Capacity

[dn5 shaun]

You’ll get pelters for that viewpoint off the deluded few who think we’d be getting 40k if it was big enough.

Not a chance in my opinion. Improve the kop but the ground is fine at 32k.

Not big enough, the crowd's we get are good considering your average fan can't just walk up and get a ticket. The ground is a closed shop.if you're not a season ticket holder or a member basically your told to fuck off, it needs massive investment especially the kop. Anyone who wants to go to the lane should be able to get in but it doesn't happen. Only my opinion but open it up to the general public and bingo

 

[Sheffsteel]

Makes me absolutely piss myself when people go on about making the ground bigger.
It's exactly the right size for when everyone wants to go, and that's including a few cheeky Liverpool or Man United fans in the home end when we play them.
If we can't sell 32,000 for an FA Cup semi final then we don't need more than 32,000 capacity for other games.

Think you need to keep up.
Gone are the days when you had cheeky away fans sitting in home areas.

My colleague is a bit of a Liverpool fan living in Rotherham.
He tried to buy a ticket for the Liverpool game 2 years ago and was refused, he actually went down to the ticket office.
He even offered to join our membership scheme at £50 but was told he still couldn't have a ticket.

For the bigger games, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool etc.
You needed to be a member BUT also have purchasing history from previous seasons...to buy a ticket for the home end.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Those who would like to see a 40k gate probably have to accept a move away from the Lane.

Not sure why you would say that.

The McCabe expansion plan for both the Kop and South stand combined, takes capacity to 41 to 42K.

 

[Sheffsteel]

We need to do something in order to help us to compete with clubs of a similar size as us. That should be building the best stadium and facilities possible for a club our size.

Unfortunately, I can just see us continuing to go with the cheap options and either doing nothing to the Lane or going for rubbish bolt on to our current outdated stands.

It's about practicality and common sense.

Have you seen the cheap option? our ground would be fantastic with the latest modern facilities.
If the cheap option triples our executive, banqueting areas and massively improves our income on non match days
then don't see why we'd need these facilities under the Kop too, it would represent poor value re-doing the Kop from scratch
when we can do what Liverpool are doing at Anfield by building behind the stand....we don't even lose capacity then when matches are being played.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Do you mean within the same footprint or extending it backwards ?
If extended , the whole roof has to come off at enormous expense
Can anyone put a £figure on reroofing with no posts + with a new area at the back for standing ?
What happens to the 10k who are shut out of the kop during construction ?

The McCabe plan was built fancy fully enclosed larger concourse areas behind the Kop also installing an extra 3000 seats at the back
and leave the Kop operational and open during building works, like what they are doing now at Anfield.
McCabe said the present roof can be taken off, pillars removed and a new larger roof installed during the Summer close season.

The 10K are only shut out for 2 years if there was to be a total rebuild, clear the site and build a stand from scratch with conference and banqueting rooms underneath.
However we'll already have loads of conference and banqueting facilitates in the newly expanded South stand and in the John Street.
Regards a total rebuild the advantages are minimal for a much higher cost (lost revenue) and inconvenience to fans.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Not big enough, the crowd's we get are good considering your average fan can't just walk up and get a ticket. The ground is a closed shop.if you're not a season ticket holder or a member basically your told to fuck off, it needs massive investment especially the kop. Anyone who wants to go to the lane should be able to get in but it doesn't happen. Only my opinion but open it up to the general public and bingo

Agree.....that's the fact....Bramall Lane is a closed shop when in the PL.
It's season ticket holders and members only.

No floating fans so it's currently impossible to grow our fan base,
The McCabe plan was adding 3,200 seats to the Kop and 6,500 seats to the South stand, taking capacity to over 41K.

Remember McCabe saying their was cost savings if both stands were expanded at the same time.
However maybe it might be better to grow our fanbase gradually and do just 1 stand.

 

[nopigfansintown]

 

[DerbyDave]

From the outside , I'm always slightly surprised how Sheffield United supporters seem to sell themselves short in terms of the size and potential of their club ..a stark contrast to your neighbours perhaps ?

Sheffield United attendances have been extremely healthy for many seasons now , and Bramall Lane is always close to capacity on match day ..this season 28,746

Compare that to other clubs with 30,000+ capacity similarly sized stadiums ..Blackburn , Birmingham , Cardiff , Middlesborough , Coventry , Stoke etc ..none of these clubs come close to matching Sheffield United's turnout .not just in a good year , but any year

If you come close to averaging 30,000 in the Championship ..and that's with away support from the likes of Reading , Wigan , Luton and QPR , then quite clearly you could do an extension on 32,000+ when in the Premier League

I don't know how you do it , but it's obvious , if the capacity was 35,000 for the Premier League .it would not be a problem to fill it

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

Pig fans were genuinely discussing expanding their stadium to 50,000 after the mind the gap season.

What part of ‘our stadium is absolutely rammed year in year out, it needs expanding so we can attract more support’ do so many of our fans fail to grasp.

Christ, the ‘things always fall apart’ mentality has absolutely suffocated any sort of forward thinking or ambition out of our fans.

We should want to see our club evolve and grow into something modern and competitive, last year we were ranked 14th in the championship for infrastructure (Boro were number 1).

It can’t be just me who’s bored shitless with the same old ‘cheap as chips, I just want a team o triers’ Sheffield United.

 

[S64 Blade]

From the outside , I'm always slightly surprised how Sheffield United supporters seem to sell themselves short in terms of the size and potential of their club ..a stark contrast to your neighbours perhaps ?

Sheffield United attendances have been extremely healthy for many seasons now , and Bramall Lane is always close to capacity on match day ..this season 28,746

Compare that to other clubs with 30,000+ capacity similarly sized stadiums ..Blackburn , Birmingham , Cardiff , Middlesborough , Coventry , Stoke etc ..none of these clubs come close to matching Sheffield United's turnout .not just in a good year , but any year

If you come close to averaging 30,000 in the Championship ..and that's with away support from the likes of Reading , Wigan , Luton and QPR , then quite clearly you could do an extension on 32,000+ when in the Premier League

I don't know how you do it , but it's obvious , if the capacity was 35,000 for the Premier League .it would not be a problem to fill it

It’s the local psyche mate (Wednesday fans excluded).

Be overly cautious of relatively small changes. Don’t do anything and then moan about Sheffield being backwards and shit when places that do take more calculated risks are successful.

Like you say, increasing the capacity by 10% when it’s >90% full already in the Championship, isn’t being deluded.

There’s just shy of 2 million people living within a 20 miles radius of Bramall Lane, but it’s impossible for us to grow from 30k crowds…

 

[FlamingLip]

Did the McCabian kop extension proposal increase number of entrance/exit points (which i thought was the underlying issue with SAG this season)?

 

[Houston_Blade]

It’s the local psyche mate (Wednesday fans excluded).

Be overly cautious of relatively small changes. Don’t do anything and then moan about Sheffield being backwards and shit when places that do take more calculated risks are successful.

Like you say, increasing the capacity by 10% when it’s >90% full already in the Championship, isn’t being deluded.

There’s just shy of 2 million people living within a 20 miles radius of Bramall Lane, but it’s impossible for us to grow from 30k crowds…

I welcome change and improvement, I just don’t think we’re ever going to be a PL club long enough to sustain crowds bigger than 32k.

We won’t always be at the top of the Championship either, as soon as we’re not a promotion chasing team our average crowd would drop to 25k ish. We’ve ‘sold out’ about 4 times this season and we’ve been 2nd all season. I include the reduced capacity due to SAG in this.

If we’re a PL club for 5 years then 35k-40k is do able, it will just never happen.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

I really don’t want us to develop the kop, especially if we’re going to proceed with the half-arsed McCabe proposals. Tacking an extension onto the back of a shallow, concrete covered spoil heap really ain’t good enough for a 21st century football stadium. I’d sooner we wait until we can afford something better…A sustained period in the Prem would help.

 

[Blademan18891889]

From the outside , I'm always slightly surprised how Sheffield United supporters seem to sell themselves short in terms of the size and potential of their club ..a stark contrast to your neighbours perhaps ?

Sheffield United attendances have been extremely healthy for many seasons now , and Bramall Lane is always close to capacity on match day ..this season 28,746

Compare that to other clubs with 30,000+ capacity similarly sized stadiums ..Blackburn , Birmingham , Cardiff , Middlesborough , Coventry , Stoke etc ..none of these clubs come close to matching Sheffield United's turnout .not just in a good year , but any year

If you come close to averaging 30,000 in the Championship ..and that's with away support from the likes of Reading , Wigan , Luton and QPR , then quite clearly you could do an extension on 32,000+ when in the Premier League

I don't know how you do it , but it's obvious , if the capacity was 35,000 for the Premier League .it would not be a problem to fill it

Mate we sold out twice in the premier league the other year, once against man u and the other on boxing day, and I'll add to that we were genuinely chasing a European spot throughout that season. Not sure how we would get thousands more to go, Our crowds are absolutely superb because I don't believe we have that many more fans, so the amount that actually go is a brilliant turnout.

 

[YES Blade]

The McCabe plan was built fancy fully enclosed larger concourse areas behind the Kop also installing an extra 3000 seats at the back
and leave the Kop operational and open during building works, like what they are doing now at Anfield.
McCabe said the present roof can be taken off, pillars removed and a new larger roof installed during the Summer close season.

The 10K are only shut out for 2 years if there was to be a total rebuild, clear the site and build a stand from scratch with conference and banqueting rooms underneath.
However we'll already have loads of conference and banqueting facilitates in the newly expanded South stand and in the John Street.
Regards a total rebuild the advantages are minimal for a much higher cost (lost revenue) and inconvenience to fans.

The problem with the Kop is that it’s built on a spoil heap and has extremely poor leg room. It’s wasn’t even up to standard when it was built in the 90s, so why would we expand it and keep those outdated facilities for 2023 and beyond?

The only reason McCabe wanted to expand the Kop and South Stand was for the World Cup. Now that ship has sailed long ago, we need to come up with plans that suit our needs for the next 30 years.

 

[YES Blade]

Mate we sold out twice in the premier league the other year, once against man u and the other on boxing day, and I'll add to that we were genuinely chasing a European spot throughout that season. Not sure how we would get thousands more to go, Our crowds are absolutely superb because I don't believe we have that many more fans, so the amount that actually go is a brilliant turnout.

It’s always going to be difficult to sell out Bramall Lane because the final few hundred tickets available will be restricted views etc. and a complete waste of money.

Modern stadiums don’t have this same issue as even the seats with the worsted views are still going to be ok.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

The problem with the Kop is that it’s built on a spoil heap and has extremely poor leg room. It’s wasn’t even up to standard when it was built in the 90s, so why would we expand it and keep those outdated facilities for 2023 and beyond?

The only reason McCabe wanted to expand the Kop and South Stand was for the World Cup. Now that ship has sailed long ago, we need to come up with plans that suit our needs for the next 30 years.

I agree, the kop stand was sadly out of date before it was even finished…and that was 33 years ago.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Bramall Lane is like an old Victorian theatre, with so many uncomfortable, restricted view seats. But the sad indictment of the previous custodians of this club, is that the oldest stand at BDTBL was built only 56 years ago.

 

[metalblade]

Makes me absolutely piss myself when people go on about making the ground bigger.
It's exactly the right size for when everyone wants to go, and that's including a few cheeky Liverpool or Man United fans in the home end when we play them.
If we can't sell 32,000 for an FA Cup semi final then we don't need more than 32,000 capacity for other games.

We have an away end that holds 2900 or so how many times has it been full this season? The usual take up is around 1000 I'd say sometimes about 500 yet our average at home even with the kop restrictions has been over 28700 so around 90% of capacity overall well over 90% full for home supporters. The hardest tickets to sell are the last few single seats and restricted view seats of which we have a fair number. I'd say there is little scope for us to increase our fan base at the moment. We need to bring capacity up to around 36,000 to start with if we want to grow as a club.

 

[Westran]

We've done a lot to pull new fans in over the last 20 years, something we can't do now because we don't really have the space. We can't sell anymore season tickets this year, because we don't have enough seats, and we've had so many games where we could have sold more if it was easier to get ticket, but we restrict ticket sales because of stadium problems.

We need to sort out the safety issues, we need more hospitality, and the kop needs a cover on the concourse at least. You should be able to go for a piss without getting rained on when you're paying £20 to get in.

I think the sentiment that we undersell ourselves is true, it's true of Sheffield generally and it's true of Sheffield United. If we increased capacity we would then be able to carry out campaigns with students, younger fans, football tourists and the wider catchment area to bring in more fans, but we can't do that at the minute and actually we turn fans away for trivial reasons when we haven't even sold out. Bizarre.

 

[mattbianco1]

We could build a standing area at the back of the kop

We already have a standing area at the back of the Kop

Sunderland a phenomenon like Burnley - half the population go to the football , again , Sheffield has never been like that.

Sheffield is similar to Sunderland. Similar percentage of fans-to-population attend the game. When you consider the pigs attendances, there's 55K attending football in this city

Everton - if they drop out of PL will have good gates for a year or so then nothing, new ground could end up half empty

Everton is a prime example of what/where we could be if we were able to sustain top flight status.
Liverpool is a smaller city than Sheffield and Everton are the smaller club, starved of recent success, but still building a 53K stadium.

I realise they were a successful club back in the day, but have done nothing for 30-odd years.
It's top flight football that has maintained a chunk of their fanbase.

 

[Rusty view]

Agreed. If match day income is so worthless why would Everton be building a new stadium, why would Spurs have invested millions in their stadium, why did Man City move, why did Man Utd increase the size of their stadium several times, why did Arsenal move to the Emirates so that they could accommodate more people, etc.

For me, the main part of income is corporate facilities.

If we establish ourselves in Prem. Chuck a tier on top of SS 1st. Increase corporate facilities.

2 or 3k on back of kop won't increase income significantly.

Sadly I don't think right now it's worth the financial risk.

We'd also have to absorb a potential drop in income while it's built (although appreciate a lot can be done during the season - think Liverpool)

 

[metalblade]

Depends on the new owner and we do have potential Burnley pop 80,000 Sunderland 277,000 so half the populations certainly don’t go to football. Sheffield just over 600,000 catchment area 1.3 million…huge potential and now the premier League is more famous than ever.
Expand the Lane when we are financially secure not before and no never move from the Church

The thing is the longer that the lane is left as it is with no improvements then the more likely it will be that it would make sense for a new build away from the current site.

 

[S64 Blade]

I welcome change and improvement, I just don’t think we’re ever going to be a PL club long enough to sustain crowds bigger than 32k.

We won’t always be at the top of the Championship either, as soon as we’re not a promotion chasing team our average crowd would drop to 25k ish. We’ve ‘sold out’ about 4 times this season and we’ve been 2nd all season. I include the reduced capacity due to SAG in this.

If we’re a PL club for 5 years then 35k-40k is do able, it will just never happen.

Why won’t it ever happen?

We’ve just been promoted back to the PL within 2 years. Booking the trend of long absences before. Things change.

I’m not saying we expand tomorrow (we can’t afford it, for one), but it needs to be on the horizon for any new owner, pending us not going down/failing.

 

[Bartleby]

For the bigger games, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool etc.
You needed to be a member BUT also have purchasing history from previous seasons...to buy a ticket for the home end.

You didn't need to be a member last time - I know someone who got tickets for all those games with just a purchase history and modest number of loyaly points.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Why won’t it ever happen?

We’ve just been promoted back to the PL within 2 years. Booking the trend of long absences before. Things change.

I’m not saying we expand tomorrow (we can’t afford it, for one), but it needs to be on the horizon for any new owner, pending us not going down/failing.

It won’t happen because we seem to think being in the PL and not paying PL wages is going to keep us up.

We’d need a huge shift in mentality at the club for us to be anything more than PL tourists.

 

[Rodley]

It’s the local psyche mate (Wednesday fans excluded).

Be overly cautious of relatively small changes. Don’t do anything and then moan about Sheffield being backwards and shit when places that do take more calculated risks are successful.

Like you say, increasing the capacity by 10% when it’s >90% full already in the Championship, isn’t being deluded.

There’s just shy of 2 million people living within a 20 miles radius of Bramall Lane, but it’s impossible for us to grow from 30k crowds…

Put another tier on the South Stand with enhanced corporate provision / executive boxes in between.

Safe standing section on the Kop and improve the overall facilities there (toilets and bars).

Minimise disruption to current crowds, not an huge cost and vastly improves the corporate spend so quicker ROI. Kop improvements maintain and improve the atmosphere. Gets us up to ~36,000 at a push. You’d sell that out every week comfortably if established in the PL.

 

[YES Blade]

The thing is the longer that the lane is left as it is with no improvements then the more likely it will be that it would make sense for a new build away from the current site.

I think we’re pretty much at that point now. We’re never going to “do a Spurs” and expanding/rebuilding the current stands isn’t going to be cheap and won’t satisfy all our needs.

In financial terms, I think moving would probably be the best option.

 

[metalblade]

I think we’re pretty much at that point now. We’re never going to “do a Spurs” and expanding/rebuilding the current stands isn’t going to be cheap and won’t satisfy all our needs.

In financial terms, I think moving would probably be the best option.

Yep, I'd say if we had a owner prepared to put big money into the club then stay or move would be a 50/50 decision.

 

[Tezza1889]

I'm not going to quote any particular poster in this thread, but you should pay more attention to some of the comments on roys veiw from..

Very often you'll see the words "proper football ground" and "a real city centre ground" and words to that effect, these comments come from fans sick to death of soulless bowls and grounds on brown feild sites nowhere near anything of interest.. Or even a pub, let alone a genuine old city centre boozer...

We have the space to improve without moving, I don't ever want to leave the lane.

Don't wish for a "venue" when we have a home..