Top aiming for top ten finish

[Bluearmyfox28]

If demand is there, they are not going to drop prices. They'll remain the same since people are so desperate to get tickets and they need to recoup the cost of their investment. It's way to simple and naive to assume prices will go down, especially given that demand is inelastic(not sensitive to prices). I have a feeling that we will sell more corporate tickets if we expand, which means a load of neutrals which would kill the atmosphere.

I disagree with you completely to be honest from previous experiences we have seen from the owners they do look to reduce prices for the fans as & when they can. If the tickets were Around £25 rather than £35 per game our attendances will always be higher. Then for the games which will be in major demand ie the top 6 they will then up the price to make more profit as they know they will sell. That's how I can see it working anyway. Season tickets would also be cheaper Aswell I would imagine.

[dayday]

Elland Road and Hillsborough both have a 40,000 capacity,you don't hear there fans saying it's to big.

[ScouseFox]

I think it's a relatively low-risk move and it would be great if we could fill it but I shudder at the thought of a 40k stadium only half-filled for a Tuesday night game against Barnsley when the (almost) inevitable eventually happens.

but de ownerz r gonna make sure we NEVER get relegated n we r an established top half premier club now u moron have some AMBISHUN

Elland Road and Hillsborough both have a 40,000 capacity,you don't hear there fans saying it's to big.

you don't hear their fans at all cos their atmosphere is fvcking depressing

[Webbo]

36000 is feasible, 42000 is ridiculous ,we'd never sell out.

[ScouseFox]

36k will be ridiculous when the excitement ends. 32k has looked ridiculous for a large part of the last 12 years.

[Ollie93]

Like I've said provided we are in the PL, we will be able to meet the demand of an increased capacity. So sticking to 32,000 means we are doomed to the Championship? In what universe does crowd size have a major correlation with the performance on the pitch. Arsenal have gone backwards since moving to a bigger stadium. Bigger is not always better. I don't buy this argument about glory hunters in the long term. This season there were a lot because of the fact it was our first time here in 11 years. 

 

Let's face the facts though. We need to become a safe mid table team to meet the demand. If we do that next year with no obvious threat of relegation let's go ahead with this expansion for the 2017/18 season. Whilst there is a realistic possibility that we are going to be relegated and whilst our brand is relatively unknown, I'm not sure the expansion is a good idea. It's not about ambition. Portsmouth, Leeds and QPR have also been ambitious and look where those clubs are. We need to grow in a sustainable way. 

 

I'm sure we are in for a long period of success, but we cannot run before we walk. The worst thing is that we go ahead with the expansion and in 2016/17 we end up in the Championship. Now I know we could get relegated after 10 years in the PL, but every year we stay in this league diminishes the likelihood of being relegated. That is what we mean by established. Stoke are very unlikely to be relegated next season, and that's the model we need to follow.

 

Best post on this thread.

[Ollie93]

Neither is having a stadium smaller than your potential support base. If you had a taxi firm and regularly turned away customers because you didn't have enough cars and drivers, you'd employ more drivers and buy more cars! It may impact atmosphere but I've been to BIG grounds that are half full and the atmosphere has been electric due to what is happening on the pitch! 

 

And you employ more cars and drivers, then the business diminishes, you can't afford to keep them on. Small and steady steps is what's needed.

[Aus Fox]

Really why do we lose if we upgrade to 42,000 tomorrow?

The TV money coupled with the owners investment we can easily afford to do this right now.

Playing in front of an half empty stadium? Could we simply not sell season tickets in the extension part of the ground and if we go down/ hit a rough patch just not open that area? Meaning the stadium is effectively like it was this season?

Other than in exceptional circumstances such as Middlesbourgh a couple of years ago, when was the last time we got less than 20,000? He'll we got over 30,000 in league 1 for some games.

If we want to move on and strut challenging te top 10 and then beyond, we need to be an attractive proposition for top players.

The extra attendees would mean our sponsorship value would go up as businesses are being exposed to a bigger market.

Now is the time, let's not sit on the fence and think about what might have been.

I am confident our attendence would rise as people will be confident of getting a match day ticket.

Non ST holders how often do you wake up on a match day and think you would love to go, but don't even bother calling because your sure there were no tickets left?

Think big to be the best!

[CosbehFox]

If Sunderland can do it then Leicester can with relative ease.

Sunderland don't have support diluted by a massive Rugby union club. We probably don't get as many fans from county town as we should due to the preference for the Tigers.

Rather than targeting the likes of nearby counties which Charlton famously did with Kent, I'd like to see us get a larger fanbase throughout the county.

If there's any expansion I would like to see 37k initially.

[Aus Fox]

Like I've said provided we are in the PL, we will be able to meet the demand of an increased capacity. So sticking to 32,000 means we are doomed to the Championship? In what universe does crowd size have a major correlation with the performance on the pitch. Arsenal have gone backwards since moving to a bigger stadium. Bigger is not always better. I don't buy this argument about glory hunters in the long term. This season there were a lot because of the fact it was our first time here in 11 years.

Let's face the facts though. We need to become a safe mid table team to meet the demand. If we do that next year with no obvious threat of relegation let's go ahead with this expansion for the 2017/18 season. Whilst there is a realistic possibility that we are going to be relegated and whilst our brand is relatively unknown, I'm not sure the expansion is a good idea. It's not about ambition. Portsmouth, Leeds and QPR have also been ambitious and look where those clubs are. We need to grow in a sustainable way.

I'm sure we are in for a long period of success, but we cannot run before we walk. The worst thing is that we go ahead with the expansion and in 2016/17 we end up in the Championship. Now I know we could get relegated after 10 years in the PL, but every year we stay in this league diminishes the likelihood of being relegated. That is what we mean by established. Stoke are very unlikely to be relegated next season, and that's the model we need to follow.

Which one of Portsmouth, Leeds or QPR expanded their ground t the peak of their success?

All 3 spent beyond their means and did nothing to actively seek to increase supporter base and revenue when they were at the top?

Leeds when they hit the champions league semis could have sold out 60,000 week in week out, thy have the support. If they had expanded maybe they could have supported the wages they were paying a bit better and not wended in the shit!

[Babylon]

like it or not it will eventually become stale. it's great to have ambition and hope, we've all got hopes for us as a club and a team but the bottom line is in 5 years time we'll either go down or have stagnated somewhere between 8th and 15th, and this over excited extra 10k or people will be replaced by empty seats. just a fact of life. 

 

and half empty football stadiums are the most depressing places on earth 99% of the time. i've hated having one for ten years and now we can finally fill it we're going to add more empty seats just for a laugh? NO TA. 

 

Do you remember the days before the new ground in the old league two where we used to average 11,500 people at home games? Guess what, in the championship we averaged 25,000 people last time.

 

How exactly to you think we managed to grow our fanbase? Were those extra 13,500 people all glory hunters?

[4everfox]

Sunderland don't have support diluted by a massive Rugby union club. We probably don't get as many fans from county town as we should due to the preference for the Tigers.

Rather than targeting the likes of nearby counties which Charlton famously did with Kent, I'd like to see us get a larger fanbase throughout the county.

If there's any expansion I would like to see 37k initially.

My old man is a Leicester Tigers fan and a Leicester City fan, whats your point?

[Solihullfox]

My old man is a Leicester Tigers fan and a Leicester City fan, whats your point?

I think his point might be that not at all Tigers fans are Leicester City fans and perhaps it might be good to try and get more Tigers fans, like your Dad, to support the football club and attending games, if they could get a ticket.

[hackneyfox]

and when we go down what happens? the loyal fans have to sit in a depressing, empty, atmosphereless hell hole watching us lose to forest at home whilst half the ones who came due to the expansion are in the pub cheering on liverpool? no thanks.

You close the top tiers.

Easy

[Ollie93]

Not with that ambition - we'd have got 40k this season I'd be confident.

It sounds stupid because it's a complete strawman - no one is saying forest are shit so they're going to up sticks down to us, they're saying with Coventry, forest, Peterborough, Derby and notts county being the only league sides in 30 odd miles and all being shit, areas like Rutland, Hinckley, Loughborough hold great potential: younger fans will naturally gravitate to the bigger sides, and we're clearly the biggest in the East Midlands - we've got a big potential fan base which a couple of seasons will lock in to. Show a bit of bloody ambition for once and we could easily be a top half side pushing for Europe each season.

 

I don't get the point with this whole "un-tapped" fan base. It's not like those areas/counties have suddenly been made, they've been there all the time. People aren't just going to suddenly start coming because we have expanded our stadium? I know a lot who already come from Rutland etc. 

 

If results hadn't gone our way towards the end of the season and we had of got relegated, would any of you be considering this, even though we sold out most games and people struggled to get tickets? And all of the season tickets had been sold before our survival was confirmed? 

 

To suggest people are going to start supporting us from afar just because we are Premier League is nonsense, if this was the case, why having Stoke got a huge fan base and expanded? They have areas around them which could support them? As of the 2011 census their population was only 100,000 below Leicester. They should be a prime example of what we should be aiming for and they've done it with a stadium which holds 5000 less than our own. To say a large stadium brings you success is nonsense. 

 

I'd rather be constantly be finishing top half of the table like Stoke than have a fancy stadium which we struggle to fill. 

[Babylon]

I don't get the point with this whole "un-tapped" fan base. It's not like those areas/counties have suddenly been made, they've been there all the time. People aren't just going to suddenly start coming because we have expanded our stadium? I know a lot who already come from Rutland etc.

Perhaps they want to now we are in the premier league but can't get a ticket. We're selling out every week other than away fans and single tickets. Clearly we need room to grow.

 

I know loads of people who went to perhaps a dozen games in the champ that have been only once or twice this season because they couldn't get tickets or because they couldn't get tickets sat together. I'm sure I'm not a special case there and there are loads of people who know others like that.

[Gerard]

And you employ more cars and drivers, then the business diminishes, you can't afford to keep them on. Small and steady steps is what's needed.

 

I wonder if Bill Gates, Richard Branson, etc had that same attitude?

[cc_star]

Loughborough is mainly Leicester anyway, so much so there was a club shop & ticket office here many moons ago.

 

It did used to be a pretty even Leicester Forest split, but mainly Leicester now. This will only get moreso if we can establish ourselves in the Prem, this 2nd season is key

[Bayfox]

I can see both sides of the arguement here, it must be extremely fustrating to miss out on tickets for the bigger games, but for the likes of stoke, swansea etc, it's been easy to get hands on extra tickets.

 

I do see why people who have put up with 23k in a 32k ground are worried about growing to quick. Afterall let's hope it never snows again.

 

I can also see why the owners have ambition, however a lot of points made in this thread are taking things to the extreme, just because we spend a few quid and extend the stadium doesn't mean success, Hull spent £46 million in the last year or so, that was ambition, look how that went, also apart from the obvious money benefits if we made europe, do people talking like we can sign the next messi, actually believe that, London, Madrid, Milan or Leicester, now I love Leicestershire, but come on.

 

Those using sunderland as an example, do they have the tigers down the road?

 

As a life long fan, I want the best for my club, now some may see a rerun of the MON era as lacking ambition, but Tater Peelers ambition drove us to the brink of financial ruin, I accept the current owners and manager are a lot more clued up, but I more than anything want a club to support and if that's occasionally in the championship as we have been before. Then I will take that and If it's in a 32k ground then so be it.

 

I will back the owners whatever they decide, but the bubble will burst, for us, for them or for sky at somepoint.

[cc_star]

Perhaps they want to now we are in the premier league but can't get a ticket. We're selling out every week other than away fans and single tickets. Clearly we need room to grow.

 

I know loads of people who went to perhaps a dozen games in the champ that have been only once or twice this season because they couldn't get tickets or because they couldn't get tickets sat together. I'm sure I'm not a special case there and there are loads of people who know others like that.

 

Yep, I wanted a season ticket this year after a few years without one, expansion will become a 'must'

 

They badly need to extend the stadium & hopefully with the extra TV revenue freeze prices for quite a few years, so it works out as a real terms price cut to fans

 

And what's the difference between 22k in a 32k stadium & 30k in a 40k?

[CosbehFox]

My old man is a Leicester Tigers fan and a Leicester City fan, whats your point?

Not many dual fans can afford season tickets to both. So therefore we don't get as many fans from the county as we probably could whereas if we like Norwich where they are the only professional sports club in the county, you'd have no competition.

[Ollie93]

I wonder if Bill Gates, Richard Branson, etc had that same attitude?

 

They built their businesses with small, steady, sensible steps and decisions like I said. You really think Richard Branson built his Virgin Empire in a year? 

[Gerard]

isn't Leicester now over 50% non white population? I'm only guessing, but I'd guess football attendance amongst the non white population is much much lower? potentially almost halving the cities potential fan base?

 

These people are only Asian by bloodlines, their culture is now British as their parents and grandparents traditions get watered down. I'm sure the average third or fourth generation Indian would go to India and think it's too hot, too many flies, food is crap, Bollywood is crap and cricket is boring types. After two weeks they miss pizza, rain and Coronation Street. They would identify Indians as foreigners and I bet loads of them only speak English now.

 

It's inevitable that sooner or later we will have less third generation sub continent and white English living areas as we have more mixed marriages, etc. It's already happening now more than it did 20 years a go and we will have the same culture.

 

Ask a thousand school children of Indian descent what their favourite sport is and football would far out weigh cricket.

[Gerard]

Sunderland don't have support diluted by a massive Rugby union club. We probably don't get as many fans from county town as we should due to the preference for the Tigers.

Rather than targeting the likes of nearby counties which Charlton famously did with Kent, I'd like to see us get a larger fanbase throughout the county.

If there's any expansion I would like to see 37k initially.

 

Leicester Tigers are historically a powerhouse in English rugby.

 

Football is our national game by a million miles, if Leicester City had anywhere near the success as the Tigers then people would flock to Leicester City. The football club has always been far bigger than the Tigers despite the successes and failures of the two clubs.

[Ollie93]

These people are only Asian by bloodlines, their culture is now British as their parents and grandparents traditions get watered down. I'm sure the average third or fourth generation Indian would go to India and think it's too hot, too many flies, food is crap, Bollywood is crap and cricket is boring types. After two weeks they miss pizza, rain and Coronation Street. They would identify Indians as foreigners and I bet loads of them only speak English now.

 

It's inevitable that sooner or later we will have less third generation sub continent and white English living areas as we have more mixed marriages, etc. It's already happening now more than it did 20 years a go and we will have the same culture.

 

Ask a thousand school children of Indian descent what their favourite sport is and football would far out weigh cricket.

 

Nothing better than a post with sweeping, generalising statements to really help the argument.