 

i think the tour guide was on crack.

[Saints foreva]

Only good thing about having a 58,000 stadium is that we'd no longer have a boring bowl that looks similar to about 7 other grounds in the country, but we'd never fill it. We'd struggle to fill 45,000 tbh.

[tajjuk]

Provdiing we are in the premiership next year, it would make sense to expand one of the stands to increase capacity by about 4-5k as we would be able to seel those tickets for games against Liverpool, Utd, Chelsea, Spurs etc and it would pay for itself. Regularly pushing the attendance past 40k would be more difficult though.

[Bearsy]

58k, That would be madness, we wouldn't fill it, not a chance.

 

Not even for Champions League semi-final?

[Colinjb]

Not even for Champions League semi-final?

 

Just hire Wembley instead. The FA are always desperate for events to help them pay it off.

[St Marco]

It would depend on what the pricing was. If it is kept at the current pricing then no chance. But if it is copying German style pricing I.e £10 a ticket then filling it wouldn't be a problem. Look at places like Schalke. They have a 62k stadium in a city with a 250k population.

The problem is in England ticket prices are out of control, it isn't about how many fans we have but more about how many fans are willing to pay nearly £30 a game. In the current financial climate?

But of course we wouldn't go the German route as it isn't the English way of ripping off your customers. So therefore it isn't needed and won't happen.

But then again we have a guy in charge with obvious close connections with Germany as do the owners so who knows....

[Turkish]

As a business case it makes absolutely perfect sense to spend c£50m to expand St Marys and then reduces prices to £10.

[Frank's cousin]

Guess there is just three questions that need to be answered to keep this nice and simple:

 

1. How many would go most weeks if the ticket price average was a lot lower (and what price level would that be) versus the £35 average price today?

2. Would that level of revenue be enough to justify/sustain the investment level?

3. What level of success would be necessary to attract that number regularly in the first place?

 

simple!

[Bearsy]

Guess there is just three questions that need to be answered to keep this nice and simple:

 

1. How many would go most weeks if the ticket price average was a lot lower (and what price level would that be) versus the £35 average price today?

2. Would that level of revenue be enough to justify/sustain the investment level?

3. What level of success would be necessary to attract that number regularly in the first place?

 

simple!

 

I'm wondering where is the money coming from and are they expecting to get it back.

[Tokyo-Saint]

As a business case it makes absolutely perfect sense to spend c£50m to expand St Marys and then reduces prices to £10.

 

Firstly I don't believe the guy doing the tour is 100% accurate with his info. It is probably MLG FFS.

 

Next the £10 a ticket thing can work if you get 2 things right. 1) get people to spend money while at the ground. This is almost impossible at the moment as the facilities are ****. I don't even bother trying to get a pint any more. It is obviously easier to get people to spend the cash in Germany as you can drink while watching the game. 2) Facilities for the plastics in the expensive seats need to be good. The atmosphere created by those in the cheap seats makes for a good sceptical and plastics/oldies in the other seats like to watch it from a distance.

 

This is what B Munich do anyway.

[Mr_Red]

Something about having more fans than Everton, a catchment area that covers 3/4s of the globe and man walking on the moon.

 

Lock thread.

 

Don't be ****ing absurd. Of course man walked on the moon... Everyone knows it (apart from the conspiracy theory nutcase in the lounge, forget his name)

[Turkish]

Firstly I don't believe the guy doing the tour is 100% accurate with his info. It is probably MLG FFS.

 

Next the £10 a ticket thing can work if you get 2 things right. 1) get people to spend money while at the ground. This is almost impossible at the moment as the facilities are ****. I don't even bother trying to get a pint any more. It is obviously easier to get people to spend the cash in Germany as you can drink while watching the game. 2) Facilities for the plastics in the expensive seats need to be good. The atmosphere created by those in the cheap seats makes for a good sceptical and plastics/oldies in the other seats like to watch it from a distance.

 

This is what B Munich do anyway.

 

The only stumbling block i can see to this, other than the ones you mention, are the fact that Bayern Munich are one of the biggest clubs in Europe, regularly win the German title and make the latter stages of the champions league. As well as of course being in the third largest city in Germany with a population 6 times bigger than Southamptons and is city very popular with tourists. You're going to have to sell a lot of pie and pint deals to make up the other shortfall from cutting ticket prices to a tenner and increasing the debt to c£50m. Other than that it's an excellent idea.

Edited 4 February, 2013 by Turkish

[dubai_phil]

Oh wow huge news this. I'm so annoyed I haven't got the assumptionchannel on my internet down here. Must upgrade sometime.

 

So we're going straight from 32k to 58K in a single build in a year or two's time but that is insane because we will only sell 25,000 tickets for QPR.

 

Damn I must get you guys to do some excel sheets for me.

 

Anyway. here is my comment for posterity.

 

We will expand SMS.

It will require an overall planning consent and no doubt detailed plans.

 

We will then do the work one piece at a time.

 

Linked with development of the surrounding area as per the ST DVD.

 

Two years before we start.

 

Adding 26,000 seats

 

One bit a year.

 

That is 6 years before we COULD even get to 58k and only adding 6,500 seats a year

 

6 years of The Plan. Two years before any real money gets spent and each year a set of accounts and ticket sales details to work to.

 

Now where were those comments that we could have got around 35,000 for some of the games this year?

 

Will it happen? Maybe.

 

However, the only Businessmen in the world insane enough to build things before they have hard evidence that it is a financially sound investment are the nutjobs down here.