When people talk about plants on this forum I have to say when the odd person did say 15k was a good idea and whack the prices up if we get more demand than 15k. I thought there was plants in here.
OK, I'll bite...
There is, undeniably an argument that a smaller ground could help increase support. At the moment, there's little incentive, other than price, to buy early - you can always get a ticket come match day. This stops people buying earlier (harming cash flow) and also increases the chances of people just not bothering come match day, as they find something else to be distracted by.
At the moment, we have to offer over-cheap season tickets, and Wasps have to give tickets away - the ground is (currently) too big for us.
Restrict capacity and you make match day an event, the place to be. It builds pent-up demand and means people buy earlier and at a higher price for fear of missing out. It's also, incidentally, part of the reason why the Ricoh project was allowed to pass through without as much scrutiny as it maybe deserved - after years in the 80s of Highfield Road being more than big enough, we were now selling it out in the top flight.
However, that's not the same as saying 15,000 is right long term, in the slightest. The issue with the Ricoh, in fact, is that it can't be extended easily (who's to say in 30 years we won't have 40,000 itching to get in
). As a
short term move then a 15,000 could in fact boost demand for our tickets, as it makes the atmosphere better and makes it harder to get tickets, so people miss out on something they don't want to be. In the extreme sense, you could argue Brighton are currently successful owing to being restricted previously to their ground being finished.
So... as said on the Butts threads, I'd be more than happy for us to have a little
temporary ground there, and would be happier with that than sharing with a bunch of cuckoos. The issue would be about ensuring it was a prelude to a ground with more potential, however (unless there's something obvious staring us in the face where the Butts is a big enough site).
As ever, it's not black and white. The above in no way suggests I would be happy with a 15k stadium, or it would be a good idea as the permanent solution.
