Villa Park Redevelopment

[algy]

Birmingham needs one venue like that. I don’t think there’s capacity for two, in particular the non football revenue (NFL etc). 

There’s little point us building a similar venue just because they are.  If they do, we need to make Villa Park as good as it can be.

We wouldn’t be copying their plans. More just building a better 60k ground in a better location. 

We can do that at Villa Park though, no need to move.  A 60k stadium is probably achievable where we are and will come without a £2bn bill.  Remember their guys aren't doing this for free, they'll want a return on their money.   

Leave the Shopping Centre/NFL to them, we must concentrate on being a football club and optimizing what we have.  Summer gigs will be a critical area of competition, so we need to use the time we have to create memories and develop a 'music' brand around the stadium and warehouse.

Going further back in this thread, I was keen to move and do what they're planning, however they're ahead of us now, so we have to adjust the plan.

Absolutely.  We are going to hit 50k with Villa Park in the near future, and I don't think it's completely unrealistic to think that if we need to hit 60k, we could via either the Witton Lane stand, filling in the corners, a full rebuild of the North Stand, or some combination of those.

But tbh we'd only need a 60k capacity stadium IMO if we were either planning to attract loads of tourists (which feels unlikely to me, at least in the foreseeable future) or get the 1 NFL game that's us or Blues might prize away from London ... but tbh I think we've little chance of that once they build Willy Wanker's Chocolate Factory in Bordesley, so we'll probably manage with a bit less for the time being.

[Drummond]

We will be able to fill ours. Theirs will only be full when they aren't there and it will feel utterly shit playing football, and supporting football, in a ground that's likely to be half-full.

[Villan82]

Some cracking posts in here today

[FatSam]

You don’t know what they’re gonna design, look at what the blue noses have come up with, it’s out of our hands what the design will be like
and once Villa Parks knocked down that’s it there’s no going back
It will be on par with the 60s and 70s demolition of lovely old buildings that could have been referbed to build eye-sors which are now been knocked down again because they were so shocking

I seriously doubt whether we’ll be able to knock Villa Park down anyway
They’d be an outcry from the world of Football not just our lot as it’s probably the most loved football stadium in the country, mainly because it still looks like a football stadium and all the FA cup semis memories

Yes, but the 'lovely old buildings' at Villa Park have already been knocked-down. Once the North Stand has been redeveloped, the oldest stand will date back to when D:REAM were topping the charts. Yes, there would be an outcry, in the same way that there was for Goodison Park, which still had pre-WW2 stands on two sides of the ground. I'm not suggesting that the location of Villa Park, forming an ensemble with the church and Aston Hall, isn't unique and worth preserving. However, the structures themselves aren't significant from a heritage perspective.

[Pat Mustard]

An AI generated image of a fantasy stadium that's closer to Alum Rock than Curzon Street puts them ahead of us?  I can understand some of that lot getting dizzy at the fantasy, but I struggle to understand how anyone else is falling for it.

They don't have the funding in place for any of this.  None of it stands up to the remotest scrutiny - they are going to build potentially the most expensive stadium in Europe on a patch of land that is cut off from the city centre by a ring road, the Freightliner terminal and a recycling centre.  This in a city where there are several other large, better located vacant plots where no work has started.  No clearance work has commenced, no planning permission applied for and none of the transport work they are relying on is likely to be complete for at least 10 years, yet this is all going to happen by 2030 apparently.

Villa Park will hold 50k in two years time, and the other facilities will be open well before then.  I would wager now that we will have 60k seats planned before there is a spade in the ground on a replacement for the Sty.

[Drummond]

I bet they try to offer it to us.

[SaddVillan]

There's a piece on The Athletic website by Greg Evans about the Brickworks.

It contains this sentence:

Although they’re some way behind arch-rivals Villa, it’s no secret that they’re hot on their heels on and off the pitch.

Try not to laugh too much.

[kippaxvilla2]

Revenue of £30m v £360m qualifies them for this apparently.

[SaddVillan]

Revenue of £30m v £360m qualifies them for this apparently.

23/24

Blues revenue £19.7m
Player sales profit £15.4m
Pre-tax loss £16.1m

[eamonn]

It's about the same amount we're behind the Sky Six isn't it? And yet we strive. Let them do likewise, the poor little critters.

[Drummond]

There's a piece on The Athletic website by Greg Evans about the Brickworks.

It contains this sentence:

Although they’re some way behind arch-rivals Villa, it’s no secret that they’re hot on their heels on and off the pitch.

Try not to laugh too much.

I reckon he just means they have a heel fetish. And I obviously don't mean the shoes.

[LeeB]

There's a piece on The Athletic website by Greg Evans about the Brickworks.

It contains this sentence:

Although they’re some way behind arch-rivals Villa, it’s no secret that they’re hot on their heels on and off the pitch.

Try not to laugh too much.

So they're some way behind but also hot on our heels. Genius.

[Duncan Shaw]

I'm looking forward to what our plans will be long term, I think we'll be surprised how well the mend and fix bits look, tbh.

[rob_bridge]

We will fill 50k for big games and if the tickets prices are frozen/reduced in real terms.

We won't sell 50k at £60 quid a throw for a bog standard game as Mr Woodall and others have pointed out we don't have the London tourism factor which can add thousands the gates of those in the top league in that dominant city.

I expect more price differentials over time especially if we continue to play in Europe. More so CL.

As for Blues if they are in the Top League and if they are doing well and if they have reasonably priced tickets and we are doing crap for a long period of time and.........
then they may be able to sell out for some games. If they flog tickets at £20 a throw they will easily sell out a few times a season.

However, despite the owners protestations, football is very much the secondary consideration as it will be a multi purpose stadium not a football ground.

[not3bad]

We will fill 50k for big games and if the tickets prices are frozen/reduced in real terms.

We won't sell 50k at £60 quid a throw for a bog standard game as Mr Woodall and others have pointed out we don't have the London tourism factor which can add thousands the gates of those in the top league in that dominant city.

I expect more price differentials over time especially if we continue to play in Europe. More so CL.

As for Blues if they are in the Top League and if they are doing well and if they have reasonably priced tickets and we are doing crap for a long period of time and.........
then they may be able to sell out for some games. If they flog tickets at £20 a throw they will easily sell out a few times a season.

However, despite the owners protestations, football is very much the secondary consideration as it will be a multi purpose stadium not a football ground.

Looking at it that way then the "good for the city as a whole" argument has some merit.