Stadium Development

[Silent Blade]

Call me a dreamer, but in an era where several clubs are either moving into brand new stadiums (Everton) or announcing plans to dramatically increase capacity and facilities at their existing stadiums (Leeds and Aston Villa) - in a time where Financial Fair Play rules and clubs need to maximise and squeeze every last corporate penny they can just to compete - I really can't see our new American owners coming in, sitting down and going "Do you know what, we don't need to increase attendance, our attendance is perfect for who we are!"


Stand still for long enough and we will get left behind. Bramall Lane is beautiful through the eyes of most loyal Blades, but in reality it needs an awful lot of work doing to it, and sharpish - to avoid us falling further behind our rivals.

Spending money on the stadium isn't included when working out FFP

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Leeds have announced their planned ground redevelopment.

Don't really like the design, but I do admire the shithousing of putting Leeds 6, Stoke 0 on the scoreboard.

 

[ml1997]

Call me a dreamer, but in an era where several clubs are either moving into brand new stadiums (Everton) or announcing plans to dramatically increase capacity and facilities at their existing stadiums (Leeds and Aston Villa) - in a time where Financial Fair Play rules and clubs need to maximise and squeeze every last corporate penny they can just to compete - I really can't see our new American owners coming in, sitting down and going "Do you know what, we don't need to increase attendance, our attendance is perfect for who we are!"


Stand still for long enough and we will get left behind. Bramall Lane is beautiful through the eyes of most loyal Blades, but in reality it needs an awful lot of work doing to it, and sharpish - to avoid us falling further behind our rivals.

There’s always plans for stadium expansions and renovations, rarely are they carried through.

Bramall Lane’s looking pretty good in my view. The Kop needs a little renovation and then we’re in tip top shape. We’re never going to look like the boring modern standard of ground.

 

[Selly]

Spending money on the stadium isn't included when working out FFP

I believe the point being made by WorksopBlade86 was that our new owners will want to grow our income in order to help with FFP.

As long as there isn`t a choice being made between funding the team and funding the stadium improvements - I'm fully behind this. We have an opportunity to cement BDTBL as the premier sports location in SY with the largest capacity. Lets get it done.

 

[Selly]

The Kop needs a little renovation and then we’re in tip top shape

The Bramall Lane end is not good - although given its position I'm not entirely sure what can be done about it - any increase in size to the concourse will eat into the space available for seating.

 

[Nick Jansky]

The Bramall Lane end is not good - although given its position I'm not entirely sure what can be done about it - any increase in size to the concourse will eat into the space available for seating.

As has been discussed on here before, it could be built out over Bramall Lane utilising the land across the road. But it would be a hell of a task & very expensive.

 

[skegblade]

Believe it when I see it like all Narnia projects we've released down the years.

We havent got red bull and 100s of american basketball players dpnating and buying shares
Money talks that video will have cost more than we spend on ours

 

[skegblade]

There’s always plans for stadium expansions and renovations, rarely are they carried through.

Bramall Lane’s looking pretty good in my view. The Kop needs a little renovation and then we’re in tip top shape. We’re never going to look like the boring modern standard of ground.

Casinos beneath, shops etc is the american way prints money,look at the area around bramall lane archaic shops, cafes and fast food a couple of pubs that are decent ...thats it,hardly a day out to entertain a familly,spurs raking revenue in in the close season points to the dirwction we need to go,not sure we have the incomeor the want

 

[BladeByChoice]

Man City are doing something similar at the minute, and did when they put the third tier on above the away end.

If the pillars are the main issue (i sit on the kop and generally think they are!) couldnt we just actually take the roof off?? Yeah, some games people would get wet from the rain, but a discounted season ticket can offset that to a degree until ready to build / finish the new structure. The corner stand should get demolished, pretty pointless that. Could knock up a decent sized toilet block there to elevaiate issues elsewhere, again until a newer fit for purpose structure can be built.

Main issues are time and money, will cost a fortune to build a new stand capable of seating 12k+.

Never even considered the idea of removing the Kop roof and leaving it open while building work continues.

Thinking more about it, we could move all our Kop ST holders to other stands and give away supporters a section of the open end for a year.

I certainly wouldn’t mind.

Might even have a hidden advantage, we could have the atmosphere generating supporters in the BLLT and the sit down brigade in the BLUT.

It would also benefit SYP/SAG as it would remove the Bramall Lane John Street corner flash point.

 

[ColinHill]

Casinos beneath, shops etc is the american way prints money,look at the area around bramall lane archaic shops, cafes and fast food a couple of pubs that are decent ...thats it,hardly a day out to entertain a familly,spurs raking revenue in in the close season points to the dirwction we need to go,not sure we have the incomeor the want

I kind of disagree with the area around BL...shoreham street end, yep, agree, but BL end New Era Square is actually really good for people to come and use. I agree the american way prints money, but the demographic that lives close to the Lane is either Students or lower end of the socio-economic groups so putting in shops etc means they'll never get used

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

that architectural abomination… The John Street corner.

The JS corner was set where it is as the original plans were for the rake to continue round the Kop towards the South Stand IIRC. Mind you, that's ging back a long time but had it come off, I think the Kop would have been an amazing sight to see.

 

[WorksopBlade86]

I believe the point being made by WorksopBlade86 was that our new owners will want to grow our income in order to help with FFP.

As long as there isn`t a choice being made between funding the team and funding the stadium improvements - I'm fully behind this. We have an opportunity to cement BDTBL as the premier sports location in SY with the largest capacity. Lets get it done.

Exactly this, you've nailed it!

I just find it hard to fathom that an American consortium of (Seemingly) very well connected and successful business men would go through all the effort to acquire us, fly over and look at the Kop in particular in it's current condition and go "we don't need to do anything here guys!"

Every avenue to generate funds will have to be maximised to the hilt, and with the 90's being the first wave of mass stadium improvements/moves due to the Taylor Report and Sky money coming in, I honestly think we are at the beginning of the second wave now - those that upgrade their facilities will push on, those that don't will be left behind, sadly.

We don't want to be the latter, just because Bramall Lane is "ok"

 

[LBA_Blade]

Casinos beneath, shops etc is the american way prints money,look at the area around bramall lane archaic shops, cafes and fast food a couple of pubs that are decent ...thats it,hardly a day out to entertain a familly,spurs raking revenue in in the close season points to the dirwction we need to go,not sure we have the incomeor the want

The problem from a city centre (pretty much) stadium is the demographic and capacity around it. Sheffield is very student/ "Chinese" influenced. As the Americans would call it as real estate of Bramall Lane, the Car park if developed for the demographic of students. Could potentially be turned into a good 7 day a week earner with extension of the South Stand included. Nearest fast foods are either amongst the Moor or near the train station. A 24/7 convivence store separate at the front (Sainsbury's local or similar) with a multilevel food court with the likes of Greggs, Burger King, McDonalds, Nando's, pizza/street food etc doesn't have to be all of them think about the food court style at Meadowhall or on a smaller version at Trinity Kitchen in Leeds (https://www.trinityleeds.com/en/eat-listing?page=1&sort=asc ) with some form of Cinema or Bowling complex. Not only adds to the appeal of the hotel but will bring in people to the area. If you add a couple of cocktail bars such as The Alchemist or similar, you would find more people there.

 

[BladeByChoice]

........ A 24/7 convivence store separate at the front (Sainsbury's local or similar) with a multilevel food court with the likes of Greggs, Burger King, McDonalds, Nando's, pizza/street food etc doesn't have to be all of them think about the food court style at Meadowhall or on a smaller version at Trinity Kitchen in Leeds (https://www.trinityleeds.com/en/eat-listing?page=1&sort=asc ) ........

Exactly this:

Any new development needs to be looking at year round income not just match day, for that you look at the demographic of the local residents not the demographic of the fan base.

They are students they live on beer, pot noodle and fish finger sandwiches.

They don’t want to pay 20 quid for a tossed off 6in Pizza from a tossed off stone oven, they want 99p burgers and 4 cans of Stella 24/7

I’m sure our new owners know this.

 

[blade too long]

Don't really like the design, but I do admire the shithousing of putting Leeds 6, Stoke 0 on the scoreboard.

they look very similar to Anfields stands

 

[blade too long]

The Bramall Lane end is not good - although given its position I'm not entirely sure what can be done about it - any increase in size to the concourse will eat into the space available for seating.

vincente calderon , atleticos old ground stand straddled a dual carriageway



could be another 12000 seats over bramall lane

 

[Jon Bon II]

Would love our Kop to 1 day hold 18,000, what a noise that would be.

The sound of feet shuffling down the kop steps on 80 minutes to beat the traffic, would be deafening.

 

[Stevo71]

Exactly this:

Any new development needs to be looking at year round income not just match day, for that you look at the demographic of the local residents not the demographic of the fan base.

They are students they live on beer, pot noodle and fish finger sandwiches.

They don’t want to pay 20 quid for a tossed off 6in Pizza from a tossed off stone oven, they want 99p burgers and 4 cans of Stella 24/7

I’m sure our new owners know this.

They can pop into Premier on cherry St if they want shit like that.

 

[Stevo71]

The sound of feet shuffling down the kop steps on 80 minutes to beat the traffic, would be deafening.

And 10/15 mins before h/t in a race to get the beers in

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

Fargate looks worse, seriously. Specsavers open at 9 mate.

I don’t go into town often but went up Fargate the other day and was very disappointed.

Also those plants they’ve put in that look like clumps of overgrown grass…deary me.

 

[NewyorkBlade]

Remember when Reggie boy submitted plans to SCC ,I can't remember if they were past, but they looked very impressive .

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

I've not said let's not compete with Leeds. We already are doing that. I'm saying that Leeds and us are very different clubs size wise. It's just a fact.

I don't think changing the stadium is what we need to move onto the next level like Brighton have done. Brighton had a tiny crap ground so they needed a new stadium. I think we need to invest in the training ground, better recruitment and yes improve BL.

Leeds have come down to our level as opposed to us going up to their previous level which was top ten in the PL most seasons - in the 90's and they won the league in 1992 having spent millions on that side, whereas we got the occasional Leeds cast off.

It doesn't mean we can't compete but it's hard over a prolonged period as Leeds are a much bigger club as are Newcastle and Villa for example. Wilder said exactly the same yesterday. But I do want to see us compete with Leeds and Villa etc in the PL but it's always tough because they're bigger clubs with huge resources behind them. I don't think I'm saying anything controversial here!

Every club in the country that’s bigger than us didn’t get to be bigger without showing a bit of ambition at some point in their history.

Problem with some is they think United can’t become a bigger club than they are now despite seeing others do it.

If we just accept being where we’re at now it’s the best we can ever hope for. We’ve shown what can be done already. We’ve probably doubled our match attending fanbase more or less. We’ve built a stadium that’s regularly voted the best/one of the best in the Championship and even the Premier League while we’re there.

Why can’t we push it to the next level. We can become an established Premier League side competing for the odd cup or Europe, with a top academy, training ground and stadium. It’s only lack of belief holding us back.

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

Stopped reading when you suggested that Southampton and Leicester are smaller clubs than us.

Bet you didn’t and they were until they did something about it. Built bigger and better stadiums, then training facilities and academies.

Good job nobody listened to their fans who were shit scared of showing a bit of ambition.

 

[metalblade]

I see the Sheffield village mentality is alive and well on this forum, always a reason why it can't be done never any solutions to problems. Stay like we are and the thing they fear most will come to pass, we will have to move from the lane if we don't invest in it.

 

[metalblade]

A great example is happening right now at Sheffield Crucible theatre which has stayed the same since the snooker world championship were first staged there. Now the game as got bigger like darts and smaller venues are not fit for purpose. Sheffield is in danger of losing snooker unless a larger purpose built venue is found quickly, if that takes as long as building Fargate then it is bye bye.

 

[metalblade]

I have said this before it is the Kop and Bramall lane ends that are the problem. The kop needs a rebuild urgently so I'd get rid of the media box into the offices where the video screen is, demolish the kop and rebuild 20yards closer to Shoreham st, why you ask? This allows us the make the pitch longer to UEFA standards and move that towards Shoreham st. This would give you more space at the lane end which I would make into a single tier stand which could be split from top to bottom for home and away fans making segregation much easier. A new Kop with proper corners built to the John st and South stands would give you a capacity increase what is there now is a waste of space. The south stand needs another tier and more exec boxes built into it. The alternative is start with a clean canvas possibly somewhere else, the pitch has to be moved towards Shoreham st the Kop and BLLT are not fit for purpose.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

I have said this before it is the Kop and Bramall lane ends that are the problem. The kop needs a rebuild urgently so I'd get rid of the media box into the offices where the video screen is, demolish the kop and rebuild 20yards closer to Shoreham st, why you ask? This allows us the make the pitch longer to UEFA standards and move that towards Shoreham st. This would give you more space at the lane end which I would make into a single tier stand which could be split from top to bottom for home and away fans making segregation much easier. A new Kop with proper corners built to the John st and South stands would give you a capacity increase what is there now is a waste of space. The south stand needs another tier and more exec boxes built into it. The alternative is start with a clean canvas possibly somewhere else, the pitch has to be moved towards Shoreham st the Kop and BLLT are not fit for purpose.

I would absolutely hate the club to leave Bramall Lane.

A rebuild on the existing site, rotating the pitch to make best use of the footprint, is as radical as I'd want us to go and probably the best option in terms of future proofing us as a club that can compete at the top.
I just don't think we have that level of investment incoming.

 

[Selly]

I have said this before it is the Kop and Bramall lane ends that are the problem. The kop needs a rebuild urgently so I'd get rid of the media box into the offices where the video screen is, demolish the kop and rebuild 20yards closer to Shoreham st, why you ask? This allows us the make the pitch longer to UEFA standards and move that towards Shoreham st. This would give you more space at the lane end which I would make into a single tier stand which could be split from top to bottom for home and away fans making segregation much easier. A new Kop with proper corners built to the John st and South stands would give you a capacity increase what is there now is a waste of space. The south stand needs another tier and more exec boxes built into it. The alternative is start with a clean canvas possibly somewhere else, the pitch has to be moved towards Shoreham st the Kop and BLLT are not fit for purpose.

I'm all for this, but I'm not sure practically how we'd do this.

You'd be looking at being without the kop for at least 1 and a half seasons.

And then you'd follow it with another season without the BL end.

And that's all before you attempt to work out how to tie the new stands into the SS and JS given we are shifting the pitch.

It's complex, and doable, but it's going to be very complicated.

 

[Ron_Justice]

S6 is a Rust Bucket that needs condemning. How's about this? Temporarily move all our training operations to Dore. We build a new, modest 25-30K, out of town stadium somewhere we already own - Shirecliffe. We spend a couple of years renovating The Lane, whatever form that takes (pitch rotation please) and play at the new Modest home. Once The Lane is complete, we move back in and sell the Shirecliffe site to our porkly neighbours, doing their job for them (new ground) keeping the location palatable for the locals. We get paid, get a new ground, football in the region benefits, and we bulldoze the Rust Bucket and turn it into our Women's and Academy Home.

FWIW, The Rust Bucket fits on Shircliffe......

 

[Le Cynique]

I would absolutely hate the club to leave Bramall Lane.

A rebuild on the existing site, rotating the pitch to make best use of the footprint, is as radical as I'd want us to go and probably the best option in terms of future proofing us as a club that can compete at the top.
I just don't think we have that level of investment incoming.

I thought it had already been shown that we can’t rotate the pitch if we want to retain the ability to host Women’s Euro matches due to UEFA guidelines on pitch orientation?