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Sussexyellow

Ground Capacity - What Counts?

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Can anybody help with a point I was discussing with friends.
Do the behind glass box seats count in the capacity of the ground? And are there any other areas that are not counted?
My gut feel is that the boxes are included but as you may gather from question this was disputed.

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My best guess is yes. There must be a couple of hundred seats "behind glass" at Carrow Road, so what would be the point of giving out an attendance of 26,800, when the true figure is 27,000?

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The boxes in the N&P hold about 12 people, therefore club may assume each box is full. For each box the attendees are listed which are given to people on the door to check you are entitled, the club may take those figures. However what if all the people do not attend the attendance figures would be wrong.

Clubs regularly post attendance figures below actual I guess for some financial reason perhaps tax. City used to be accused of doing this in the past but not possible as most games are sold out.

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Thanks for your responses. The argument against them counting was that it would lower further the number of casual seats that went on sale, whereas my view from my own experience of buying casual tickets is that the numbers offered (when block H is not available) is very low.
So taking Pete''s advice that there are around 120 behind glass in the N&P (10 Boxes). The Barclay boxes I believe are much bigger. When seats come online in them there appear to be three rows of 15 in each - so 450 seats. Plus there are the VIP seats in the Jarrold for the meal and match packages. Looks to be around a quarter of a block, so 250 seats. 
All in all that would mean 820 seats to be taken off casual sales. So with 22,000 season tickets, 2500 away seats and 820 seats lost above  leaves just 1530 for casual sale. Probably less as there will be other elements of leakage of which I am unaware. This fits with my experience as, when block H is not available, apart from the river end corner blocks there are just odd seats dotted round the ground available, rarely 2 together. 
But, and here is the key point, even that low number is not selling quickly. There is no longer the clamour for tickets as soon as they went on sale that there was a couple of years back. Certainly not an experience of demand that would get the board to make ground expansion a priority.
Plus we now have the decision for the Cardiff game to allow priority members to buy 4 tickets each (I think we can assume block H will be available!), abandoning the strict policy of 1 ticket per member. Why, what is the marketing rationale behind this? To enable families to come - well they have probably been picking tickets up on general sale anyway. I will speculate that it is because priority memberships are now low. Previous members have now got season tickets and others have deemed it unnecessary as they can pick up tickets on general sale.So is this an attempt to sell out tickets ahead of general sale to encourage priority membership take-up, as once you have paid for membership you are more likely to make use of it. Hence a perceived need to stimulate demand!
Which is a very different picture to expanding the ground to meet an excess of demand.

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I think the capacity includes all boxes though I''m not sure?

 

The useable capacity is now up to 26870 something after the freeing up of 30+ seats with the building of the new media gantry in the Jarold stand.

 

The two home League games have attracted crowds of 26,800+ so under 100 spare seats left which more than likely were mainly in the away end.

 

Under 100 seats left for both home games, many of which would of been in the away end and singles which puts of many people who want to sit with family and/or friends.

 

+ the fact casual tickets are expensive, with a ground expansion more season tickets which are cheaper would be available!

+ the fact when ground capacity goes to 30,000+ the bigger away followings have to be given at least 3000 tickets, currently we give 2500 then it becomes clear that increasing ground capacity to 30,000+ is justifiable when the finances allow! 

 

I do laugh when some question the need for expanding the capacity of Carrow Road because we have a handful of tickets left over!! 

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I obviously accept that we do effectively sell out every game. However my argument is based on the pattern of sales which as a casual ticket buyer I observe first hand. Tickets are now selling at a slower rate than a year or so back and I am sure the club notices that. So whilst there is sufficient demand to sell out I am questioning whether we now have much of an unsatisfied excess demand that can not get tickets. I agree that you can create demand through price setting but that has implications for the economic viability of expansion.
One of the consequences of tickets reaching general sale is that tickets in home areas do get bought by away fans. Something the club has clearly stated it does not want. I have had away fans in my block for both the Everton and Villa games. So possibly the reason for the four tickets per priority member for the Cardiff game is an attempt to ensure that tickets get into the hands of home supporters by trying to sell out prior to placing tickets on general sale. Accepting that argues against my previous post to a degree.

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