| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity 15:32 - Nov 27 with 1150 views | tommcd |
Seeing a few threads about empty seats, stadium developments, season ticket numbers etc, I thought it would be interesting to do a rough breakdown of the Portman Road capacity, based on the information I have to hand...
26426 - 'Normal' Home seats (ie where a non-hospitality season ticket or match-day ticket would be available)
2035 - Away fans (inc wheelchair and assistant spaces / seats)
856 - Hospitality options (at all price levels; West Stand boxes through to Cobbold 'Gold' Seats)
306 - Wheelchair and assistant spaces / seats for Home fans
241 - Permanent Club use (directors box, player's lounge, etc)
135 - Press box
61 - Club Partners (Halo, Gamechanger, etc)
Total capacity currently runs at 30060.
Of the 'normal' seats, the Club usually also retains 150 or so seats in South Upper (tunnel side, towards the back) for Club allocation (player's friends / family, etc).
On a per-match basis, there are around 5300 'normal' Home seats available for purchase throughout the stadium.
Considering all the above, that would mean we have just shy of 21k 'normal' season ticket holders (not including hospitality season ticket holders). [Post edited 27 Nov 15:36]
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| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 19:03 - Nov 27 with 820 views | Edmundo |
Any increase in capacity has to satisfy demand: so probably 6000 more seats for new ST tickets, plus still 5000 for match by match sales.
Additionally, we need to ensure we have large enough capacity for whatever percentage the FA/,Premier League/UEFA want us to offer to away fans. We could easily therefore be looking at 38-40000 total capacity. |  |
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| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 20:16 - Nov 27 with 698 views | Zx1988 |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 19:03 - Nov 27 by Edmundo |
Any increase in capacity has to satisfy demand: so probably 6000 more seats for new ST tickets, plus still 5000 for match by match sales.
Additionally, we need to ensure we have large enough capacity for whatever percentage the FA/,Premier League/UEFA want us to offer to away fans. We could easily therefore be looking at 38-40000 total capacity. |
UEFA is an interesting one.
I'm not thinking so much for us, but the club would be stupid not to take into account whatever requirements there may be to host international friendlies, and tournament games. |  |
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| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 21:26 - Nov 27 with 595 views | tommcd |
Crunching the number differently with a view to assessing Cobbold redevelopment options...
Currently the Visitor allocation and Cobbold Season ticket holders come to roughly 4700.
Elsewhere in the Stadium there are 3500 normal seats that aren't season tickets.
Is there any precendent set by the EFL in allowing Clubs to reduce Away capacity below 2000 while stadium development is happening? If not, even after the colossal task of relocating 1000's of Season Ticket Holder to make way for a new 2k Away section (imagine most likely South Lower), there's still 1200 homeless season ticket holders...
Interestingly, the Cobbold Lower capacity is around 1500 if you include the 'Gold Hospitality' area, so keeping that open while building over the top of it could provide an answer with 300 seats to spare.
If we were playing in the Premier League it get's a bit more tricky with higher requirements for Visitor allocations. With Cobbold completely closed there'd be a requirement for an away allocation of 2300, increasing the homeless Season Ticket count to 1500.
In the EPL, if Cobbold Lower remained open whilst 'built-over', there would be a requirement for an away allocation of 2450, that would leave us around 150 seats short. Maybe natural attrition of season ticket holders might account for that, maybe we could negotiate a deal for a reduced visitor allocation with the EPL. Or maybe we ccould tear out the Cobbold Boxes and put temporary 'normal' seats in their place (I imagine retaining the boxes / hospitality while doing a 'build-over' would be near impossible anyway.
Of course all those problems go away if we stick a few thousand extra seats on the top of the West Stand... But it seems an expensive way to solve the problem, though the challenges of a 'build-over' would inevitably come with a financial cost due to the complication vs flattening the lot.
Anyway, interesting (for me at least), to see some of the challenges of the re-development backed up with real numbers. | | | |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 22:39 - Nov 27 with 485 views | grow_our_own |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 19:03 - Nov 27 by Edmundo |
Any increase in capacity has to satisfy demand: so probably 6000 more seats for new ST tickets, plus still 5000 for match by match sales.
Additionally, we need to ensure we have large enough capacity for whatever percentage the FA/,Premier League/UEFA want us to offer to away fans. We could easily therefore be looking at 38-40000 total capacity. |
Demand is tempered atm by the thousands of restricted view seats at back of West and Cobbold. If we had more clear-view seats, demand would be higher. I think a capacity that allows setting a new > 38,010 attendance record should be the very lowest we expand to.
I've heard we're considering a few thousand extra seats to the rear of the West stand. Current low roof won't allow that, as back row won't be able to see the opposite touchline. Complete roof replacement with a modern cantilever would hardly be a quick interim while the Cobbold is rebuilt. Love it to happen tho. Facilities under the West stand are now first class, so unlike the Cobbold, it makes sense to retain the rest of the stand. | | | |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 07:03 - Nov 28 with 275 views | Benters |
So are you saying there’s 5000 seats available to purchase per game ? Do they go to a ballot system to purchase one ? |  |
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| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 09:19 - Nov 28 with 182 views | tommcd |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 07:03 - Nov 28 by Benters |
So are you saying there’s 5000 seats available to purchase per game ? Do they go to a ballot system to purchase one ? |
If you've been a Super-Blues member for two seasons in a row, 10% of the available tickets are made available via a ballot system. 'Winning' in the ballot effectively gives you early access to the ticket-purchasing system so you can choose the 'best' seats.
The remainder then go on normal 'Member-sales' a couple of days later, and then General Sale after about a week. Any season tickets offered for re-sale go on sale around 10 days before the fixture.
Most matches (bar Norwich and maybe the season Home opener) have reached general sale this season. | | | |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 10:00 - Nov 28 with 131 views | Benters |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 09:19 - Nov 28 by tommcd |
If you've been a Super-Blues member for two seasons in a row, 10% of the available tickets are made available via a ballot system. 'Winning' in the ballot effectively gives you early access to the ticket-purchasing system so you can choose the 'best' seats.
The remainder then go on normal 'Member-sales' a couple of days later, and then General Sale after about a week. Any season tickets offered for re-sale go on sale around 10 days before the fixture.
Most matches (bar Norwich and maybe the season Home opener) have reached general sale this season. |
Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking of going to the odd game next year if I’m able to. | |
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| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 10:10 - Nov 28 with 101 views | tommcd |
| A rough breakdown of Portman Road Capacity on 10:00 - Nov 28 by Benters |
Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking of going to the odd game next year if I’m able to. |
No problem. Last season in the Prem was much, much harder to get tickets. Far more people entered the ballot so a 'win' was rare, and matches never reached general sale until the end of the season when our fate was already confirmed.
Even in the Prem though, with a membership, you could usually pick up a late return a day or two before matchday if you hadn't been successful in the initial sale and kept checking often enough. | | | |
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