St. James Park - Championship Ground

[tavyred]

If English club rugby implodes, there might be a cheap Sandy Park available.

Premiership clubs rack up more than £500MILLION in debt

The financial crisis facing English rugby has been laid bare after a Mail on Sunday investigation found that Premiership clubs have racked up debts of more than £500million.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[SaintJames]

If English club rugby implodes, there might be a cheap Sandy Park available.

Premiership clubs rack up more than £500MILLION in debt

The financial crisis facing English rugby has been laid bare after a Mail on Sunday investigation found that Premiership clubs have racked up debts of more than £500million.

www.dailymail.co.uk

That thought crossed my mind (though I still wouldn't want to move there). However, I believe Exeter are one of the few clubs run sustainably

 

[tavyred]

The LNER stadium has a capacity of 8,500 - so, unless it can be expanded (at more cost), York City and the Knights are stuck with that. If it were not for the latest OTT ground capacity guidance/rules, I believe the capacity of SJP would be roughly on a par with the LNER.

Bootham Crescent was owned by the club. The £7 million received from Persimmon Homes allowed £2 million to be paid towards the LNER, hardly a big contribution to what is a undoubtedly a fairly expensive project, the rest, largely to service debt, including to the Chairman. I suspect, other than the diehard supporters, most people will not regard York City as a serious proposition whilst they are languishing at 14th in the National League. Sad, but that's how it is.

Bootham Crescent was a run down ground. Lots of history, like SJP. The difference is that SJP is looking better than it ever has in its history, even though we don't own it.

The Drivers Jonas study suggested that SJP could potentially be expanded to around 10,000 capacity. I can't remember quite how, but do seem to remember that was in the final report.

I would submit that it would be far, far better to contemplate that if needs be.

A 10K SJP would certainly keep the wolf from the door for perhaps another decade if we have aspirations at long term LG1 status or even the odd sojourn at championship level.
It struck me yesterday that the ‘Selco’ stand footprint has the potential at least to give us what we need, either with the construction of an extra tier or perhaps even the obviously more expensive option of levelling the whole area and starting again with a new stand with an increased capacity and greatly improved hospitality facilities.
It’s important I feel that our potential infrastructure aspirations don't end with the new training ground.

 

[tom_ecfc]

The Drivers Jonas study suggested that SJP could potentially be expanded to around 10,000 capacity. I can't remember quite how, but do seem to remember that was in the final report.

From my working, (if a sell out each week).

1,500 extra capacity @ £20 (approx) a ticket = £30k - over 23 sell out games = £690k extra income a season from just those extra 1,500 spaces.

 

[tavyred]

That thought crossed my mind (though I still wouldn't want to move there). However, I believe Exeter are one of the few clubs run sustainably

They have the least debts by the look of it, but who knows what will happen if the league goes squat. They could be desperate for a ground sharing partner at that point.

 

[tom_ecfc]

A 10K SJP would certainly keep the wolf from the door for perhaps another decade if we have aspirations at long term LG1 status or even the odd sojourn at championship level.

Would love to see what we could do with the away end to increase capacity. An away fan would, imho, spend more per game visit than a home fan, if you include food and a programme (I know programmes are dying off, how many do we do sell a game these days?).

Can someone work out the average away following this season compared to last?

 

[MJP_Exeter]

From my working, (if a sell out each week).

1,500 extra capacity @ £20 (approx) a ticket = £30k - over 23 sell out games = £690k extra income a season from just those extra 1,500 spaces.

Obviously we have the gap between the Stanno stand and the Big Bank. Is there a temporary thing we could put there (Gillingham style), which would fit the space whilst we are in league one ? even for an extra couple of hundred spaces (I Have literally no idea, just asking).

I presume we could look at cornering the stands Big bank, Doble, Away and Stanno sides. but again no idea the cost's involved.

 

[manc grecian]

From my working, (if a sell out each week).

1,500 extra capacity @ £20 (approx) a ticket = £30k - over 23 sell out games = £690k extra income a season from just those extra 1,500 spaces.

All your 1500 people adults?

 

[SaintJames]

All your 1500 people adults?

and no VAT paid by the club either?

 

[SaintJames]

As far as I can hazard a guess in leiu of a consultant/expert report the most cost effective (though probably that would cost maybe £3M) would be a new away stand and filling in the corner by the Stanno stand. However, immediately you have the dual challenges of the access gap off St. James Road which you have to have to allow emergency vehicle access and secondly the Security portacabins though these could be incorporated into a new build with additional terracing below it. I do believe there is potential to redevelop the SElco and have made a long winded post about this previously. However, the cost of that would be substantial