Bramley Moore & 60,000
135%
Sunderland AFC
94%
Southampton FC
90%
57%
GWLADYS
Derby County FC
In a 60,000 capacity stadium it’s a reasonable assumption that the categories would breakdown as follows:
Arsenal FC
34%
Season ticket holders: 42,000
Manchester United FC
63%
Home tickets have sold out for every game over the last three seasons, the first time in our history we have
achieved this, in a stadium which is perhaps 25 years past its “best before” date with limited facilities, and many
thousands of obstructed views.
The easiest way to judge demand is to break down the crowd into different categories, Executive or premium seat
spectators, season ticket holders, and “walk-up/non-season ticket holders”. For the purposes of this piece, we
can ignore away supporters on the assumption we will sell a maximum of 3,000 for every game.
Executive/premium seats: 5,000
West Ham (based on 2 seasons)
Walk up/non-regular supporters: 10,000
Away supporters: 3,000
The one club which is always used as a counter argument to an aggressive increase in capacity is Manchester
City. It’s often said that they have difficulty in selling out their increased capacity Etihad stadium. In the first 8
years at the Etihad they had 96% utilisation, followed by 98.8% utilisation in the last three seasons. Tottenham
Hotspur are increasing capacity by 72% and will perform in front of capacity crowds for the foreseeable future.
Looking specifically at Everton, what is the basis for believing we can fill a 60,000 seat stadium?
The demand to watch Everton, despite the difficulties on-field and the antiquated, but much loved Goodison
Park continues to grow. The best season of football in recent years at Goodison was Martinez’ first season. In
that we averaged 37,732 spectators. The last three seasons despite the variable quality of the football on offer
have produced average attendances of
40,000
39,047
38,797
39,000
38,780
With an admirable pricing policy Everton at Goodison have maximised season ticket sales, topping out at
32,000 (the highest permitted under PL rules). This compares with Manchester United 55,000, Arsenal 45,000,
Tottenham Hotspur 45,000, Manchester City 40,000 and West Ham United a staggering 52,000.
West Ham United have, by moving to the former Olympic stadium increased season ticket sales from around
25,000 at the Boleyn Ground to 52,000 in their third season at their new home.
I have been extremely cautious in suggesting an executive/premium capacity of only 5,000. Whilst this
represents a big increase from our existing 1400 or so “premium” seats it is a relatively low percentage of the
overall capacity of the ground (8.3%). Most modern stadia look in excess of 10%, Liverpool currently are at 14%.
Chelsea had they gone forward with their ground redevelopment were looking at 28%. Tottenham’s redeveloped
New White Hart Lane has 12% premium seating.
The ratio of premium seating to regular seating is extremely important – it helps keep the cost of regular
seats more affordable (although admittedly not at Tottenham). As a rule of thumb, 10% premium seats should
generate the same level of matchday income as the remaining 90% regular seating.
5,000 is an extremely conservative figure, and one which the club should have every confidence in selling out
season after season at an iconic stadium in an iconic location.
The final category is walk up/non-regular spectators. By this I mean the wide group of people who will visit
any number of games from a one-off visitor to fans who can’t get to every game and therefore do not have a
season ticket.
The figure of 10,000 may seem high. However, it is very achievable. Everton have always had a relatively high
“walk-up” element to our support. This is borne out by “walk-up” sales of between 5,000 and 7,000 during
the Moyes’ era when season ticket sales were much lower, and indeed our continued ability to sell out the worst
seats at Goodison regardless of the opposition. It’s also a low figure when viewed against other club’s “walk-up”
figures. Liverpool rely upon approximately 18,000 non-season ticket/non-executive sales per game.
With the right approach to marketing which includes attracting casual visitors, local and far-flung blues who
can’t attend every game, it’s a very achievable figure. Everton have proven very adept at marketing tickets to
Goodison which given the quality of the view (and many times the product as well) should give them huge
confidence to achieve capacity crowds.
38,000
37,000
16/17
17/18
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18/19
Affordability
The evidence for demand, and the general effect of a new stadium is there for all to see. The second element is
affordability. There is no doubt that the final 10% of seats put into a stadium are (i) the most expensive to build
and (ii) the most difficult to sell. I’ve covered the likelihood of selling these seats, what about the cost?
Every seat carries a construction cost, some of which is relatively fixed, for example in the case of Bramley-
Moore the ground preparation and technical challenges of the site, plus a variable cost based on all the additional
core resources required as a stadium grows in size.
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