Agreed.
60,000 seems to be the absolute minimum for new Premier League stadia these days.
Bitterly disappointing from our board. They have really missed a trick given that our season ticket waiting list is above 20,000.
But is anyone that surprised at their lack of ambition?
It is all about balancing cost and basic suppy/demand economics. Total stadium cost against capacity isn't a very linear relationship. Cost can almost double for every 10k increase above 40k, because the volume and often the complexity of construction rises substantially as the stadium height increases. Does anyone know the cost of the initial 60k option? Needless to say, that would've come with substantial Commonwealth Games funding. As soon as that bid failed, the proposed capacity fell to 53k.
Our 20k waiting list (if genuine) has been based on very low ticket prices (especially for kids and concessions). It's possibly also based slightly on the heightened anticipation of BMD and people wanting to secure their seat in a limited capacity Goodison. Of course you can also say that on the otherhand that's achieved despite poor facilities, obstructed views and poor team performance. However, they would normally also want a healthy surplus demand to help drive those ticket prices up, to help pay for it asap.
Unlike West Ham, this isn't a freeby. Far from it, and if they're going to get any ROI, they need to ensure every seat is sold out regularly and at a decent rate. They also won't want too many spare general admission seats when they're hoping to be able to push more corporate and corporate lite seats too (who's going to pay massively over the odds when there's still perfectly good views available?). So it is a balancing act.
West Ham had to practically give their tickets away to fill the London Stadium. So much so that their matchday income barely increased at all when they first moved, despite adding 20k plus to their capacity. This capacity has been steadily increasing as West Ham have slowly tapped into the latent support in greater London and the home counties, plus tourists. With that and increased loyalty of those new regulars, their matchday income has started to increase slightly. West Ham had never had over 40k averages in their history at the Boleyn ground, so this has been a major step up. But one probably only achieveable because of the miniscule cost per seat they've had to pay out.
Of course, if Moshiri/new owners was/were able to absorb that cost for a few years via an inflated naming rights or plain philanthropy, we might've been able to do similar...... but beyond that it's hard to see how those sums add up for a £500-750m stadium (representing approx 30% capacity increase), never mind much beyond that cost.
The other issue then is future-proofing of the stadium for any future increase in demand (if they've seriously under-estmated and/or there is any success). They're may be some potential increase if safe-standing at increased ratio is ever allowed.... but that may be quite limited. Colin Chong said that he believed any future increases would probably come from expansion on the sides.... with more lenient planning for an established stadium. Of course this wouldn't be cheap and might compromise the signature barrel roof aesthetic. Maybe it would become more Armadillo-like with a partial raised barrel. Perhaps the north stand could be expanded if that space is acquired....
