The Famous Aberdeen - Season 2022/23

[coprolite]

7 hours ago, A96 said:

Yes , it does actually.  At present , non-ST holders who perhaps go mainly to the bigger games know that they’ll have no trouble getting a ticket for the bigger games. A smaller capacity might make them less sure of getting those tickets thus encouraging them to get a season ticket

I doubt this would sell three figures worth of STs. Who knows though. 

[Kyle Reese]

9 hours ago, A96 said:

Yes , it does actually.  At present , non-ST holders who perhaps go mainly to the bigger games know that they’ll have no trouble getting a ticket for the bigger games. A smaller capacity might make them less sure of getting those tickets thus encouraging them to get a season ticket

Come now... do you really believe this?

[A96]

49 minutes ago, Kyle Reese said:

Come now... do you really believe this?

Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s why Hearts season ticket sales went up significantly a few years back when the capacity was only about 18k

[HunterAFC]

14 hours ago, Fraser Fyvie said:

Cormack says he's targeting 15k season ticket holders within 3 years but the new stadium will only hold 16-17k. Makes sense.

ST holders to be able to sell their seats if they aren't going to attend. I'd be willing to bet that this will only (legally) be through the club and they pocket the difference between the ST and walk up price + handling fees on both ends.

As long as they include potential for expansion in the plans & facilities required I'd rather see a mostly full stadium each home game. The minimum for UEFA cat 4 is 8k so will be fine for if we ever get to the main part of a European competition and any of the shitter Scotland games.

[coprolite]

6 minutes ago, HunterAFC said:

ST holders to be able to sell their seats if they aren't going to attend. I'd be willing to bet that this will only (legally) be through the club and they pocket the difference between the ST and walk up price + handling fees on both ends.

As long as they include potential for expansion in the plans & facilities required I'd rather see a mostly full stadium each home game. The minimum for UEFA cat 4 is 8k so will be fine for if we ever get to the main part of a European competition and any of the shitter Scotland games.

Do we not need 10k for SPL rules anyway? 

[Fraser Fyvie]

13 minutes ago, HunterAFC said:

ST holders to be able to sell their seats if they aren't going to attend. I'd be willing to bet that this will only (legally) be through the club and they pocket the difference between the ST and walk up price + handling fees on both ends.

As long as they include potential for expansion in the plans & facilities required I'd rather see a mostly full stadium each home game. The minimum for UEFA cat 4 is 8k so will be fine for if we ever get to the main part of a European competition and any of the shitter Scotland games.

That's what he's saying, 30% of ST holders don't turn up. But there's no guarantee they'll all offer their ticket for resale. 

Also says the difference between a 16-17k stadium and a 20k one could be £10m+. No idea how that's the case. Sounds like shite.

[lubo_blaha]

Do we not need 10k for SPL rules anyway? 

No, not since they changed it to 6000 when Caley came up. I believe the requirement now is a bronze(?) level licensed ground which you would need 500 covered seats (I think) in order to gain.

So if Arbroath get promoted they’d be able to play at Gayfield.

[Kyle Reese]

20 minutes ago, A96 said:

Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s why Hearts season ticket sales went up significantly a few years back when the capacity was only about 18k

Hearts attendances have steadily risen since 2011/12. Season tickets generally mirror that rise, outside of major events like Covid (sales down) or administration (sales up):

https://www.fitbastats.com/hearts/club_records_league_attendance.php

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/heart-of-midlothian-fc/besucherzahlenentwicklung/verein/43

Our capacity has not really fluctuated that much save a few hundred here or there with stadium and pitch issues. I certainly dont remember any massive decrease, and a mirrored increase in season ticket sales as a result. If anything, since we built the new stand and increased the capacity, we have seen more season tickets sold, following the general steady annual increase.

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Kyle Reese

[Redmin]

17/18k capacity is more than enough. Reduce the away fans allocation for any games that looks like there will be a larger demand for home fans.

[coprolite]

1 minute ago, lubo_blaha said:

No, not since they changed it to 6000 when Caley came up. I believe the requirement now is a bronze(?) level licensed ground which you would need 500 covered seats (I think) in order to gain.

So if Arbroath get promoted they’d be able to play at Gayfield.

That needs to happen. The record/sun columnists will have a meltdown about what the English will think. That's a character building ground. 

2 minutes ago, Fraser Fyvie said:

That's what he's saying, 30% of ST holders don't turn up. But there's no guarantee they'll all offer their ticket for resale. 

Also says the difference between a 16-17k stadium and a 20k one could be £10m+. No idea how that's the case. Sounds like shite.

I guess that stadia have increasing marginal costs? First 4-5,000 seats on the ground floor, then the next on the second storey. So if you're adding a fourth or fifth storey you have to pay for the three or four below it too. 

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, Kyle Reese said:

Come now... do you really believe this?

It'll be true if they have the big games to play.

I know a lot folk bought a season ticket for Saints this season as they knew the East Stand sells out in hours for European games and they didn't want to miss out, whereas usually they wouldn't bother as it's never happening for a league game really.

[gannonball]

If the blueprints include for potential expansion I don’t think it’s the worst idea in the world. You can incentivise those those not going to a game to offer their seat back to the club like other clubs do.

[Kyle Reese]

6 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

It'll be true if they have the big games to play.

I know a lot folk bought a season ticket for Saints this season as they knew the East Stand sells out in hours for European games and they didn't want to miss out, whereas usually they wouldn't bother as it's never happening for a league game really.

I suppose. It all just seems a bit backwards to me tbh. If you are building a new stadium, whilst hoping to grow your season ticket numbers, then surely you hope to see attendances rise over the coming seasons? If you do, then you provide the space for that to happen. Infrastructure projects the scale of multi million pound new stadia, are not the sort of thing you embark upon every couple of years. There should always be a reasonable projection of where you intend to be upon complettion. If they get to the 15k mark, in a 16/17k stadium, then it's not really leaving a lot of room for future growth. I don't know, maybe you guys are right, it just seems a bit wonky to me.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Kyle Reese

[lubo_blaha]

I suppose. It all just seems a bit backwards to me tbh. If you are building a new stadium, whilst hoping to grow your season ticket numbers, then surely you hope to see attendances rise over the coming seasons? If you do, then you provide the space for that to happen. Infrastructure projects the scale of multi million pound new stadia, are not the sort of thing you embark upon every couple of years. There should always be a reasonable projection of where you intend to be upon complettion. If they get to the 15k mark, in a 16/17k stadium, then it's not really leaving a lot of room for future growth. I don't know, maybe you guys are right, it just seems a bit wonky to me.
 
 

Yes, but if it’ll cost several million more to add a few thousand onto the capacity and we’re not getting near those crowd levels at present then it doesn’t make sense to spend that money, at least not initially.

This stadium will cost north of £50million and it’s not uncommon for new stadium projects to have a lower capacity in the short term and then increasing based on demand and funds available.

[johnnydun]

41 minutes ago, Fraser Fyvie said:

That's what he's saying, 30% of ST holders don't turn up. But there's no guarantee they'll all offer their ticket for resale. 

Also says the difference between a 16-17k stadium and a 20k one could be £10m+. No idea how that's the case. Sounds like shite.

I would say the regular drop in ST holders attending is with folk working offshore. They, knowing they definitely won't be able to attend, would be quite happy to re-sell.

[Bogbrush1903]

29 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

Yes, but if it’ll cost several million more to add a few thousand onto the capacity and we’re not getting near those crowd levels at present then it doesn’t make sense to spend that money, at least not initially.

This stadium will cost north of £50million and it’s not uncommon for new stadium projects to have a lower capacity in the short term and then increasing based on demand and funds available.

I can understand why we would only want a 16,000 to 17,000 seater stadium, as it's been proved really, at least in the last 30 years domestically that a capacity of that amount will be sufficient for the home support with a token amount given to the away support similar to Tynecastle.

However, for European games, the capacity of 16k/17k wouldn't cater for the home support, especially if we fulfill Cormack's expressed desire of being a Top 100 European club regularly making past August and into the group stages of European competition.

In the modern era, since McInnes led us back to the qualifying rounds of Europe, we've been officially over 17 k on six occasions:

vs Real Sociedad 17,676

vs Kairat 20,317

vs Maribor 17,105

vs Siroki Brijeg 17,067

vs Apollon 20,085

vs Burnley 20,313

Only once, against Burnley, did a big away support contribute to the attendance.

The Sociedad match we were already two goals down and pretty much out of the competition in many supporters minds by the time the second leg took place. 

Therefore, a successful Aberdeen team might find that demand exceeds capacity. I'm undecided whether that's a good thing or bad thing. I can see advantages and disadvantages from limiting the capacity to an attendance to a capacity that would be insufficient. I don't think a scramble for tickets is necessarily a disadvantage. It creates that 'golden' ticket feeling and may drive up interest when, if the game was played at Pittodrie, people would be less concerned of securing a ticket and may wait until the last minute to purchase.

*Note, Groningen was the only match during this era that the official attendance was between 16k and 17k.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Bogbrush1903

[DukDukGoose]

1 hour ago, Fraser Fyvie said:

That's what he's saying, 30% of ST holders don't turn up. But there's no guarantee they'll all offer their ticket for resale. 

Also says the difference between a 16-17k stadium and a 20k one could be £10m+. No idea how that's the case. Sounds like shite.

Not a fan of Dave but I'm not really expecting him to confirm how unused season tickets will be used in 2025 (at the earliest).

[lubo_blaha]

I can understand why we would only want a 16,000 to 17,000 seater stadium, as it's been proved really, at least in the last 30 years domestically that a capacity of that amount will be sufficient for the home support with a token amount given to the away support similar to Tynecastle.
However, for European games, the capacity of 16k/17k wouldn't cater for the home support, especially if we fulfill Cormack's expressed desire of being a Top 100 European club regularly making past August and into the group stages of European competition.
In the modern era, since McInnes led us back to the qualifying rounds of Europe, we've been officially over 17 k on six occasions:
vs Real Sociedad 17,676
vs Kairat 20,317
vs Maribor 17,105
vs Siroki Brijeg 17,067
vs Apollon 20,085
vs Burnley 20,313
Only once, against Burnley, did a big away support contribute to the attendance.
Therefore, a successful Aberdeen team might find that demand exceeds capacity. I'm undecided whether that's a good thing or bad thing. I can see advantages and disadvantages from limiting the capacity to an attendance to a capacity that would be insufficient. I don't think a scramble for tickets is necessarily a disadvantage. It creates that 'golden' ticket feeling and may drive up interest when, if the game was played at Pittodrie, people would be less concerned of securing a ticket and may wait until the last minute to purchase.
*Note, Groningen was the only match during this era that the official attendance was between 16k and 17k.

I’d say we’d probably need to performing at a level where we’re reaching or getting close to the European group stages and having games against Celtic and Rangers which we have a good chance of winning in order to both have the funds available to increase the capacity past 17k and the demand to justify that increase.

I wouldn’t be against a having 16/17k stadium initially, built in such a way that you can add on a tier or fill in corners, and then holding off a few years to expand if the money is available and the attendances warrant it. If 20k is going to cost several million more, I don’t think it makes sense to go for that from the start when money will be tight as it is and there’s no evidence that we’ll reach that level on a regular basis.

[jamamafegan]

I think it’s a shit capacity. There are ways of building bigger grounds but still maintaining a good atmosphere for lesser games.

The minimum for UEFA cat 4 is 8k so will be fine for if we ever get to the main part of a European competition and any of the shitter Scotland games.

Except you won’t get shitter Scotland games anymore. Why send folk up to Aberdeen to a 16k stadium when it can be played at the bigger and more easily accessible Easter Road or Tynecastle? Even Rugby Park would become a better option FFS. You won’t get Scotland games in Aberdeen unless your new ground is big enough - which it doesn’t look like it will be. Embarrassing tbh.

[Jacksgranda]

I think I prefer Saints fans moaning about handballs, tbh