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Thought I'd make a thread to post news and discuss new stadium developments in English rugby.
There seems to be quite a swell of news at the moment so I thought it would be easier to consolidate it into here!
Bath - The Rec
Exeter Chiefs - Sandy Park
The new grandstand extensions under construction for the 2014/15 season:
The proposed 20,000 seat set-up:
Harlequins - The Stoop
Leicester Tigers - Welford Road
Proposed 30,000 seat layout (with adjoing hotel/car-park):
Newcastle Falcons - Kingston Park
Northampton Saints - Franklin's Gardens
Wasps - Adams Park
That's about it for the Premiership.
The average attendance figures may or may not go up, depending on how many people turn up at London Welsh (their average last year was a dismal 1,300).
Assuming all clubs have a marginal increase in attendances, and Bath and Exeter have increases directly proportional to their capacity upgrades then we should be able to break the 13k average attendance barrier for the first time.
If LW can get 5k on average and Gloucester can get slightly closer to capacity (which I think they probably will) then that should be very doable and would be a good bit of growth.
Overall I think think the outlook for the clubs is largely positive - I think a reasonable target for the premiership over the next 10 years should be for every club to average 10k over the course of the season, and for at least half the clubs to average over 15k.
Outside the Premiership Bristol are moving to Ashton Gate and it looks as if the Pirates/Cornwall could finally be getting the stadium they deserve (their new chairman has said they want to move by 2016).
Proposed new Pirates stadium: http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/In...ium-Cornwall/story-22051198-detail/story.html
That would be fantastic for Rugby IMO.
There seems to be quite a swell of news at the moment so I thought it would be easier to consolidate it into here!
Bath - The Rec
- Will have an extra 2000 temporary seats added for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons - for a capacity of just under 14,000.
- Close to 7,000 season tickets have been sold - breaking the old record of 6,200.
- Planning permission still pending on the 16,500 seat redevelopment. If granted it should look a little like this:
Exeter Chiefs - Sandy Park
- Exeter have made the most significant upgrade for the 2014/15 season, with two wings added to their main stand and have replaced their old east stand terrace with a much larger one.
- Their 2014/15 capacity looks to be 12,300
- They have also upgraded their playing surface to a hybrid Desso system (the same as Twickenham's)
- This will be the last upgrade until after the world cup - their long term plan is to have a 20,000 capacity stadium with extensive conference facilities by 2020, depending on rugby performance
The new grandstand extensions under construction for the 2014/15 season:
The proposed 20,000 seat set-up:
Harlequins - The Stoop
- Quins have sold 8,000 season tickets 5 weeks out from the start of the regular season - a club record.
- They have recently announced their intention to increase the capacity at the Stoop from 14,800 to 20,000 "within a decade".
- This will involve rebuilding the north stand thus increasing the total capacity to 16,800 within the next three years.
Leicester Tigers - Welford Road
- Last year they sold over 15,000 season tickets - by march they had sold 12,000. I would expect them to exceed last year's sales.
- In 2012 Leicester announced their plans to increase the capacity of Welford Road to 30,000 - I'm unsure of the current status of those plans - I expect they are still very much in the pipeline however.
Proposed 30,000 seat layout (with adjoing hotel/car-park):
Newcastle Falcons - Kingston Park
- Newcastle have installed a new 3G artificial pitch at Kingston Park
- The 7,000~ attendance for the Premiership 7s at Darlington bodes well for an increased average attendance over the 5,000~ in 2013/14.
Northampton Saints - Franklin's Gardens
- Northampton have been granted planning permission to build a new north stand which will take Franklin's Gardens to a capacity of 15,500 in 2015.
- Last year they had 8,500 ST holders and the ground was sold out for more than half the games.
Wasps - Adams Park
- New owners have expressed an interest to move back into London proper
That's about it for the Premiership.
The average attendance figures may or may not go up, depending on how many people turn up at London Welsh (their average last year was a dismal 1,300).
Assuming all clubs have a marginal increase in attendances, and Bath and Exeter have increases directly proportional to their capacity upgrades then we should be able to break the 13k average attendance barrier for the first time.
If LW can get 5k on average and Gloucester can get slightly closer to capacity (which I think they probably will) then that should be very doable and would be a good bit of growth.
Overall I think think the outlook for the clubs is largely positive - I think a reasonable target for the premiership over the next 10 years should be for every club to average 10k over the course of the season, and for at least half the clubs to average over 15k.
Outside the Premiership Bristol are moving to Ashton Gate and it looks as if the Pirates/Cornwall could finally be getting the stadium they deserve (their new chairman has said they want to move by 2016).
Proposed new Pirates stadium: http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/In...ium-Cornwall/story-22051198-detail/story.html
That would be fantastic for Rugby IMO.