TYNECASTLE STADIUM UPGRADE POTENTIAL - UEFA category 4 granted ( updated/merged )

[Peakybunnet]

The Gorgie Suite was full of Aberdeen fans who couldnt get tickets. I was at a table of 7and 5 were Dons fans. 

 

I had put my ticket up on the exchange and it sold in five minutes. 

 

There are two points to this, more people should use the exchange if they cant make it and yes we should add on another 5000 seats somewhere. 

[Nessjambo67]

I think everyone will agree we have a fantastic stadium. Unfortunately we are never going to get attendances of over 20k   I remember going to games in the  mid to late 80s Bayern 29k rangers and Hibs 25 26 k those days are gone I also remember watching Hearts play the likes of Dundee and killie with 11 12k in the 20 s.  I say be careful what you wish for things change so fast in football.

[davemclaren]

3 minutes ago, Peakybunnet said:

The Gorgie Suite was full of Aberdeen fans who couldnt get tickets. I was at a table of 7and 5 were Dons fans. 

 

I had put my ticket up on the exchange and it sold in five minutes. 

 

There are two points to this, more people should use the exchange if they cant make it and yes we should add on another 5000 seats somewhere. 

Good of them to buy expensive hospitality to see their team get beaten. 😎

[Sooks]

19 minutes ago, Nessjambo67 said:

Of course I know how it works!  I think we should fill our stadium first before talking about increasing capacity. I fully understand not everyone can make it at 3 pm or 1 pm but to me it’s  continuous the amount of empty seats especially yesterday with so much at stake !

Game was half twelve not three or one 

[Sooks]

11 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

If this is about increasing revenue then just put the seat prices up! No capital expenditure required.

 

A 10% increase in ticket prices will bring in approximately the same as 2,000 extra seats! Simple really ….

No with the increase in the cost of living and the belt tightening that goes along with it , that would be the quickest way to rid our selves of the demand 

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

Hindsight is a terrible thing but we missed an opportunity to build the main stand a bit less steep but back to the road using the plaza area as part of the stand. We didn't have the finances in place though but maybe rushed through the design a bit. Possibly we could have looked at a sponsors name on a bigger stand to finance the higher costs. Would the council have been on board that's another question though.

[Bungalow Bill]

9 minutes ago, Nessjambo67 said:

I think everyone will agree we have a fantastic stadium. Unfortunately we are never going to get attendances of over 20k   I remember going to games in the  mid to late 80s Bayern 29k rangers and Hibs 25 26 k those days are gone I also remember watching Hearts play the likes of Dundee and killie with 11 12k in the 20 s.  I say be careful what you wish for things change so fast in football.

I think it’s safe to say the vast majority of Hearts fans would have been against building a stadium away from Gorgie - I remember Millerhill being discussed. Staying in Gorgie has meant we’ve had to compromise on stadium capacity. I probably wouldn’t have it any other way. 

[davemclaren]

Just now, Bungalow Bill said:

I think it’s safe to say the vast majority of Hearts fans would have been against building a stadium away from Gorgie - I remember Millerhill being discussed. Staying in Gorgie has meant we’ve had to compromise on stadium capacity. I probably wouldn’t have it any other way. 

That's correct and completing the main stand has cemented that more. 

[GorgieFifeLife]

Turn Gorgie into standing only.  Incentivise more the reselling of tickets on exchange to cut out the empty seats.  There is space behind Roseburn to develop that into a large stand.  

[Ked]

14 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

If this is about increasing revenue then just put the seat prices up! No capital expenditure required.

 

A 10% increase in ticket prices will bring in approximately the same as 2,000 extra seats! Simple really ….

It's already enough for many.

Even well paid people are feeling the pinch .

[davemclaren]

Just now, GorgieFifeLife said:

Turn Gorgie into standing only.  Incentivise more the reselling of tickets on exchange to cut out the empty seats.  There is space behind Roseburn to develop that into a large stand.  

Standing only doesn't get you any more capacity. 

[whyskey]

27 minutes ago, Nessjambo67 said:

Of course I know how it works!  I think we should fill our stadium first before talking about increasing capacity. I fully understand not everyone can make it at 3 pm or 1 pm but to me it’s  continuous the amount of empty seats especially yesterday with so much at stake !

bottom right hand section of the Gorgie stand next to the Wheatfield has at every game had lots of empty seats how come. 

[Ronald Villiers]

I wonder if it would be possible to do away with the concourse separating the upper and lower parts of each stand and add a few more rows of seats in each stand.  Would add a few thousand to the capacity I'd imagine.  

[GorgieFifeLife]

7 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Standing only doesn't get you any more capacity. 

https://gleventsstadia.co.uk/the-many-benefits-of-safe-standing/#:~:text=Efficient use of space,having to expand their stadium.

[Sooks]

4 minutes ago, Ronald Villiers said:

I wonder if it would be possible to do away with the concourse separating the upper and lower parts of each stand and add a few more rows of seats in each stand.  Would add a few thousand to the capacity I'd imagine.  

Would make the kiosks a good laugh , but the wheelchair users would need some thing like Professor X from X Men uses to see the game 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Sooks

[way out west jambo]

I think we need to sustain 3rd & 4th finishes in the league with consistent European football for a few more seasons before we start looking at £40+ million investments & upgrades.

[LarrysRightFoot]

Apologies as I’m sure this will have been covered but is there anyway we could replicate the way the corners are filled in at Ibrox? 
 

By this I mean the 2 corners are only about half the height of the stands and I’m guessing it allows the support structure to sit behind it?

 

No idea how many seats we’d gain and therefore if it’d be worth the cost but it’s just an idea. 

[Ronald Villiers]

2 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Would make the kiosks a good laugh , but the wheelchair users would need some thing like Professor X from X Men uses to see the game 

I thought that right after I posted lol.

[LarrysRightFoot]

2 minutes ago, GorgieFifeLife said:

https://gleventsstadia.co.uk/the-many-benefits-of-safe-standing/#:~:text=Efficient use of space,having to expand their stadium.

I’ve raised this before as abroad I think the ratio is 1 seat to 1.5 safe standing but I think in the UK it’s only 1 = 1?

[SwindonJambo]

This has been discussed to death and beyond on multiple threads. In summary,

 

1. Cost prohibitive

2. Building Regs

3. The huge ethanol tanks behind the Roseburn.

 

I don't think the Police would be happy about 5,000 away fans.

 

[Harry Potter]

47 minutes ago, Bull's-eye said:

Cut all the seats in half. 40k stadium, job done.

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

5 minutes ago, Ronald Villiers said:

I wonder if it would be possible to do away with the concourse separating the upper and lower parts of each stand and add a few more rows of seats in each stand.  Would add a few thousand to the capacity I'd imagine.  

You would have to rebuild the entire angle of the lower section in order to link it to the top section. I can see the possibilities in that but I'm not an engineer.

[Bauld]

Given the population of Edinburgh and the comparible sized cities and towns in England and Europe with football clubs I do think we could and should have a larger gate.

 

It's not an overnight deal. It would take years. But I think as a club we have failed in our recent history to grow and expand our fan base in a meaningful way. Which is sad.

 

I've never lived in Edinburgh. My son has only been to 4 games. But he's a die hard Jambo as am I. So it isn't just about location. But it should be much easier in Edinburgh to get kids in the door and grow an ever expanding fan base.

 

There are many ways to do so. We should be working on them all.

[PortyBeach]

12 minutes ago, Bungalow Bill said:

I think it’s safe to say the vast majority of Hearts fans would have been against building a stadium away from Gorgie - I remember Millerhill being discussed. Staying in Gorgie has meant we’ve had to compromise on stadium capacity. I probably wouldn’t have it any other way. 

I was always one who favoured a move from Tynecastle because in my view the site was too hemmed-in.

But that ship has sailed now, I reckon.

[Sooks]

2 minutes ago, Ronald Villiers said:

I thought that right after I posted lol.

😄 

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, Harry Potter said:

We need to get dieting Harry. 🥸

[davemclaren]

Just now, PortyBeach said:

I was always one who favoured a move from Tynecastle because in my view the site was too hemmed-in.

But that ship has sailed now, I reckon.

I'm not against it either but, like increased capacity in Gorgie, it isn't happening in my lifetime. 

[GorgieFifeLife]

3 minutes ago, LarrysRightFoot said:

I’ve raised this before as abroad I think the ratio is 1 seat to 1.5 safe standing but I think in the UK it’s only 1 = 1?

Ah ok, if that is the case then clearly not a possible solution.  It’s not like the UK to make things worse than Europe!

[LarrysRightFoot]

Just now, GorgieFifeLife said:

Ah ok, if that is the case then clearly not a possible solution.  It’s not like the UK to make things worse than Europe!

I also don’t think it’s allowed in all comps - certainly never used to be allowed for internationals (not that that’s an issue for us).

 

Im still for it though as I’d guess if it’s a success some of the legislation around it may ease - like the 1=1 ratio. 

[Weonly151]

47 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

I’ve thought for a while the club should do some research as to why certain sections have almost 100% fill every week whilst other sections, particularly bottom of the Gorgie stand, can be very sparse.

 

Just pick a section one week, note the empty seat numbers and email them and ask them to complete a short survey. No pressure, no penalty for not going or anything daft like that but something might be learned that we could do something about. 
 

It’s all very strange and it’s the same areas every time

Noticed that over the last few home games that I've watched. Seems to be the bottom of the Gorgie mainly behind the goals and the wheatfield side of it and also the wheatfield side of the Roseburn and its not just an odd seat hear and there it's clusters of seats. It's very frustrating 

[Sooks]

A move away from Gorgie would have seen a slowing in growth and the extra seats would have gone unfilled , unless the move was just down the road to say Sighthill

[pettigrewsstylist]

1 hour ago, Jambo in Bathgate said:

Those empty seats were bought and paid for! The club put up the sold out sign. The problem will be what is the next step. Leave Tynecastle for new Stadium? Ground share with Rugby? Build over the Wheatfield Stand. Unfortunately these are hard choices with difficulties. 

Priority should be to FILL those empty seats. If custodians cant make it then we need to be smarter in filling them.

[Portable Badger]

1 hour ago, gregzy2k7 said:

Sometimes i wonder why they didnt add a second tier to the new main stand? If we want to remain at tynecastle, Could we not potentially build a new stand for Wheatfield and add a second tier on ? Surely that would increase capacity by around 5k ish? Probably bringing it up to the 25k mark?

We were limited by a stadium height restriction due to the school and surrounding properties - 2nd tier wasn’t an option really

[JimmyCant]

11 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

Priority should be to FILL those empty seats. If custodians cant make it then we need to be smarter in filling them.

Do we care really ? The club I mean. The seats are sold and attending isn’t compulsory. It’s just aesthetically irritating to sell the stadium out but have hundreds of empty seats

[GBJambo]

1 hour ago, Nessjambo67 said:

Of course I know how it works!  I think we should fill our stadium first before talking about increasing capacity. I fully understand not everyone can make it at 3 pm or 1 pm but to me it’s  continuous the amount of empty seats especially yesterday with so much at stake !

We had sold out. Some people can’t make games due to commitments especially as it was an early kick off . 
 

Plus there weren’t that many empty sears

[Jamboross]

11 minutes ago, LarrysRightFoot said:

I also don’t think it’s allowed in all comps - certainly never used to be allowed for internationals (not that that’s an issue for us).

 

Im still for it though as I’d guess if it’s a success some of the legislation around it may ease - like the 1=1 ratio. 

 

It was banned by UEFA but was just reading they allowed it this season for the first time so is presumably fine going forward. Dortmund's capacity was about 15,000 less for European games because they had to switch their standing places for seats, the German ratio is apparently 1.8:1 so near enough doubles capacity. Really is something the UK government should be looking to change. 

[Ronald Villiers]

23 minutes ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

You would have to rebuild the entire angle of the lower section in order to link it to the top section. I can see the possibilities in that but I'm not an engineer.

Yes, was thinking that.

[davemclaren]

11 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

It was banned by UEFA but was just reading they allowed it this season for the first time so is presumably fine going forward. Dortmund's capacity was about 15,000 less for European games because they had to switch their standing places for seats, the German ratio is apparently 1.8:1 so near enough doubles capacity. Really is something the UK government should be looking to change. 

I don't they had a Hillsborough or Ibrox disaster(s) on the same scale so their politicians are likely less nervous. 

[pettigrewsstylist]

11 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

Do we care really ? The club I mean. The seats are sold and attending isn’t compulsory. It’s just aesthetically irritating to sell the stadium out but have hundreds of empty seats

Well.

Reduces dissapointment amongst those unable to get tickets or manage a season tkt.

Every new attendee is, potentially, for life.

Adds to atmosphere for attendees and support for team.

Adds extra revenue by resale of tkt.

Exchange is the answer but needs some cleverer idea around it and much more marketing exposure. 

Needs to be as simple as possible without penalty.

[Ray Gin]

1 hour ago, Libertarian said:

Just short of 19,000 at Tynecastle yesterday. With a bigger capacity we could easily have had an attendance of between 25,000 to 30,000. Aberdeen could have brought 5,000 and there could easily have been another 5,000 Hearts supporters. This is all lost revenue for the club and Hearts have to begin seriously looking at how to expand the capacity. Any outlay would be an investment which would soon pay for itself.

 

The opportunity has been missed. We had one viable chance to expand Tynecastle's capacity (the main stand redevelopment) but circumstances dictated that we were unable to take that chance.

 

We're not substantially increasing capacity any further without moving to a new site.

 

 

[joondalupjambo]

1 hour ago, Peakybunnet said:

The Gorgie Suite was full of Aberdeen fans who couldnt get tickets. I was at a table of 7and 5 were Dons fans. 

 

I had put my ticket up on the exchange and it sold in five minutes. 

 

There are two points to this, more people should use the exchange if they cant make it and yes we should add on another 5000 seats somewhere. 

I am always wary of using TE if I have to when it is either of the Uglies.  Do not want to risk a Hearts fan buying a ticket for any of that lot.  It has happened.  The last Celtic game where they they knew they could win the league was an even bigger risk.  If I can give it to a mate for these games then I do that. 

 

I know that this is not everyone's view and maybe I being silly but sure there will be others who think the same for these particular games.  The other issue with TE is that it has been last minute and folk who might have gone to games will probably arranged other stuff to do already.  Guess the thing is that there will always be some empty seats for the vast majority of games which is the way it is unfortunately.

[Hectormasson]

39 minutes ago, Bauld said:

Given the population of Edinburgh and the comparible sized cities and towns in England and Europe with football clubs I do think we could and should have a larger gate.

 

It's not an overnight deal. It would take years. But I think as a club we have failed in our recent history to grow and expand our fan base in a meaningful way. Which is sad.

 

I've never lived in Edinburgh. My son has only been to 4 games. But he's a die hard Jambo as am I. So it isn't just about location. But it should be much easier in Edinburgh to get kids in the door and grow an ever expanding fan base.

 

There are many ways to do so. We should be working on them all.

totally, too small, just bigger than killie were a city club and need a bigger stadium,bigger than hibs would be a start fth🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, Libertarian said:

Just short of 19,000 at Tynecastle yesterday. With a bigger capacity we could easily have had an attendance of between 25,000 to 30,000. Aberdeen could have brought 5,000 and there could easily have been another 5,000 Hearts supporters. This is all lost revenue for the club and Hearts have to begin seriously looking at how to expand the capacity. Any outlay would be an investment which would soon pay for itself.

There were still tickets available yesterday morning  

[davemclaren]

5 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

Well.

Reduces dissapointment amongst those unable to get tickets or manage a season tkt.

Every new attendee is, potentially, for life.

Adds to atmosphere for attendees and support for team.

Adds extra revenue by resale of tkt.

Exchange is the answer but needs some cleverer idea around it and much more marketing exposure. 

Needs to be as simple as possible without penalty.

What do you mean by 'without penalty'?

[Thomaso]

1 hour ago, graygo said:

You know that there were lots of empty seats in our end yesterday I take it? There's a thread devoted to it already, our ground was big enough for yesterday's game unless you wanted more sheep there.

You know that the empty seats had been paid for by ST holders?

[Cruyff]

"fill da corners" 

[basscom]

1 hour ago, jambo-in-furness said:

it’s back to the same old problem, we can’t expand (affordably) because of building regs.

It’s been said before and I repeat, do away with the cordoned off areas and fence in away supporters, fix the number of away tickets to that fenced off section no matter which club we are playing and fill the rest of the ground with our own support,  I was of the mind that when we improved our stadium it was for the benefit of Hearts fans end of. Away fans are our responsibility safety wise only, the fewer there are the safer they will be.

This is a great idea. Too many seats lost to the massive white security boundary, costing approx 250-300 seats each game. 
 

Only issue would be Hibs games as they should get the full stand. They could sit either side of the fence for those games.

[Deodato]

2 hours ago, graygo said:

You know that there were lots of empty seats in our end yesterday I take it? There's a thread devoted to it already, our ground was big enough for yesterday's game unless you wanted more sheep there.

More sheep means more to go around and less STD ... sorry I got you wrong, thought you meant real sheep. 

[Gorgi1874]

2 hours ago, Libertarian said:

Just short of 19,000 at Tynecastle yesterday. With a bigger capacity we could easily have had an attendance of between 25,000 to 30,000. Aberdeen could have brought 5,000 and there could easily have been another 5,000 Hearts supporters. This is all lost revenue for the club and Hearts have to begin seriously looking at how to expand the capacity. Any outlay would be an investment which would soon pay for itself.

The city is growing rapidly, plenty of future ST holders 👍👍

[No Idle Talk]

I've always felt 20000 is too low a capacity for a club of our size. The moment the team starts to do well, people can't get tickets for big games and the club loses money. For someone like myself it is basically impossible to get a ticket for a match against Hibs and I'm sure there are many others in the same situation. 25000 seems like a reasonable number to me. 

 

The obvious issue is cost. I'd imagine it would be expensive to fill in the corners. I would hope it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive but it might be. It's something I hope the club are looking in to and thinking about.

 

We could potentially stunt our growth as a club by having too small a stadium and we definitely don't want to do that.