Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Villan82]

And the North has needed doing for some time. It is cramped, poor facilities and far too narrow. The lower tier was designed for standing and is the only part of the ground to have had seats tacked onto the old terrace after the Taylor report. Therefore, you could argue, it has been out of date since before the Premier League era!.

Reading the article about the 'rebrand', and Heck's rationale for not going all in on the round badge, it's quite easy to imagine a scenario where he would argue strongly in favour of copying Chelsea rather than focussing on increased capacity and comfort with a new stand.

[Dogtanian]

And the North has needed doing for some time. It is cramped, poor facilities and far too narrow. The lower tier was designed for standing and is the only part of the ground to have had seats tacked onto the old terrace after the Taylor report. Therefore, you could argue, it has been out of date since before the Premier League era!.

Reading the article about the 'rebrand', and Heck's rationale for not going all in on the round badge, it's quite easy to imagine a scenario where he would argue strongly in favour of copying Chelsea rather than focussing on increased capacity and comfort with a new stand.

I don't think so, I think if you offered him a better offering to sell he's snap your hand off. It's just he'll have targets to meet and will be working at ways to spin plates to hit those targets.

Not even Chelsea want to have Chelsea's stadium, they're making the best of what they have because they haven't been able to sort a move and get something better. We're holding off in the hope of something better and because it will help us hit our revenue targets for the next two seasons.

[hipkiss92]

It's all very well talking about not counting the pennies, but then he's cancelled a big project ie the North Stand that would have had a huge effect on our finances.

Delayed rather than cancelled, no? I can see why they would want to pause - 6,000 lots seats of capacity for 4 home champions league games (at least) is a lot of £££.

[Stu82]

The reason Chelsea are in a 40k stadium is because of restrictions to expand. They would want a larger stadium if they could.
We are not restricted in the same way and I am sure that stadium development plans will
be announced in next 12 months.
All aspects of commercial income growth will be addressed.
Wes and Nas are not messing about.

[chrisw1]

It's all very well talking about not counting the pennies, but then he's cancelled a big project ie the North Stand that would have had a huge effect on our finances.

Delayed rather than cancelled, no? I can see why they would want to pause - 6,000 lots seats of capacity for 4 home champions league games (at least) is a lot of £££.

6,000 of the cheapest seats in the ground over 4 games isn't changing much tbh.

[tomd2103]

And the North has needed doing for some time. It is cramped, poor facilities and far too narrow. The lower tier was designed for standing and is the only part of the ground to have had seats tacked onto the old terrace after the Taylor report. Therefore, you could argue, it has been out of date since before the Premier League era!.

Reading the article about the 'rebrand', and Heck's rationale for not going all in on the round badge, it's quite easy to imagine a scenario where he would argue strongly in favour of copying Chelsea rather than focussing on increased capacity and comfort with a new stand.

I usually go in the North Stand lower, but was in the upper for a few games this season.  Wasn't a great experience to be honest, long queues to get in, crowded stairways and concourses to the point where they are almost dangerous and cramped seating. 

[Risso]

It's all very well talking about not counting the pennies, but then he's cancelled a big project ie the North Stand that would have had a huge effect on our finances.

Delayed rather than cancelled, no? I can see why they would want to pause - 6,000 lots seats of capacity for 4 home champions league games (at least) is a lot of £££.

6,000 of the cheapest seats in the ground over 4 games isn't changing much tbh.

Exactly. And in two years time, we could have had 10,000 extra paying customers, a mix of normal fans and premium corporate areas x 20 odd games depending on success, forever more. It all just seems very short term thinking to me. If they're going to announce a complete rebuild of the whole stadium in due course, then fair enough. I'd still have preferred a new ground, but accept that the emotional pull to the current ground is strong, and a new 50,000+ stadium on the current site would be better than doing nothing. But until we get a sniff of that is what's happening, then it is just doing nothing except papering over the cracks.

[Keeno]

I would imagine that with the Atairos lot now involved on the Board we'll see some refreshed plans for the NS redevelopment at some point within the next year or so - that's the kind of work you really can't rush through like they have with the rebrand.

 His comments at the time definitely didn't signal 'cancelling', more delaying and reconsidering. And he's since mentioned multiple times we won't be leaving the site. So redevelopment really feels inevitable. I also think from an optics point of view, having one end of our ground a building site in our first season back in the Champions League would've looked pretty amateur hour. 

Given that a new stadium doesn't seem likely I think the most realistic situation if they want to do more than just the North Stand would be for us to relocate for a season somewhere while larger work is carried out on VP. Might be a shit year at the Alexander Stadium on the cards... 

[Dogtanian]

Atairos build and manage arenas and exhibition centres and have ploughed some money into the club. The last thing they would want was a new stand being built without having had any input into it whatsoever.

They would have said from the start that they need to be involved in the planning for any redevelopment, so it's no surprise that the plans were dumped as soon as their deal was announced. Whether it's new build, rebuild, or just new New North.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Exactly. And in two years time, we could have had 10,000 extra paying customers, a mix of normal fans and premium corporate areas x 20 odd games depending on success, forever more.

Obviously the real money is in a stadium with multi-purpose facilities that can be used seven days a week,  but I'd be interested to know if there's real demand for a tonne of new corporate boxes/seats/etc at Villa Park?

[Dogtanian]

Exactly. And in two years time, we could have had 10,000 extra paying customers, a mix of normal fans and premium corporate areas x 20 odd games depending on success, forever more.

Obviously the real money is in a stadium with multi-purpose facilities that can be used seven days a week,  but I'd be interested to know if there's real demand for a tonne of new corporate boxes/seats/etc at Villa Park?

As people have mentioned, the trend is moving away from boxes. Boxes rely on a company buying them and then it's a done deal and who they invite comes.

If you have trendy hospitality areas and posh seats, you can break them down further and sell them with different options and packages at different prices. It's far more flexible and gives you the greatest chance of selling everything for the most money.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Exactly. And in two years time, we could have had 10,000 extra paying customers, a mix of normal fans and premium corporate areas x 20 odd games depending on success, forever more.

Obviously the real money is in a stadium with multi-purpose facilities that can be used seven days a week,  but I'd be interested to know if there's real demand for a tonne of new corporate boxes/seats/etc at Villa Park?

As people have mentioned, the trend is moving away from boxes. Boxes rely on a company buying them and then it's a done deal and who they invite comes.

If you have trendy hospitality areas and posh seats, you can break them down further and sell them with different options and packages at different prices. It's far more flexible and gives you the greatest chance of selling everything for the most money.

I get that but is there demand? Or put another way, is it companies taking out a table for x number of people for the season or a family treating a family member for their birthday? Is their a long waiting list for 'corporate entertainment'?

Heck speaks about how we need redevelopment to increase this type of revenue but until now I've yet to hear anybody confirm there's a big queue for it.

[Dogtanian]

We will see, won’t we!

[Sexual Ealing]

I think somebody (Risso?) said there was a waiting list for corporate in the Trinity.

[dave.woodhall]

I throw this into the mix because no-one seems to know the answer - how much land do we now own?