what's that blue vortex to the right of the stadium? is that where we throw the media members and supporters whom speak ill of us? 

 

Light reflecting on the glass in front on the picture.

Well done everyone who's attended the presentation and posted good informative feedback.

what's that blue vortex to the right of the stadium? is that where we throw the media members and supporters whom speak ill of us?

I would definitely love that addition.

Does anyone know what the projected match-day revenue will be for the new stadium? According to this we currently stand at £71m per season. If we assume that the new capacity will be exactly 60000 and, on average, we do as well in cup competitions then the increase will be roughly 43.55%. If all seating categories were increased proportionally we would end up at approximately £102m - but the focus will be clearly on corporate seats / more expensive categories. Does anyone have a better estimate?

Evening all. Cheers to all who have posted here so far.

 

Managed to get down to the consultation / exhibition yesterday. Overall it seems to be coming together nicely and is a fairly impressive proposal in my opinion. I will endeavour to summarise a few points from my discussions and hope not to repeat what has already been said as best possible.

 

Architecturally, I have faith in what I've seen that the stadium will be both iconic and cater appropriately for the club's needs. I think there's good clarity in the way the design has been formulated and they have done well to maximise the proposal within the constraints of the site. Personally I like the monumental scale and style. The proposal seems reminiscent of Grundtvigs Church in Denmark (see below) - extensive use of brickwork, buttressing, verticality, monumental scale, etc. I'm confident that Herzog & de Mueron will deliver an outstanding building. I was told that the facing side of the brick piers (as seen in the proposed visualisation image with the old shed wall on the right) will have bricks that have been cut in half, in order to provide a varying texture.

 

 

Most of my questions were geared around the allocation of tickets and atmosphere. I had heard differing views on where the tickets will be going, with some suggesting there would be as little as 750 extra season tickets.

 

I was told that the additional 18000 seats will be around a 50-50 split between corporate/hospitality and general admission. 10% of the current stadium is set aside for corporate/hospitality and the rebuild will have 25% of the total seating as corporate/hospitality. The bloke I spoke to was very open about the fact that this is a conscious effort and the additional corporate seats will triple our matchday hospitality income. Indicative of the times I guess. There will be a new 'bronze' club level bracket of ticket but this will also be part of of the hospitality allocation. The corporate/hospitality seating will be located in the middle tier within the West and East (as it is now). Much of the club level seating will be located within the West (and East?) upper tier, focused around the halfway line as these are seen as the most 'desirable' seats.

 

I have seen people commenting on the irregular vomitories emerging on the upper tier. The upper tier will be reachable from two separate floors, hence the difference in height. I was told that great consideration had gone into this and that the different floors and vomitories (coupled with barriers and stewards) would mean that the West and East upper tiers could be a mix of club level tickets and general admission. Not 100% on how that will work logistically but that was the information I got. The middle tier in the North and South stands will be general admission. 

 

All the tiers have been designed to have the optimum pitch for spectators view. I was told that the pitch of the tiers had actually been increased a few degrees above what is allowed resulting in steeper stands and a more enclosed stadium. The distance from the back row of seats in the upper tier to the pitch conforms comfortably with guidelines apparently, again highlighting that the stadium should feel fairly intimate and more enclosed than other similarly sized stadia. All seats everywhere in the ground will have a sightline to the back row of the upper tier opposite them. This will resolve the issue of any restricted views (e.g. the current MHL from about row DD backwards). The North and South lower tiers will have provision for safe standing should it be brought in.

 

The enclosed design and 'acoustically treated' roof panels will both have a substantial impact on augmenting the acoustics of the stadium compared to the current arrangement. I did ask about demographic and what plans the club had to actively encourage a good atmosphere, but the bloke I spoke with got quite shirty and essentially said "well people should sing more, they don't now". A bit of a cop out in my book. Hopefully we will see the club be more proactive in time. There are no plans for a singing section as I understand.

 

I was told there would be around 5000 additional season tickets made available. This is very different to what I've heard from some sources, and the bloke did seem a bit unsure I must say. I would hope it is around that figure.

 

There will be around double the amount of tickets for young people, and the club are actively looking to encourage a younger demographic (with the average age of a season ticket holder at around 50). Whether this is true who knows, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

The general impression I got from discussions with various members of staff was that the scheme is still at a reasonably basic level of refinement, and actually changed a lot off the back of the first consultation and only recently did it all begin to fall into place. It seems there has been a lot of back and forth between all involved parties (architects, structural engineers, planners, etc.) to ensure that a 60000 seater stadium was logistically possible on the site, and this has only been realised in the last few months (so it seems). The scale model of the proposal was put together very last minute for the exhibition, and it seems that there are a lot of issues still to be resolved. I think this should explain the lack of refinement in areas (particularly the interior of the stadium) and we will see a much better final result. 

 

I include a link to a folder of images I have put together of the exhibition, both my own and also images of come across from various other sources.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rgk826m4gsvrgwa/AAATEffxTX9rntDy6t5fNoKya?dl=0

 

Didn't realise that the new Anfield will only be 51k seats. Thought it would be more 60k. Spurs have got 60.

The prem is gonna be mega with the top 6/7 clubs all having larger money. Competition will be stiff.

Didn't realise that the new Anfield will only be 51k seats. Thought it would be more 60k. Spurs have got 60.

The prem is gonna be mega with the top 6/7 clubs all having larger money. Competition will be stiff.

 

They're just rebuilding one stand at the moment though (and it's as ugly as you would expect). Their plan is to rebuild at least one other after that to take them to around 60,000 or so.

It won't be that stiff. Logically there is only so big a stadium can be, and how many bums on seats you can attract. Add to this the increasing commercial and TV revenues are making match day revenue less and less significant as they have a higher ceiling unconstrained by the size of a plot of land, the wealth of match-day fans, and population of a clubs catchment area. In the future the top clubs' stadiums will be as much about being part of the club's brand/image to sell as it is about match-day revenue. 

Great report and pics BLueFirm. Thanks to all that have reported back.

Reads a bit like an official press release on my opinion. Nothing to complain about it though, the more I read the more I like .

Didn't realise that the new Anfield will only be 51k seats. Thought it would be more 60k. Spurs have got 60.

The prem is gonna be mega with the top 6/7 clubs all having larger money. Competition will be stiff.

 

Give Liverpool/Spuds all the money - they only waste it.....

Didn't realise that the new Anfield will only be 51k seats. Thought it would be more 60k. Spurs have got 60.

The prem is gonna be mega with the top 6/7 clubs all having larger money. Competition will be stiff.

       he said "stiff"      

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premier-league/2015-2016/how-chelsea-will-get-their-new-stadium-ready-for-2020_sto4899757/story.shtml

Selling the naming rights is in play

Would have been awesome had they been able to secure the Battersea location and have built something awesome there. The preliminary plans that had been released a few years back looked incredible and could have been amazing. I am not too thrilled about the cosmetic look of the new ground, just seems a bit odd, to say the least. Nonetheless, a new ground is much needed and that could definitely benefit in terms of more money to spend with transfers and such.

I've seen a lot of acrimony on social media towards the naming rights issue, but personally I don't really this is as such a big issue.

 

Ideally, would I like our ground to remain as Stamford Bridge? Yes. But, rightly or wrongly, Football is a business now and the sad reality is that we need the money.

 

I'm sure that as fans we'll still always refer to it as the Bridge anyway.

Edited September 8, 201510 yr by Celery1989

Naming rights isn't an issue as far as I'm concerned. Because we've always played at SB, it will always be known as SB, no matter which sponsor has their name on it.

 

The real issue is getting this through. There are still many obstacles to overcome, not least planning and TfL.

 

Fans getting mad about naming rights are jumping the gun a bit here, and they've lost sight of what's important in all of this, and they're also showing a complete lack of gratitude.

 

They could do with a healthy dose of reality in my opinion.

The Dunkin Donuts Super Dome Arena sounds good to me

Mentioned it before but it should definitely be called the 'Carefree Arena'. 

Mentioned it before but it should definitely be called the 'Carefree Arena'. 

 

Ha ha!  Like it but I can't see it making us enough money!

Naming rights don't bother me too much as I will always refer to it as Stamford Bridge. It will only be on Sky, websites etc that they refer to it as the actual name. Can't imagine what companies we would try and get to put their name on it though.

I will never agree with selling naming rights to the highest bidder. ever.

Naming rights don't bother me too much as I will always refer to it as Stamford Bridge. It will only be on Sky, websites etc that they refer to it as the actual name. Can't imagine what companies we would try and get to put their name on it though.

wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being Gazprom or something of the like given Abramovichs connections

Naming rights isn't an issue as far as I'm concerned. Because we've always played at SB, it will always be known as SB, no matter which sponsor has their name on it.

 

Not keen on naming rights at football grounds personally. I'd prefer them to stick with traditional names like 'the Bovril Gate' 

I will never agree with selling naming rights to the highest bidder. ever.

Can I ask why? It's never bothered me, simply because it will be a corporate name that will have nothing to do with us fans. They can call it whatever they want but it will still be Stamford Bridge. Calling it "pedigree chum" stadium will have pretty much zero impact on fans. Unless it helps bring ticket prices down of course. Oh look, a pig in the sky....

They should keep Stamford Bridge name!