Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[kippaxvilla2]

Sounds like we are going to have Trevor Burton concerts in the North stand car park.

[PeterWithesShin]

Haven't Brighton always done that since moving, even going so far to have local beers of the area the away side are from for the away fans?

[Scott Nielsen]

It also doesn't explain why they needed the investment from Atairos, and what's in it for them.

Atairos might just want to get in on the premier league action, along with so many other American PE firms.

[London Villan]

No planning permission has been submitted for any of this though?

[dave.woodhall]

Sounds like we are going to have Trevor Burton concerts in the North stand car park.

Fine by me.

[Demitri_C]

Wonder if purslow was still here if the stadium expansion will still be happening.  He seemed very for it and heck seems massively against in.

I think the 20k ST waiting list for me is probably untrue

[Villan82]

Whether true or not that stand has to go sooner or later. It is too small and approaching 50 years, built at a time before all-seater stadia.

We have had average attendances well over 40k since we got back to the top tier and we are back dining in the top echelons of the league for the first time since the 90s.

If we want to compete at that level we need to grow off the pitch and the major stadium redevelopment is the obvious solution- what Heck has outlined is basically a tart up - if even that. So how do we compete long-term?

He came across better in his interview but, once again, the fundamental message has so many holes.

[Demitri_C]

Whether true or not that stand has to go sooner or later. It is too small and approaching 50 years, built at a time before all-seater stadia.

We have had average attendances well over 40k since we got back to the top tier and we are back dining in the top echelons of the league for the first time since the 90s.

If we want to compete at that level we need to grow off the pitch and the major stadium redevelopment is the obvious solution- what Heck has outlined is basically a tart up - if even that. So how do we compete long-term?

He came across better in his interview but, once again, the fundamental message has so many holes.

Agreed. Part of me does think that they want a full stadium for CL if we get there

I would imagine they have plans to ramp up prices for elite CL games and dont want to lose on the revenue

[Villan82]

Whether true or not that stand has to go sooner or later. It is too small and approaching 50 years, built at a time before all-seater stadia.

We have had average attendances well over 40k since we got back to the top tier and we are back dining in the top echelons of the league for the first time since the 90s.

If we want to compete at that level we need to grow off the pitch and the major stadium redevelopment is the obvious solution- what Heck has outlined is basically a tart up - if even that. So how do we compete long-term?

He came across better in his interview but, once again, the fundamental message has so many holes.

Agreed. Part of me does think that they want a full stadium for CL if we get there

I would imagine they have plans to ramp up prices for elite CL games and dont want to lose on the revenue

I've seen us play in Europe during the rebuilding of the Witton, Holte and Trinity! What if we become champions league regulars? If that's their reason then no club would ever redevelop unless they were relegated which is so clearly nonsense.

Edit: more fundamentally, the redevelopment was a signal of a new era and most fans were excited for it to happen. As with the badge issue it just seems like Heck is a bit of a killjoy with this stuff.

[Risso]

Whether true or not that stand has to go sooner or later. It is too small and approaching 50 years, built at a time before all-seater stadia.

We have had average attendances well over 40k since we got back to the top tier and we are back dining in the top echelons of the league for the first time since the 90s.

If we want to compete at that level we need to grow off the pitch and the major stadium redevelopment is the obvious solution- what Heck has outlined is basically a tart up - if even that. So how do we compete long-term?

He came across better in his interview but, once again, the fundamental message has so many holes.

Agreed. Part of me does think that they want a full stadium for CL if we get there

I would imagine they have plans to ramp up prices for elite CL games and dont want to lose on the revenue

What about future revenue?

[tomd2103]

Whether true or not that stand has to go sooner or later. It is too small and approaching 50 years, built at a time before all-seater stadia.

We have had average attendances well over 40k since we got back to the top tier and we are back dining in the top echelons of the league for the first time since the 90s.

If we want to compete at that level we need to grow off the pitch and the major stadium redevelopment is the obvious solution- what Heck has outlined is basically a tart up - if even that. So how do we compete long-term?

He came across better in his interview but, once again, the fundamental message has so many holes.

I know the interview was on the club's website and was with Gabby, so it was never going to be too taxing, but that is the question I would have liked him to be asked - if we are going to be staying at Villa Park, how are we going to generate the kind of revenue that enables us to compete at the elite levels on a regular basis?

To be fair to him, I thought he explained well that the football and business side of things are moving at two different speeds, with the former currently moving a lot faster than the latter, but would have liked a bit more detail on their strategy to build up the business side of things (though he did go into some detail with the kit sponsors etc.).  Suppose it was never really going to be that kind of interview though.

[PeterWithe]

As was pointed out last time this was discussed in depth, until they have to say something about the long term plans, they wont as there is little benefit to them in doing so.

[chrisw1]

Thats superb news that we are staying at Villa Park. As is the 5% season ticket increase.

I still do not understand the need to stop increasing the stadium capacity when we need FFP revenue more than ever, just to cram in a few extra "prawn sandwich" seats dotted around the stadium.

No news about the crest either, which was supposed to be publicly released in Feb...

I think there are a couple of obstacles to enlarging the ground. Firstly, while it’s happening attendances and therefore revenue is reduced. Secondly, the transport infrastructure is creaking at our current capacity, add any more without accompanying improvements to that and it will be gridlock.

We shouldn't be putting off a development because the transport infrastructure may not be up to it in 2026.  They're already trying shuttle buses and hoping to extend people's visits to spread the load.  If the train stations aren't improved people will still find a way.

As for revenue, I'm sure Risso has said in the past that you can allow for lost revenue due to redev works in FFP, so really it should be a non point?

“They’ll find a way” strikes me as a bit of wishful thinking. It would be negligent of the club to ignore their responsibilities to fans, local residents and the relevant authorities to just plough ahead without having an accompanying plan to mitigate the impact. Getting people to stagger departure and arrival times is a start but even if the shuttle buses and trains are improved there will still be an increase in the number of cars needing to park somewhere and as things stand I don’t see how the local area will cope.

Every stadium development will bring some problems.  We're talking about 8k extra seats not doubling in size.  The plan included massively increasing corporate / GA+ so it stands to reason that if you're adding 8k extra and maybe 6k of that is new corporate / GA+ (albeit not necessarily all in the new stand) you already have a more naturally staggered attendance and departure times.  Add to that the additional facilities they will be providing in the warehouse and I assume elsewhere in the ground then there's a reasonable chance for most games peak arrivals and depatures won't change all that much.

Obviously travel is not great now but we're working on shuttle buses and hopefully the trains will catch up at some point.  I just don't think our progress should be held up waiting for a better train station that may never come.  We're doing our bit and either WMRE will follow up on their plans for upgrading Witton Station before the Euros or they won't, but that's out of our control.   

[The Edge]

A bigger stadium is an absolute must and that North Stand has no place being in a stadium with the prestige of Villa Park in 2024. As others have stated we have got investors like Altairos so something big must be in the pipeline. A club announcement on future plans would be a massive boost for everyone.

[Toronto Villa]

I don’t see anywhere that the North Stand being replaced has been scrapped altogether. Did I miss something? I’m sure the board, investors all look at it as a huge opportunity to elevate the club and add capacity. Just because it isn’t happened immediately doesn’t mean it is happening at all.