Some considerations for the wheels park massive.
A new ground could be the financial albatross that sinks the whole club. Liverpool council borrowed money from the government and passed on the low interest rates to everton. They built new roads for access and are also extending tram and train lines into the docks.
Pull your finger out, Andy Street.
Bob Murray was a visionary with the stadium of light. I think he designed kitchens for a living and they did all the plans and building themselves. Originally, they had a plan to extend up to 67,000, but they could never afford to extend it, in their current financial climate.
Well, Blues will get no help from a skint council who now don't have control of their own finances. It's all on Knighthead, but I do trust their business acumen - if it's not viable, they won't do it. They aren't Blues fans, they are here to make money. If they think by investing the money in a stadium project they will make money, they will.
I still think there is an element with some fans that 'this is happening' and is nailed on. Still can't find anyone with actual concrete information that this is so, apart from a few rumours of 'enquiries'.
Knightheads interest isn’t really about a football team
It isn’t really about building a new stadium to watch football in
The real interest is in the real estate value of the footprint of a new stadium and the incremental contracts and arrangements they can leverage from it
Knightheads interest isn’t really about a football team
It isn’t really about building a new stadium to watch football in
The real interest is in the real estate value of the footprint of a new stadium and the incremental contracts and arrangements they can leverage from it
Exactly - they won't care whether there are 20-25k people watching football there every 2 weeks - it'll be the 10 concerts for 75k people that take place between those matches where they'll make their money. The amount of people who are still thinking 'small time' on this is just staggering. The football club will become increasingly a smaller and smaller element of their 'bottom line' as their development in Birmingham (the city) builds up.
I still think there is an element with some fans that 'this is happening' and is nailed on. Still can't find anyone with actual concrete information that this is so, apart from a few rumours of 'enquiries'.
Its the epitome of blue sky thinking.
Knightheads interest isn’t really about a football team
I understand this and if they were big players in world sports then they would buy into an NFL franchise, or a football team in one of the big leagues and not a broken 2nd tier team, from the backwaters.
Buy a club on the cheap, to open the doors for more lucrative deals elsewhere. As for a multi purpose venue, is there really such a demand for 10 x Shania Twain concerts, in brum? There's already plenty of competing venues, around the midlands to accommodate outdoor concerts. NBA and NFL also wouldn't come to brum, if you paid them.
All I want for Christmas is a refurbed main stand.
As for a multi purpose venue, is there really such a demand for 10 x Shania Twain concerts, in brum? There's already plenty of competing venues, around the midlands to accommodate outdoor concerts. NBA and NFL also wouldn't come to brum, if you paid them.
All I want for Christmas is a refurbed main stand.
There are no large stadiums within two hours of Brum capable of handling events the size that Spurs, Man City and West Ham do.
Villa Park and Cov hold a few, with VP being larger but still nothing on the scale of the others. Also from what I've heard event promoters don't much like VP for it's age and lack of facilities locally.
If we are getting a new stadium one big enough to hold 10-12 stadium sized concerts every summer is a no-brainer for Knighthead. There is a massive gap in the market locally and it will make them an absolute fortune.
Blues' inability to fill a 50k seater is pretty much irrelevant
From a football fans perspective, it sounds like a nightmare scenario. 20 k rattling around with zero atmosphere, in a stadium we don't own.
Whatever happened to st Andrew's being an asset of community value? Or was that just used as a stick to beat on the previous owners?
Concerts may be lucrative, but it would take many years before you started to turn a profit on that caper.
There are ways to get stadia to have a good atmosphere despite only being half full.
I've been at Wembley where the bottom tier is full but the top tier curtained off and tbh I hardly noticed.
Money drives success and a PL Blues with a big stadium will probably get double the crowds we do now (football tourism to the PL is HUGE as well as increased local interest). Having a brand new small stadium is incredibly short sighted.
Build it and they will come... Eventually.
foghorn leghornWe’ve always been scared of change and thinking bigger. Let’s embrace someone doing it for usFrom a football fans perspective, it sounds like a nightmare scenario. 20 k rattling around with zero atmosphere, in a stadium we don't own.
Whatever happened to st Andrew's being an asset of community value? Or was that just used as a stick to beat on the previous owners?
Concerts may be lucrative, but it would take many years before you started to turn a profit on that caper.
foghorn leghornWhatever happened to st Andrew's being an asset of community value? Or was that just used as a stick to beat on the previous owners?
I'm pretty sure that was designed to try and stop us ending up homeless when they sold the ground to a different company.
Doesn't really work if our owners are looking at building a stadium to replace
foghorn leghornFrom a football fans perspective, it sounds like a nightmare scenario. 20 k rattling around with zero atmosphere, in a stadium we don't own.
Whatever happened to st Andrew's being an asset of community value? Or was that just used as a stick to beat on the previous owners?
Concerts may be lucrative, but it would take many years before you started to turn a profit on that caper.
The size of the proposed new stadium and ownership aren't clear. Hard to see how a new stadium built by our owners would be different from the current position though - they own the current ground, they would own the new ground.
St Andrews is an asset of community value because there isn't a better alternative nearby. It wasn't "used as a stick to beat on the previous" but to prevent us ending up playing on Coventry or where ever for the next 20 years.
Concerts and other events turn an FFP profit from the start for the club - which is what is needed, converting the money Knighthead can invest into money the club can spend on the squad. We'd also see higher match day revenue, with more facilities for fans to spend at around a ground with room for more facilities.
They’ve been clear that more revenue is key to future success. That and better football. I’m all for that
Bluesince62Well, Blues will get no help from a skint council who now don't have control of their own finances.
Metro/tram extensions fall under the remit of the WMCA not the Council.
Regardless of what happens with elections next year, WMCA could and should become a fervent battle ground from all parties and getting their party in charge. The Tories will do whatever they can to hang on to a CA and Labour will want it as theirs, hopefully that will see WMCA benefitting either way.
Rab C NesbittThey’ve been clear that more revenue is key to future success. That and better football. I’m all for that
I know it’s on the lower end of the scale but I’ve been to a fair few exhibitions at the Ricoh the last few years, and they do concerts too, fabs just don’t get the concept of everyday revenue for a football club, most just see the Tuesday-Saturday Kick off.
The trouble Knighthead were always going to have is for us fans to change our mindsets, but for the club to grow we have to grow and evolve with it.
I went recently on the tour of the spurs stadium
Super impressive but they commented that they make more from 1 NFL game there than a season of football matches