New Everton Stadium

[Davideeyore]

Theres a way to make less, more.

52k = Average price £50 a ticket = 2.6m
52k = Average price £70 a ticket = 3.6m

62K = Average price £60 a ticket = £3.7m

 

[Goat]

62K = Average price £60 a ticket = £3.7m

Thats numberwang.

But look, if the demand is there and the ability is there, who knows what happens in the future, for now its 52k and thats just the way it is.

 

[Del-boy]

Well y'know the new owners might be forward thinking they might already be citing regular European football and expanding the stadium ~ 52k is way too low.

I’m sure they are. Majority of our previous board wasn’t. Denise for instance, only wanted a capacity just over 40k as she believed we’d struggle to fill it.

But you can go further back. The Park End should have been a two tier stand. But it was done in the cheap with a lack of ambition. Hopefully as you say, this changes with a new board. I doubt very much they will expand the stadium though. Not for years anyway.

 

[MKS]

I think I remember meis stating that the reason we ended with 52,000 is that the higher off the ground you go the more expensive it is to build but the less expensive the seats are to sell so the ROI isn’t attractive.

Also if we’re selling out 52k then that increases demand which increases price

 

[Blue Smoke]

Whats the increase likely to be through corporate boxes/seating?

 

[Tom Hughes]

I think I remember meis stating that the reason we ended with 52,000 is that the higher off the ground you go the more expensive it is to build but the less expensive the seats are to sell so the ROI isn’t attractive.

Also if we’re selling out 52k then that increases demand which increases price

Tbf to Meis, this is true.

The fact is, 52k capacity has ended up nearly bankrupting the club. Forcing the owner to walk away with something like a half billion pound loss before it's even complete. Stadium construction costs can rise almost exponentially with capacity. Therefore, that extra 10k capacity could've added 30+% to the reported £760m cost, which would have left us even worse off, or the stadium half-built.

Also, as stated by others, by limiting the capacity, the club can squeeze more value out of every seat. Improving ROI. The very low number of box seats is puzzling on this score, as the demand for this type of seat is much higher at most other premier clubs and could have assisted that further.

The earlier 60k+ proposals all predate the failure to secure the Commonwealth games (after the CWG were brought forward). The loss of that extra funding killed those more ambitious proposals practically overnight.

 

[sbbefc]

Whilst in an ideal world 60k would have been better in reality it would have bankrupted us. We're on the edge already. We'd almost certainly have more points deductions coming (it's tuch and go anyway). I'm confident we would fill a 60k stadium most weeks but if we'd have gone down we wouldn't. 52k is a huge improvement on what we had and if safe standing ever happens (I'm very doubtful) we'd get 8k more capacity over night.

 

[davids]

I agree that those of us who don't live locally but who are Everton through and through and followed the Club home and away and who have contributed to the whole 'Everton thing' both match day and any other time in the past may miss out but we don't want to go down the tourist trap like Anfield or OT because it serves only to dilute the atmosphere. Sooner have us 'woolies' - and there are plenty - who have been there (or thereabouts) for the past 40+ years than lots of 'travellers' from abroad who buy tickets as a meal deal.

I'd be one of those travellers from abroad, watched my first game at Goodison in 1962 resigned to the fact because of the capacity of BMD I'll never watch a game there.

 

[Dddddd]

I'd be one of those travellers from abroad, watched my first game at Goodison in 1962 resigned to the fact because of the capacity of BMD I'll never watch a game there.

Of course you’ll be able to get a ticket - there will be plenty of options - eg buy a hospitality one for about £50 more, or one through the resale portal

You could get one for goodison park if you wanted to and that holds 40k

 

[Dougie]

surely not that we wouldn’t have enough to fill it?

I wouldn’t be surprised with the club though if they thought like that. They have proven for decades they have a small club mentality.
Yet they ram down our throats how big and great the support is home and away.
I’m Hoping major changes start to occur with this takeover.
When you think about it, BMD is basically goodison park with Bournemouth stadium added on, capacity wise I mean. That’s not good enough for this club your right.

 

[Tom Hughes]

Whilst in an ideal world 60k would have been better in reality it would have bankrupted us. We're on the edge already. We'd almost certainly have more points deductions coming (it's tuch and go anyway). I'm confident we would fill a 60k stadium most weeks but if we'd have gone down we wouldn't. 52k is a huge improvement on what we had and if safe standing ever happens (I'm very doubtful) we'd get 8k more capacity over night.

I agree with most of this, but for safestanding to yield 8k more capacity at a 1.5:1 ratio, there would have to be 16k rail seats (there are currently only approx 7k planned). That would be roughly the whole South stand plus the whole away section being standing. That would also leave only 36,888 seats in a total capacity of 60,888. Obviously, if legislation only allowed 1.3:1 uplift (due to the 750mm treads), that would need rail seats to eat into even more seated capacity (26,666 rail-seats) to achieve an 8k increase. Making the stadium over half-standing.

 

[davids]

Of course you’ll be able to get a ticket - there will be plenty of options - eg buy a hospitality one for about £50 more, or one through the resale portal

You could get one for goodison park if you wanted to and that holds 40k

Double edged sword. I'd like to think we'll be in Europe by then and every game will be a sell out.

 

[Tom Hughes]

Double edged sword. I'd like to think we'll be in Europe by then and every game will be a sell out.

Every game is a sell out now, but there are always tkts available on the resale sites. The increased capacity at BMD (GA and corporate) will only increase that availability. Not to mention the increased tkt prices.

 

[Titus Bramble]

I wouldn’t be surprised with the club though if they thought like that. They have proven for decades they have a small club mentality.
Yet they ram down our throats how big and great the support is home and away.
I’m Hoping major changes start to occur with this takeover.
When you think about it, BMD is basically goodison park with Bournemouth stadium added on, capacity wise I mean. That’s not good enough for this club your right.

As others have mentioned, a lot of it will have come down to the economics of it... The cost to install the final 10,000 seats is greater than the cost to install the first 10,000, but they will also be sold cheaper as they'll be further away from the pitch... So the numbers don't stack up.

The average attendance at Goodison last season was around 39000. If we (and I'm sure we will) sell out the new ground every week, you're talking an average attendance of maybe 51000 (got to assume away fans won't sell out every week). That's a 12000 jump, or a 30% increase on GP. These are significant numbers.

 

[toffee66]

The net income (revenue less financing and running/maintenance costs) optimising capacity is not necessarily the highest for all the reasons Tom has pointed out.

Everton has chosen to limit capacity to create ‘scarcity’ vs potential demand (if remotely successful). This supports steeper price gradients from executive to cheap seats, fewer concessions (as a %), dynamic seat pricing for non-season ticket seats (category A to D games etc.) and more. It is all about balancing reward and risk.

I think they would have liked to be about 55k but 52k is where planning adjustments mean we are and it won’t be changing anytime soon. Life is more fun if you fully enjoy what you have when you get it rather than constantly day-dreaming about an idyll that will never be real.