I don’t want to rain on Brighton and Hove Albion’s parade, but I have to say that I am a little disappointed with their new stadium as they enter life in the Championship. The Amex Community Stadium, Falmer Stadium or whatever you care to call it is an impressive arena with some great, innovative facilities, but my only gripe is that I can’t help feeling that it could have been a little bigger in terms of the seating. It is all very pleasant with some very worthwhile gimmicks to its infrastructure and a meticulous attention to detail in making the match day experience a pleasurable one for all involved (notice I used a positive adjective, ‘worthwhile’ before the often demeaning use of the word that is ‘gimmick’).
These ‘worthwhile (there it is again) gimmicks’ stated by Brighton’s Chief Executive Martin Perry include having the West Stand as the main stand because the sun is always behind it at three o’ clock in the afternoon when it is often time to play; a growing medium of the pitch contains a fibre within that provides it with a ‘spring’ which reduces the wear on players’ joints thus limiting the chance of injury; the columns inside have flat screens attached that will feature match day television and, with the club linked to the local bus and rail services, details informing fans of the next available transport. This is designed so supporters do not have to wait outside in the cold for this given information.
Another feature is that, in the away end of the ground, the colour can change according to the one(s) of the club that they are playing, which has been implemented for the purpose of making opposition fans feel welcome, so that the fixture at Brighton is the one to go to for away supporters. The plan is also to have frames stating for example, if Doncaster Rovers are coming to town, ‘Doncaster Rovers legends’ in order to make it a fantastic experience for them and, again, making it the fixture that football followers will want to go to, which is an attempt to gain a full-house.
These presumptions are likely to come true and that is with or without the friendly postures because with its beach, nightlife, shops, restaurants, famous back streets and, in general, cosmopolitan atmosphere, it is already a tourist hot spot and is one where fans who may only attend the odd match a season will want to go to, which means that even if the football is poor, it is a trip worth considering as the surrounding activities that are on offer can make up for it. So ‘full-house’s’ should be expected and with the finances and a very promising manager in Gustavo Poyet, the potential to become a Premiership side in the near-future is a realistic one, but if they do reach the Promised Land, there will be far more than 22, 374 souls who will want to witness these lavish spectacles.
It is a credit to the supporters who helped made this happen in pushing through for a new stadium having been denied for so long and there is little doubt that it is a substantial improvement, facilities wise, on their old Goldstone Ground, Withdean Stadium and Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium which they shared for two years from 1997 to 1999, but it could be even better. Let’s hope it does get better. Having said all that, due to the huge demand for season tickets, Chief Executive Ken Brown has suggested that a tier could be added to the East Stand which would make the capacity rise to around 30, 000, but this would require a fresh planning application and why wasn’t it built with the rest of it? I think it would be the right decision because when your stadium capacity is lower than Wigan Athletic – a ground notorious for low crowds whilst at the same time knowing that you are more likely to have a higher application for tickets with your higher fan base and appealing surrounding areas – then it makes sense.
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It took 13 years for 22,500 seats! but the ground has been designed for easy expansion but as a club we have to prove that our transport solution is sustainable before adding more seats. All being well the planning request is going in at xmas along with a request to build a £15m training ground so hopefully in 2 years time we will be all set.
A really uninformed piece. You have a great talent for writing but your research sucks!!
Great article but slightly misinformed on the capacity. The stadium was designed with capability to expand to 30,000. It involves filling in the corners (nice and easy) and adding a deck to the East Stand. If you look at it you can see the skeleton framework is already there. It shouldn’t be too difficult either.
Plans were submitted several years ago when there was no Gus Poyet etc and 22,500 looked ambitious. Given the insane optimism that features so regularly in football club management, planning in the expansion was a great example of how to run a club sensibly.
The Chief Exec indicated at a Fans Forum last month that we’ll be adding the extra seats next summer if required. Then again, a bad season and maybe we can wait another year or two after all.
good point, but the club are ‘on it’ as you mentioned.
if you look at our our historical attendances we have rarely broken 10k in the last 20 years, with withdean seeing figures ranging from 5-8k in the last 12 years. That’s not to say we have a small fanbase, but we have a lost countless fans through our turbulent living arrangements of recent history.
the club also have to prove to the council that we can transport 22,500 people on a matchday without hindrance (some challenge i assure you); once we have proved this we hope to add the top tier to the east stand and also fill in the corners pushing the capacity to a whopping 30,000 – a number the club have only attracted a handful of times in the 50s, 60s and wembley/cardiff appearences.
some rational conservatism in the football league should be lauded these days, and my fellow albion fans are over the moon with what we’ve got so far.
We would never have got planning permission in the first place to have a bigger stadium.
Only now that it is built, and if we prove the transport link works, will we get permission to increase the capacity.
The ground was designed as a 30,500 seater from the start, that was always the plan. The new seats are easy to add.
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nice article , very informative