Alternative ways to expand stadium capacity

Ajr

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Having exhausted the fifa rule book, I have now been looking to help clubs increase the capacity of their stadiums for extra income.

Obviously, safe standing is the best way to do so, to fit more people in an area.

However, what about the idea of a "floating stand" which is hung from the roof of the stadium in the middle of the pitch to the side. I have inserted a link to the concept below, but I couldn't find a picture of a circular stand so I used an image of a giant garden table.
https://pasteboard.co/JYnGfGa.png
 

Infra-red

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Having exhausted the fifa rule book, I have now been looking to help clubs increase the capacity of their stadiums for extra income.

Obviously, safe standing is the best way to do so, to fit more people in an area.

However, what about the idea of a "floating stand" which is hung from the roof of the stadium in the middle of the pitch to the side. I have inserted a link to the concept below, but I couldn't find a picture of a circular stand so I used an image of a giant garden table.
https://pasteboard.co/JYnGfGa.png
How about two people per seat - you take it in turns to sit on the other person's shoulders?
 

Redplane

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Having exhausted the fifa rule book, I have now been looking to help clubs increase the capacity of their stadiums for extra income.

Obviously, safe standing is the best way to do so, to fit more people in an area.

However, what about the idea of a "floating stand" which is hung from the roof of the stadium in the middle of the pitch to the side. I have inserted a link to the concept below, but I couldn't find a picture of a circular stand so I used an image of a giant garden table.
https://pasteboard.co/JYnGfGa.png
I can't load your pic but I assume you mean gondola seating like is increasingly common in NBA and NHL stadiums like this:



The red "bars" are seats suspending from the ceiling - is the gondala seating I think you are referring to in those image.

Edit: am now able to see the image. Guess that's not quite what I was expecting. Not sure if serious.
 
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Chipper

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Glass roof and you lay down on your stomach to watch through it?
 

stevoc

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We don't need more seats we just need to sell the current seats in 15 minute time slots. The next generation of football fans only want to watch 10-15 minutes of a match anyway.

It's only us boring old legacy fans who want to sit through the entire 90 minutes. Maybe they could have a section just for the legacy fans while they wait for us all to die off.
 
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Cal?

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Drones that hover above the pitch with glass bottom to watch the games?
 

Chipper

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Expanding on my glass roof idea, glass pitch and you sit underneath it?

Or you could set up booths outside and you look through some sort of eyepiece, then with the aid of a series of carefully angled mirrors it gives you a view of the pitch. You'd be right outside the ground so would get some of the atmosphere benefits while seeing in real time what is happening.
 

Hectic

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I like the idea of a floating stand but rather than limit that to a single stand why don't we have floating fans. Rig the top of the stadium with bungee lines and have fans suspended all over the place mission impossible style.
 

groovyalbert

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A huge ferris wheel outside the stadium which gives those in it a brief view of the game
 

Hectic

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If you can't expand around the stadium maybe we can expand underneath it and then lower the pitch. I'm not sure how it would work but I'm envisaging a network of holes in the ground walls all around. Imagine that end scene in Congo where there are cave holes everywhere but instead of crazy nutter super gorillas popping out of them it's United fans.
 

Redplane

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If you can't expand around the stadium maybe we can expand underneath it and then lower the pitch. I'm not sure how it would work but I'm envisaging a network of holes in the ground walls all around. Imagine that end scene in Congo where there are cave holes everywhere but instead of crazy nutter super gorillas popping out of them it's United fans.
The visual of this made me laugh hard. Make it happen!:lol:
 

diarm

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Then are they going to go full hologram?

Then you just build 3 stadiums side by side and sell 3 times the tickets. Don't tell fans which ground the players are actually playing to keep it feeling legit.

You could also build an Old Trafford in every city and sell tickets to the games. Easy.
 

diarm

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I started that post as a joke but now I fully believe in the idea.
 

macheda14

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How about two people per seat - you take it in turns to sit on the other person's shoulders?
I once hungover went and stood at my seat in the Stretford and was surprised that I didn't recognise anyone around me and they all gave me a bit of an odd look. About 20 mins into the game this guy comes down the row and everyone cheers him in and he just looks at me oddly and stands next to me. They all looked at me and then just started chatting away as normal. It then dawned on me that I was definitely a bit closer than usual, so I just stayed there awkwardly pressed against him for the next 25 mins and then swiftly ran away mortified as soon as half time went. It was uncomfortable but two to a seat could work.
 

diarm

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Why not get the players to play the games twice?

They get paid loads anyway.

That way you could sell twice the tickets and Donny Van de Beek might even get the odd game.
 

VeevaVee

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A conveyor belt of chairs that routes underground so you get to see around a third of the game while it moves around the pitch area before then moving into the underground section again where you slowly slide past bars and merch stalls.
 

Chipper

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Why not get the players to play the games twice?

They get paid loads anyway.

That way you could sell twice the tickets and Donny Van de Beek might even get the odd game.
Are they trying in the second game or is it a re-enactment of the first one?

If a re-enactment I think some small wrestling promotions would do the same at one point in the past, putting on the same exact matches in different towns every night for a while then switching it up next time they come back.
 

diarm

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Are they trying in the second game or is it a re-enactment of the first one?

If a re-enactment I think some small wrestling promotions would do the same at one point in the past, putting on the same exact matches in different towns every night for a while then switching it up next time they come back.
I feel like I've been watching United play the same match over and over again for years as is.
 

Redcy

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How about two people per seat - you take it in turns to sit on the other person's shoulders?
This is just stupid.

The answer to two people sitting on a seat is to sit on the persons lap facing each other. At half time you swap over. The person facing away from the pitch just have to look over their shoulder.
 

diarm

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We could also look into renting the seats City don't use each week. You'd have to think there's an easy 30-40k increase to be found there.
 

diarm

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This is just stupid.

The answer to two people sitting on a seat is to sit on the persons lap facing each other. At half time you swap over. The person facing away from the pitch just have to look over their shoulder.
I think you just cracked middle-out compression.
 

stevoc

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How about a thick glass transparent pitch and more fans can sit underneath the pitch and watch the game that way?
 

Mr. Ant

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Just use VR headsets and place people in a cinema for example. You could place cameras next to the actual seats in the stadium and new fans will almost get to experience the real thing.

Oh and of course the tickets should be priced as standard tickets because why not?



I'm not actually being serious if it isn't obvious.
 

The Oracle

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I remember going to Old Trafford around 2006, and for the life of me I can't remember whether it was for a United game, or the inaugural Soccer Aid match.

However, what I do remember is being seated in Tier 1 of what was then known as the 'North Stand', and behind me to my right was something that I had never seen before. I had to do a double-take without coming across as staring...

An extra large gentleman (very, very, overweight to be polite), was sat across the entire surface of two seats.

In fairness to the guy, he looked really happy; and at the very least he was sat comfortably (certainly more so than if he was sat in a single seat - which wouldn't have been possible anyway).

Now the extra large gentleman would have paid double to watch the action on the pitch... however, you don't have to be anywhere near as large as he was, to know how crammed in it is at Old Trafford.

I would hazard a guess that I'm not the only United fan who finds the seating experience uncomfortable. I would even go as far as saying that a lot of fans of other clubs, will probably be able to relate to what I'm saying with the seating at their stadiums as well.

Heck it's even got to the point whereby whenever I apply for tickets, I have to specifically request for aisle seats, so I can sit at an angle and at least be a little bit comfortable whilst enjoying the match.

So from my point of view, I would rather see stadiums expanded (in particular Old Trafford), so that the existing capacity can sit more comfortably**

**of course this would never happen because everything is about money.