The Riverside Stand Renovation Thread

[Groundhog]

1 minute ago, superniko said:

Even in the relegation year under Kean and Venkys we averaged 22k.

 

Pre Waggott, pre cost of living crisis. Pre Ewood turning into a dump due to lack of maintenance. 

[tomphil]

A 29k capacity would still mean there's 22 thousand home seats that's plenty and of course if more was needed just split the DE again.

[Mattyblue]

The cost of living crisis doesn’t seem to be impacting the rest of football, English crowds are booming.

It’s a decade of chronic mismanagement and piss poor commercial nous specifically at this club that has seen our crowds stuck at such low levels.
 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Sweaty Gussets]

If we got promoted we'd sell far more ST's. We also have far more walk-ups for individual matches.

As long as people weren't priced out by £600 ST's in the BBE and £50 match day tickets, then 20k home fans would be achievable, especially for games against the 'glamour' clubs. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Sweaty Gussets

[Groundhog]

7 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

The cost of living crisis doesn’t seem to be impacting the rest of football, English crowds are booming.

It’s a decade of chronic mismanagement and piss poor commercial nous specifically at this club that has seen our crowds stuck at such low levels.
 

I agree - I meant as a combination of that plus lack of management. Our matchday "product" is poor and doesn't compete.

[Mattyblue]

Agreed, @Sweaty Gussets 

Only 19 home games in the PL, so absolutely no need to price STs at extortionate levels, especially with vast TV incomes. So get them priced at an enticing level and with all the momentum and joy around the club post a promotion you’d sell a shed load.

… but yeah it will be £600 from Swag.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Mattyblue

[superniko]

Yeah TV income is something like £100m. Difference between £250 a season ticket and £450 a season ticket is worth max £3-4m (likely far less as you'd sell less at the higher price), and off-set by increased away ticket sales.

Edited March 23, 2023 by superniko

[Sweaty Gussets]

Chelsea got £155m in TV/prize money for finishing 4th last season (this is for PL only).

This is what we got in 1993 for finishing 4th exactly 30 years earlier....

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Sweaty Gussets

[superniko]

1 hour ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Chelsea got £155m in TV/prize money for finishing 4th last season (this is for PL only).

This is what we got in 1993 for finishing 4th exactly 30 years earlier....

 

 

 

Least televised Burnley, Norwich, Watford, Southampton in 2022 all shown more than most televised Manchester United in 1993. Broadcasting / TV / Technology has evolved dramatically so I guess that isn't a surprise but still feels like quite the image.

Still, guaranteed a minimum ~£100m isn't to be sniffed at for Rovers (and we've probably been on tele more than 12 times this season anyway!

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

The cold truth is that we could close the Riverside and there’d still be plenty of empty seats most weeks. 

For aesthetic reasons alone, I really hope something new will be built but it won’t happen until we reach the PL. Talk of a hotel might be the only other reason to redevelop. 

Lowering the capacity makes sense. The stadium is far too big for us now and we even struggled to fill it in the PL. I remember the days under Hughes where we’d often get less than 20k home fans in (Fulham at home on opening day in 2005 was around 16k..). The only times we got close to full was against the bigger teams who took the whole DE.

[Sweaty Gussets]

22 minutes ago, superniko said:

 

Least televised Burnley, Norwich, Watford, Southampton in 2022 all shown more than most televised Manchester United in 1993. Broadcasting / TV / Technology has evolved dramatically so I guess that isn't a surprise but still feels like quite the image.

Still, guaranteed a minimum ~£100m isn't to be sniffed at for Rovers (and we've probably been on tele more than 12 times this season anyway!

Championship clubs get about £7m guaranteed TV money per season, and then between £10k and £100k per televised match on top of that (dependant on if club is at home, time/day of KO etc). So we've done well this as far as 'facilities' fees go. Waggott will be delighted!

A season in the PL would set this club up for years. A well-managed club should also bounce straight back if they had parachute money, or at least have a huge advantage.  

[scotchrover]

On 23/03/2023 at 11:29, Groundhog said:

Totally agree -  reduce the capacity and make a better stand, 3k is fine - and add a safe standing area too. Let's face it unless football changes on a grand scale, we'd be lucky to get above 20k for most games in the Prem. In the last 20 years we were only near capacity when Liverpool or Man Utd visited Ewood. 

Disagree- does no one else remember us selling 20,000+ season tickets under Allardyce? (Was it around 23,000?) The Darwen End lower tier was full of Rovers fans. I actually remember Dingle FC only getting half the Darwen End, because Rovers fans sat in the other half of the lower tier. 
 

Back to the new stand look: for me it should match the Jack Walker lower tier. 

[Mattyblue]

We sold 20k STs under Sam. Average crowd of 26,000 in 2010 as this lot bought the club.

[scotchrover]

49 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

We sold 20k STs under Sam. Average crowd of 26,000 in 2010 as this lot bought the club.

Back when we had proper leadership…

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/4385148.blackburn-rovers-slash-season-ticket-prices-amazing-10-game/
 

 

Top flight attendances that season…

 

… and here’s a picture from the final day of the League 1 season. If any Dingle dares to mention we’re tinpot, just remind them of when we had a bigger attendance in League 1, than they did in any of their top flight home  games at T***, that season.

 

#UpTheBlues

Edited March 24, 2023 by scotchrover

[redroser]

All very well SR, but as your link implies that was during the days when we had proper leadership at the club under John Williams and season tickets were at giveaway prices. Same goes for the Oxford game at the end of the division 1 season. Ewood can accommodate 10,000 fans more than the Dingle Dome so hardly surprising we got a one off higher gate than them that season as we were celebrating promotion.

[Upside Down]

But that is the point though. With proper management of the club we can get average attendances of 25000. 

[tomphil]

In the Prem yes so in the champ a 15k average should be achievable and would be respectable.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

26 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

But that is the point though. With proper management of the club we can get average attendances of 25000. 

In the Champ? Regardless of management or pricing, we’re not getting average attendances above 20k in this division. It was only in a handful of PL seasons that we got an average 25k+ attendance. 

The Oxford game was nearly 6 years ago and we’ve not had an attendance similar to that since, regardless of league position or pricing. That’s no criticism of the fans, it’s just a reflection of where we are. I really hope that the final home games this year (incl. play off leg) might see us get towards full capacity.

[Mattyblue]

It will be very difficult to get anywhere close to capacity with only 9k ST holders and none of the games particularly going to attract large away supports. If we were going for automatic, then definitely, but not for games at all manner of times (and largely on Sky) for ‘only’ attempting to finish in the top 6 

A play off semi at a decent price, then maybe, especially with a big away support.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Mattyblue

[scotchrover]

I think a lot of it is to do with people still thinking we’ll bottle it. Those nearly seasons under Bowyer and Mowbray are still in my mind anyway. 

[Mashed Potatoes]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

In the Prem yes so in the champ a 15k average should be achievable and would be respectable.

According to the footballwebpages site average attendance to date this season is 14,279 so we're getting there.

[rigger]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

In the Prem yes so in the champ a 15k average should be achievable and would be respectable.

Is that 15k Rovers fans, or 15k including away fans ? 

[Mattyblue]

Tomphil (not wanting to put words in his mouth) will mean 15k Rovers fans, so an overall average attendance of 17/18k) , which if you can get 11/12k STs sold is very much possible, and respectable, as a second tier club.

Alas, I don’t see this announced pricing getting us there.

[rigger]

6 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Tomphil (not wanting to put words in his mouth) will mean 15k Rovers fans, so an overall average attendance of 17/18k) , which if you can get 11/12k STs sold is very much possible, and respectable, as a second tier club.

Alas, I don’t see this announced pricing getting us there.

If we increase our season ticket holders by say 2000, I think the majority of those people will come from the Walk-ons pool. That will mean most attendances will stay about the same. 

[Mattyblue]

Not how it works here. Our attendances wax and wane on the back of ST sales. 

It’s all a churn but if we did end up with 11/12k ST holders we would certainly have more home fans in the ground each week than we have now.

As an example we started last season with 7k ST holders, so we had 9/9.5k-ish home fans on most weeks. This season started with c9k ST holders and we’ve had 11.5k-ish home fans on most weeks.
 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Mattyblue