| Average Crowds 18:23 - Oct 12 with 9780 views | ipswichtillidie |
A lot being made of the fantastic support. I wonder when/if the club look to increase the capacity. The new owners would surely look at this given how they have done things so far. It would increase the sell on from a business perspective greatly too. My question would be could we generate the support to fill say a 40,000 all seater. Maybe even larger with safe standing. Looking at the list from the link below if we could establish ourselves around that number it would be a huge step in cementing our long term aspirations of being a (BiG) club again. Perhaps they might look at a new venue. All conservations they would have had.
Just a thought…
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/ipswich-town-home-crowds-among-biggest |  |
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| Average Crowds on 10:05 - Oct 14 with 870 views | bournemouthblue |
| Average Crowds on 07:43 - Oct 14 by azuremerlangus |
35k sounds about right to me too. Getting the Cobbold stand to 40k would involve something pretty big with the corners getting filled in too. A mirror image of the west stand with new boxes in between the tiers is my guess - not sure what capacity uplift that would bring. |
The previous plan was another two tier stand, albeit boxes in the upper tier I believe
A total capacity of 36k was mooted but I find it hard to visualise a two tier stand which is 6k larger than the current Cobbold which I assume holds about 7k? |  |
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| Average Crowds on 10:08 - Oct 14 with 861 views | bournemouthblue |
| Average Crowds on 10:01 - Oct 14 by clive_baker |
Given build costs at the moment I'm not sure of the payback on development anyway, it's not like we regularly sell out or have demand for more tickets than we have seats. Even if we topped out at 30k every week as is, and had demand for 35k (highly unlikely bar a few games a season), but if it was every week that's 5k tickets x 23 games which is a couple of million a year in extra revenue. The payback is too long, especially with the nature of our ownership. They're much better off achieving it through price if demand outstrips supply, by sticking an extra couple of quid on a ticket and achieve it that way. |
Agree, the value isn't really there is solely crowds any more
The bigger money spinner is the corporate element and Ashton is very keen for all year round facilities, whether that's a public bar/restaurant perhaps and corporate hospitality and event spaces | |
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| Average Crowds on 10:15 - Oct 14 with 857 views | Kievthegreat |
| Average Crowds on 10:01 - Oct 14 by clive_baker |
Given build costs at the moment I'm not sure of the payback on development anyway, it's not like we regularly sell out or have demand for more tickets than we have seats. Even if we topped out at 30k every week as is, and had demand for 35k (highly unlikely bar a few games a season), but if it was every week that's 5k tickets x 23 games which is a couple of million a year in extra revenue. The payback is too long, especially with the nature of our ownership. They're much better off achieving it through price if demand outstrips supply, by sticking an extra couple of quid on a ticket and achieve it that way. |
Based on selling extra normal seats, it's difficult to rationalise because as you say, a few million a year probably wouldn't cover the cost of financing the new stand ATM. The question is can you increase other revenue streams sufficiently to do it at some point? So conferencing, hospitality revenue and things like that.
I think personally that if we establish ourselves in the Prem (long way off), we'll look at doing something with the Cobbold. One option, the cheaper one, will be a refurb and keep the same structure, which is not ideal as it's small, cramped and not the best layout. However it is the lowest risk.
The other option is to rebuild it. I wouldn't envisage building some absolute monster main stand though, I envisage something with maybe 2k extra seats, but more facilities to maximise revenue from hospitality and maybe non-footballing facilities. That I think matches the idea of having the ground "facing the town", but like most people I struggle to see Town making 40k a sustainable proposition. |  | | |
| Average Crowds on 10:26 - Oct 14 with 836 views | clive_baker |
| Average Crowds on 10:15 - Oct 14 by Kievthegreat |
Based on selling extra normal seats, it's difficult to rationalise because as you say, a few million a year probably wouldn't cover the cost of financing the new stand ATM. The question is can you increase other revenue streams sufficiently to do it at some point? So conferencing, hospitality revenue and things like that.
I think personally that if we establish ourselves in the Prem (long way off), we'll look at doing something with the Cobbold. One option, the cheaper one, will be a refurb and keep the same structure, which is not ideal as it's small, cramped and not the best layout. However it is the lowest risk.
The other option is to rebuild it. I wouldn't envisage building some absolute monster main stand though, I envisage something with maybe 2k extra seats, but more facilities to maximise revenue from hospitality and maybe non-footballing facilities. That I think matches the idea of having the ground "facing the town", but like most people I struggle to see Town making 40k a sustainable proposition. |
I think it's also important to remember that we've only achieved a full house when we've ran ticket deals. The easiest lever to pull would be to stop doing those if we're going to sell out anyway. Increasing the average ticket price of every bum on a seat is probably an easier win when demand is high, rather than increasing the capacity at great expense. People obsess about numbers but in reality it's about revenue. Its why the disconnect between the likes of Ipswich and Morecambe is actually even greater than 25,000 vs. 5,000 attendances. Their adult season tickets are only about £160 so on a ticket revenue basis it's higher than 5:1.
As you say the corporate side of things and 'non match day revenue' is a big lever, its what MA is good at too. Making PR sweat for the 300+ days a year where it isn't hosting a Town game, whether it be renting the bar areas out, conference rooms, hospitality, events, concerts etc.
Portman Road is sustainable with some love and TLC. If we can find a couple of thousand more seats in there somewhere then great. Brighton and St Mary's both only hold 32,000, it's ample really. Increasing the average ticket prices through optimising pricing strategies is the way forward, and then going nuts in the corporate and non match day side of things. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 10:47 - Oct 14 with 818 views | jayessess |
| Average Crowds on 10:05 - Oct 14 by bournemouthblue |
The previous plan was another two tier stand, albeit boxes in the upper tier I believe
A total capacity of 36k was mooted but I find it hard to visualise a two tier stand which is 6k larger than the current Cobbold which I assume holds about 7k? |
The Sir Bobby holds 7500. The pitch is 36% longer than it is wide, so I guess if you built something the same relative size it would hold a touch over 10,000? Suppose you might fill in the corners too... |  |
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| Average Crowds on 11:15 - Oct 14 with 798 views | CityBlue |
When Southampton commission St Mary's people laughed at their expectations of getting anywhere near the 30k capacity.
Ultimately the Saints have sold out every single premier league game as far as I can recall. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 11:24 - Oct 14 with 786 views | jayessess |
| Average Crowds on 11:15 - Oct 14 by CityBlue |
When Southampton commission St Mary's people laughed at their expectations of getting anywhere near the 30k capacity.
Ultimately the Saints have sold out every single premier league game as far as I can recall. |
Unless this is wrong, Southampton don't seem to have had a sell out crowd at St. Mary's since 2014?
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-southampton/besucherzahlenentwicklung/verein/ | |
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| Average Crowds on 11:36 - Oct 14 with 767 views | clive_baker |
Tickets at Southampton are easy enough to come by, they tend to get close to but not full sell outs, especially when it's not a top opponent. They do a great job of is managing it through price. It's £40 - £50 for an adult ticket at St Mary's, so they're quite happy to range between 95% - 100% full at those prices, there's no points at stake for a sell out on £20 tickets. Good revenue optimisation commercially but not good for a fan. We would probably see similar if we're in the PL and demand starts to outstrip supply.
Compared to say, West Ham who have a huge ground and might as well fill it through keener pricing. They're about a tenner less than Southampton. | |
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| Average Crowds on 11:40 - Oct 14 with 765 views | Kievthegreat |
Prior to Covid (18/19) they averaged 30k and this year they are averaging 30k. Not quite sellout, but close.
There are dips in 19/20 and 21/22 (20/21 was obviously a wipeout attendance wise), but are there perhaps a couple of covid restricted attendances in those years? | | | |
| Average Crowds on 11:44 - Oct 14 with 759 views | Kievthegreat |
| Average Crowds on 11:40 - Oct 14 by Kievthegreat |
Prior to Covid (18/19) they averaged 30k and this year they are averaging 30k. Not quite sellout, but close.
There are dips in 19/20 and 21/22 (20/21 was obviously a wipeout attendance wise), but are there perhaps a couple of covid restricted attendances in those years? |
I think 21/22 might just be bad data. This page has them averaging 29,900.
https://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/eng-premier-league-2021-2022/1/ | | | |
| Average Crowds on 12:27 - Mar 28 with 568 views | ipswichtillidie |
Thought I’d bring this back to the fro considering Ashtons recent comments on the land and Cobbold stand. | |
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| Average Crowds on 13:00 - Mar 28 with 484 views | Kievthegreat |
| Average Crowds on 12:27 - Mar 28 by ipswichtillidie |
Thought I’d bring this back to the fro considering Ashtons recent comments on the land and Cobbold stand. |
Unless you can make a lot on non-football revenue, it doesn't add up.
Assume expansion meant we could sell 5,000 tickets extra, every game at £20 average price, bringing in a couple of million a year. Such building work would be in the 10s of millions. Given modern building costs and the fact it would be a large stand, would need to move the road, etc... You could be getting closer to £100m. I just don't think it adds up (yet), even if we are selling out every game. In the prem, maybe selling slightly more expensive tickets with TV money and whatever business and commercial revenue you can draw in, then it seems possible. | | | |
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