Stadium Expansion - Bushey Hall

Ideal place to park would be Tesco extra. I have a couple of sets of French number plates I can rent out to avoid ANPR bills...

 

There are certainly stadiums in North America that can do this, but for different configurations for different sports rather than for varying demand. I think what used to be called the Skydome in Toronto is one, which requires a different shape for baseball and football.
The problem with your suggestion is that you end up with a big gap around the pitch where the occasional seating rolls in and out, so it becomes like the West Ham stadium now, with the rear permanent stands further from the action.

 

Plus the cost of installing, using and maintainng such a system would be prohibitive surely?

 

It would be just like the old days when we had the dog track so we should be fine with that

 

A bit of marketing BS from the joint venture. Looks like more of a shirt sponsorship thing at this stage. Doesn't bode well when our marketing 'partner' doesn't know what competition we play in,

https://rhinoworldwide.com/2021/04/...gemini-sports-as-exclusive-commercial-agents/

 

Or maybe they're just that confident we'll get promoted?? haha.

 

Bloody hell, another place talking like we’ve pretty much sewn up promotion. We’re going to get done by Brentford aren’t we.


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I see that Wimbledon lawn Tennis club, bought an adjacent 73 acre golf course for £65 million And are now submitting a planning application to redevelop it. With at its centre a 8,000 seat new show court with a retractable roof, set within a ring of ancient oaks. And this is land that is considered high amenity value as it was originally parkland (as of course was Bushey Hall golf course), landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th Century.

Seems to me, if it gets planning approval, to be a good benchmark on the success of any proposed stadium at Bushey Hall.

 

...and Swansea. Finish 4th and beaten in the POs by Barnsley.

 

Really?
A decade ago we'd get around 11k to a championship game; the final match before lockdown (Liverpool) attendance was 21500...I'm not sure if there has been any clever marketing? But during this time there has been stadium expansion and promotion.

 

A bit more from the US agents. Rumour over the new kit sponsor for next season. Quite a prestigious one.

Spoiler: New kit sponsor

 

With the breakaway six getting chucked out of the Premie4 League, we can become a Premier League big club. All we need is a team to fill our future stadium.

 

On a serious note, if the Big 6 Breakaway happens, do we become any more or less attractive? I mean, in theory we could nab some disillusioned London club fans, but would there be much interest in the rump English league from either fans or broadcasters/sponsors?

 

Yes I think there would, I hope the barstewards **** off it could be the making of WFC

 

If the European Super league is set to stay, I assume what could well happen is relegation and promotion from the countries top current leagues, therefore expect to see a Leicester or West Ham replacing the countries sixth team! If there is no possibility of relegation then football would become meaningless!

 

Yes. Less interest worldwide but still likely much higher than other countries. Football will survive in this country without them. Might even be a hell of a lot more fun. Certainly a good year to get promoted if those mugs have f*cked off.

 

Mayor of Watford wishes to prevent Watford FC stadium move | Watford Observer

Some interesting info from the WO. Seems there could be some extra space available after the hospital rebuild. Maybe we could remain at VR after all?

 

We're never going to be invited to the ESL whilst we play at a stadium where people live in one of the stands.

 

I think the hospital site is really difficult to develop. For one the hospital site does not need the football stadium sticking into it. Compromising its principle purpose as a medical facility. Also some of the buildings are grade 2 listed, so you need to work around them, and you still have to mitigate the concerns of the residents who literally live next door.

I think the other concern is finance. If Bushey Hall gets included as an employment zone in the Hertsmere plan. It’s either the leisure recreation scheme promoted or warehousing for the site. Both would be attractive to a property investor.

For Gino, the prospect of someone else taking both the development task and financial risk off of the club, makes it quite attractive to commit to a long lease and then sell our current ground for redevelopment.

It is not an exact analogy, but Arsenal (now one of six never again to be named) came a cropper financing a new stadium. West Ham on the other hand have made a lot of money leasing the London stadium and selling Upton Park . And Man City have done well taking over the city of Manchester stadium built by the City council. Ownership of the ground is only useful if you have complete control of the income from the stadium. and of course it is an asset you can mortgage.

 

Not to mention that only the top of the hill is really feasible to build on, behind the Rookery the drop off is quite steep and would cost a fortune to build up. So sure, there's a large area behind the ground, but it's not exactly fit for purpose.

 

The danger moment will be not when Watford mayor is using everything at his disposal to convince Watford to stay, it'll be when he/the council switches to using everything at their disposal to stop the club leaving.

 

The area behind the rookery is having a 1,000 space multi-storey car park built and a housing estate on the old allotments. So that land is not available at all. it would be the bit which has the 1960s maternity unit and existing main block. They are to be replaced with a new building on the existing hillside surface car park

 

Well that'd be nice.

Maybe a ninety degrees turn like Wembley.

 

I think if we don’t get promotion all this talk of expansion and relocation is pretty irrelevant. The next few weeks are so crucial for WFCs future. We’ve never had a better opportunity to develop VR or to move. As someone else said,
“WFC aren’t allowed nice things” so we’re bound to **** it up won’t we.

 

That would mean a total rebuild. I suspect that would be the most expensive option Watford could take. The demolition would add big costs to the project, plus relocating for one or two seasons.

I think all we’ll do is rebuild the GT stand and increase the capacity of the SEJ stand. Don’t forget the key worker housing behind the Rookery can’t be touched.

 

Can't disagree with any of that.

Guessing we can just about reach planned capacity that way.

However can we realistically upgrade the Vic Road end that way?

And is there ability to take down the Sir Elton and put in a bigger stand, or add modules on the top?

Starting from scratch sometimes works out cheaper.

A new, empty site makes it so much simpler to do a blank slate. Avoids that decant you mention too.

 

is this modular? Can the bit of the stadium be detached from the housing?

 

Ah okay, I stand corrected. I could've sworn an early rendering showed there being a new hospital block not far behind the GT stand, but maybe that's been updated.

But in any case, if that's the land the mayor is referring to it's simply nowhere near big enough - I can't see any possibility that a minor extension to the GT would be enough to prevent a move. Assuming we're actually considering one.

 

Extending the Rookery by going up over the flats would create a single tier and would be very tall. I guess it would only increase the capacity by 3000. I don’t think there are many behind the goal stands that are more than 10000 seats but think it would mean demolishing the existing stand. A new build without the “goalpost”roof suspension would clear the existing corner obstructions but would it be worth the cost.

 

If we don't get promoted this season, this whole new stadium idea will be shelved, never again to see the light of day.

 

That's ok.

The ESL is a closed shop; in the same spirit it just means the residents can never move out.

 

I'm not sure people have quite understood the point of this based on the replies. Hospital would move to Bushey, the land it is currently on would be redeveloped. Much better idea and very doable.

 

Is there a source for that? I've not seen it anywhere.