What would you prefer capacity v location

[TraffordBlue]

55,000 has been the minimum KO point for all our stadium schemes. Is it any wonder a huge stick was poked into a hornets nest when the divvies at the club issued their "99% of fans want a 50,000+ seat stadium" comment?!?!

It's such a ridiculous way of presenting the information as well. Tell us something we don't know lol. "99%+ of the fans want the seats to be blue."

It's clear from polls on here and Twitter that well over 50% want 55K+. It actually looks like the majority want 60K+.

 

[davek]

It's such a ridiculous way of presenting the information as well. Tell us something we don't know lol. "99%+ of the fans want the seats to be blue."

It's clear from polls on here and Twitter that well over 50% want 55K+. It actually looks like the majority want 60K+.

Yep. I said elsewhere that it's a stunt to allow them wriggle room: promise nothing and that way you cant be held to account (same principle abides with the continued refusal to release design images). I do think it'll be 55,000, but they wont commit to it at this stage. Fans need to make it abundantly plain to the club in consultation though that anything less than 55,000 wont go down well...to say the least.

 

[Jeff Jones]

Juve’s new stadium is 41,000, having downsized by nearly 30,000 seats. Fiorentina, and the shared Milan and Rome stadiums are bigger. Since they moved there at the beginning of 2011/12 they have won the league every year. It’s almost like capacity doesn’t really mean much!

Grounds in Italy are barely half full most of the time.

 

[Papa Shango]

Fans aren't daft though. They see a natural block on growth with a smaller stadium. It's an admission that the club dont have faith in the team, and that cant be great mood music to go into any new stadium with. If it was barely 9,000 more capacity to Goodison that would be a hammer blow to prestige. No club looking to kick on is going to be that conservative.

Fans are people, some people are daft.

Clubs are not judged on ground capacity, it has nothing to do with the prestige. The club will kick in with the addition of more corporate stuff and the ability to host other events etc.

 

[Wizard]

Grounds in Italy are barely half full most of the time.

My point was that the capacity of a stadium doesn’t dictate success. Some people seem to think that if we don’t build a 60k stadium we are destined to be mid table for the rest of time.

 

[MACCA75]

4 threads on capacity..

Why don’t they just tell us what they are looking to do.

 

[TraffordBlue]

If we did go for a 52K Stadium for example. Would that throw in to question our chances of hosting the top events over Anfield? I am guessing for concerts etc they'd choose us for the better facilities, but could see them choosing Anfield for the big football competitions if England ever hosts the World Cup etc.

 

[davek]

If we did go for a 52K Stadium for example. Would that throw in to question our chances of hosting the top events over Anfield? I am guessing for concerts etc they'd choose us for the better facilities, but could see them choosing Anfield for the big football competitions if England ever hosts the World Cup etc.

Good question?

 

[toffee-L]

If we did go for a 52K Stadium for example. Would that throw in to question our chances of hosting the top events over Anfield? I am guessing for concerts etc they'd choose us for the better facilities, but could see them choosing Anfield for the big football competitions if England ever hosts the World Cup etc.

Presumably they'd chose us for football competitions too. Anfield is a dump, accessibility will be far superior at BMD and if any regeneration work is completed as well then the surrounding area will be much nicer too.

As for the question of capacity, it is a difficult question and I'm not surprised to see the club in a bit of a bind over it. I'm sure on our given day (Derby, home draw in a cup quarter final etc...) we could sell out a 60k attendance including away fans but could we do that consistently right now, given the poor quality of our squad and playing style? I have major reservations about this. If you exclude away fans, we are getting about 35-36k into Goodison every home game, if the club moved to a 60k stadium we'd have to find more than 20k more fans to sell out. Not easy.

Maybe they will look into ferry routes and modernising the rail line at some point for better accessibility but these are hypothetical questions way into the future. I think a 55-58k stadium is the right balance between realism and ambition for where we are as a club right now.

In any point, capacity does not always equate to success, the Juventus example is a sound one. Gate returns aren't the primary revenue stream they used to be, television money is far more important. Atmosphere is a bigger concern of mine than capacity.

 

[Dymak]

You'd have thought that they would have decided on the capacity already. Talk about slow progress. Just make a decision instead of making an almighty song and dance about it.

 

[upthetoffees]

I really don't feel like we deserve a new stadium at the moment, but that feeling will pass (hopefully)

With that said, I feel a great architect can make both happen. With Meis, I'm not in the least bit worried. He has done some incredible work and his mock-ups of Stadio Della Roma and Cincinnati FC's new stadium are phenomenal. Stadio Della Roma will have ~53,000 capacity.

Reference: http://www.meisarchitects.com/

 

[Gareth Gibson]

Nah, it'd be a big retreat from what was heavily hinted at.

55,000 is the bare minimum in pacifying Everton fans on stadium capacity. The club can have their little helpers crawling all over fan forums all they wish, but they wont get any traction for a sub-55,000 seater stadium. Not a chance.

Bang on.

 

[Jeff Jones]

My point was that the capacity of a stadium doesn’t dictate success. Some people seem to think that if we don’t build a 60k stadium we are destined to be mid table for the rest of time.

Yes, I know and agree. I just thought it was a good post to use to make my point about poor crowds in Italy, even at clubs that qualify regularly
for and actually win the CL.