NSWE Investment

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if we increased to 50,000 - how many times in a season would we fill the stadium?

Personally I think that it is a huge amount of  money that we would need to be spend to increase the capacity. when there is no real demand for this on a regular basis

When the 29,000 season ticket holders get their renewal cost for next season, I think we may all be in a for shock with the increase in price

You didn't think we'd sell out the season tickets.

We'd shift 50,000 on a regular basis, as we'd have 38,000 season ticket holders with an increased capacity. Remove supply and demand follows. This is what the club has successfully done for the first time in many years.

Getting a ticket at Villa Park is not as easy as it was and statistically by occupancy, only 3 clubs fill more of the ground every week.

Away tickets for the uninitiated are more myth than reality. ~200 left for Norwich a week before Christmas on a Tuesday night at 5+ aways tells you everything.

[Flin5tone]

One thing good about the Randy Lerner era was they were very proactive in getting the stadium full. Ticket offers for locals,schools and phone calls/emails to get you in the stadium. Surely someone could be calling up the 20,000 and telling them there's availability for the next three Home fixtures if you want to build up a Booking History

[brian green]

Look desperate.  That is always a good way of doing business.

[ChicagoLion]

if we increased to 50,000 - how many times in a season would we fill the stadium?

Personally I think that it is a huge amount of  money that we would need to be spend to increase the capacity. when there is no real demand for this on a regular basis

When the 29,000 season ticket holders get their renewal cost for next season, I think we may all be in a for shock with the increase in price

For a start we would increase away capacity by say 2k
Season tickets by 5k so we are not looking at lots of unsold tickets or empty seats.
There is also demand for more hospitality. You would also expect the improvement to provide better match day revenue opportunities.
The capital outlay would be FFP neutral and would add value to the Land and Building assets.
So it is pretty easy to how the financial case stacks up.
The biggest issue is transportation not ground development.

[Mister E]

I haven't got a clue. I've never thought that much above 50,000-ish is needed long-term because our gates have never needed it, but where that extra 8,000 comes from is beyond me. On one side there's Aston Park, which should never be touched. On the other two there's a lot of housing, and the days when we could buy them up cheaply are over. Then there's the problems of transport, public and other. There is no way we would get permission for extra capacity until that's sorted.
The sort of extra numbers we need aren't really enough to justify a move, and where we would we go? Most new out of town grounds are the anchor of a retail development and I can't see another one of them going up any time soon. There isn't an inner city site available. Maybe we missed a trick in not doing something at the Comonwealth Games stadium but Aston Villa not playing at Villa Park - is anything worth that?

Given the constraints on each side, the 8-10k increase would have to come from increasing the size of the Holte - building back - and the North stand. This is doable albeit incredibly disruptive during the rebuild.
What can we learn - if anything - about transport in other cities on matchday? - Parking and public transport to / from VP has never been great, in my experience (and if my failing memory serves). I travel from afar by car and will continue to do so as long as I can, until public transport generally improves (getting to and from north of Leeds for matches held at all times of the week is usually doable but pretty time-consuming).

[Demitri_C]

Filling the stadium isnt the issue, getting fans there and back is.

The one thing i dislike about going villa park is the journey home. Its a absolute shambles most nights

[The Edge]

Forget leaving Villa Park. I would hate that. There's scope at the North Stand to go another 5/8k which I think is sufficient for now and long long overdue as it's just so outdated and frankly it's ugly to me. Long term the Witton Lane is the biggest problem and buying up houses and moving a road will be a monumental problem. Rebuild it better on the existing footprint would be a solution to the cramped overcrowding problems that we have now (thanks doug). As for transport it would seem that the problems are mainly felt at the two stations that serve Villa park. Surely a line of buses on the Lichfield Rd going towards the city and towards Sutton isn't too much of an ask but would require joined up thinking and co-operation between the cluband the council? Thousands have already walked that far anyway to get to Aston station.

[Sexual Ealing]

A few pages back (I think) Chico said that Tottenham and Arsenal have built good stadiums. I can't comment on Spurs', the Emirates a terrible ground. Highbury was wonderful. The new one feels like sitting in a multiplex in Telford, but the burgers cost £17 (that price is true, as of two seasons ago, and I doubt they've reduced them).

[Villan82]

You easily add 8,000 to the capacity by building a new North Stand. The new stand would be wider and deeper. There are acres of space there.

[Drummond]

A new North, steeper and deeper with two rows of exec boxes, wrapped a bit more towards the Trinity would do it. The Witton could be steeper too and possibly built over the road like the Trinity.

[Risso]

A few pages back (I think) Chico said that Tottenham and Arsenal have built good stadiums. I can't comment on Spurs', the Emirates a terrible ground. Highbury was wonderful. The new one feels like sitting in a multiplex in Telford, but the burgers cost £17 (that price is true, as of two seasons ago, and I doubt they've reduced them).

I went to Spurs our first game back in the Premier League. It's an amazing stadium. The one that feels shit is West Ham. Good stadium, just doesn't feel like it was designed for football.

[Drummond]

A few pages back (I think) Chico said that Tottenham and Arsenal have built good stadiums. I can't comment on Spurs', the Emirates a terrible ground. Highbury was wonderful. The new one feels like sitting in a multiplex in Telford, but the burgers cost £17 (that price is true, as of two seasons ago, and I doubt they've reduced them).

I went to Spurs our first game back in the Premier League. It's an amazing stadium. The one that feels shit is West Ham. Good stadium, just doesn't feel like it was designed for football.

I've not been and don't fancy it. The best places are where the crowd are in top of the pitch, not half a mile away across a running track.

[London Villan]

West Ham looks and feels temporary - weirdly disjointed stands, concourses open to the elements, no pubs with miles... just wrong.

[sickbeggar]

I'm not an architect/planner but you'd think looking at the North Stand, you could redevelop that, fill in the corners, modify the other stands etc.. and squeeze out as near as dammit 50k for now. If we eventually became massively successful and needed more, then a new/redeveloped stadium would eventually become on the cards, but I don't think it's a wasted investment improving Villa Park until we know that will happen. The transport links is a harder question to answer as its not in our hands and for example rail companies/network rail are not going to provide extra coaches/ increased line capacity just because they'll be used 25 days per year. For now just do what we can I reckon.

[Drummond]

All it needs is for the club to come to an agreement with the police for one priority access route and to lay on a load of coaches back to the city centre.