20,680

Plans submitted for upgrade to Sandy Park over the next 5 years - capacity will increase to over 20k. Full plans are here

Happy daze

Good stuff, the Chiefs are becomming a good fixture in the AP.

Not sure why there's a couple of swans flying across one of the images - seagulls would be more realistic, or bald eagles to fit the Chiefs image.

But, and a big but it is, where's the totem pole? My childish mind thinks that a big pole between the giant rugby balls would be worth a giggle. However, if the stanchion over the auditorium is totemised, its prominent position above the motorway would make a great statement.

Looks to be plenty of bar space, plenty of loos, and. as long as the Hog Roast is still available, it'll be great.

Will Chiefs fill it? Ulster are only aiming for 18,000, Leinster only have 18,000 (bigger games in NLR)?

That really is ambitious. Hope the Chiefs are still in the Aviva when this stadium refurb is finished. Perhaps they could sell it to London Welsh

The prediction is crowds of 13-15,000 in 3-4 years time, up from 8.500 last season. HC will up that figure for this coming season, but I imagine that the predicted growth will depend on continuing HC qualification, which is hopeful rather than realistic.

The build will be phased, so if the crowd numbers aren't there, then the development will stall. However, the first two phases, the enlargement of the West Grandstand, and the construction of the South with its auditorium will more than double the existing lucrative conference and banqueting facilities and are probably not reliant on crowd numbers.

Could they lease half of it to London Welsh?

Good idea to do it instalments and to concentrate on the off-field activities in the first case. They are very much the exemplar of how to develop in a sustainable way (LOW take note).

Yeah doing it in installments is by half the best way of doing it and what Tigers are doing with Welford Rd. The Cat stand provides wedding and conference venues as well as raises the possible attendance nicely. I expect Exeter are aiming for similar and I think it is the right thing to do, albeit on a smaller attendance level to begin with (WR is 24k and average attendance only 20.5k).

Chiefs have recruited well and have a very good club ethos they should do well this season and I wouldn't bet against them making life very difficult for their much fancied HEC opposition. In the AP I predict they'll be close if not in the HEC qualification spots again.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Yeah doing it in installments is by half the best way of doing it and what Tigers are doing with Welford Rd. The Cat stand provides wedding and conference venues as well as raises the possible attendance nicely. I expect Exeter are aiming for similar and I think it is the right thing to do, albeit on a smaller attendance level to begin with (WR is 24k and average attendance only 20.5k).

Chiefs have recruited well and have a very good club ethos they should do well this season and I wouldn't bet against them making life very difficult for their much fancied HEC opposition. In the AP I predict they'll be close if not in the HEC qualification spots again.

Hope you're right, Sam

Superb looking Stadium, As. Far and away better than the RDS. Your club is really going from strength to strength, on all fronts and a devlopment like this, will enable ye to compete at the same level as all the big boys - if not leaving some of them standing.

Jealousbuthappyforya.com

These purpose built stadiums are great, you guys are lucky. They've even incorporated a bit of the new jersey colour in there, nice touch

Good luck to Exeter.

I don't think it's that ambitious if the Chiefs keep up their upward curve as have been.

Looks like they are here to stay in the AP.

Asbo - I'm disappointed.

I thought from the title that this thread was about how many shots you'd drunk over the years playing the 'Dan Parks' Mistakes Drinking Game'.

When I first heard that they were going for a 20,000+ seater stadium, I thought it was absurd. Exeter itself only has a population of about 100,000 and it seemed a bit unrealistic to expect a 1/5 of the city to clear out and watch rugby every couple of weeks.

Then I got thinking about the bigger picture. Devon doesn't really have any other major sporting competition outside of Plymouth. This leaves the Chiefs a market of up to a million (Wikipedia warning!). Not knowing the demographic of the Exeter crowd, maybe a chiefs fan could say whether people will turn up from around the county to watch rugby?

Under those circumstances, it doesn't sound so ridiculous... but some perspective is needed. They are talking about attracting more fans on average than Leinster or Toulouse! I applaud the ambition, but wonder if a 20,000 seater stadium is 3000-4000 too much.

George Carlin wrote:Asbo - I'm disappointed.

I thought from the title that this thread was about how many shots you'd drunk over the years playing the 'Dan Parks' Mistakes Drinking Game'.

GC, the number looks a bit small for that!

Cumbrian wrote:When I first heard that they were going for a 20,000+ seater stadium, I thought it was absurd. Exeter itself only has a population of about 100,000 and it seemed a bit unrealistic to expect a 1/5 of the city to clear out and watch rugby every couple of weeks.

Then I got thinking about the bigger picture. Devon doesn't really have any other major sporting competition outside of Plymouth. This leaves the Chiefs a market of up to a million (Wikipedia warning!). Not knowing the demographic of the Exeter crowd, maybe a chiefs fan could say whether people will turn up from around the county to watch rugby?

Under those circumstances, it doesn't sound so ridiculous... but some perspective is needed. They are talking about attracting more fans on average than Leinster or Toulouse! I applaud the ambition, but wonder if a 20,000 seater stadium is 3000-4000 too much.

Cumbrian, Fans travel from Taunton and various parts of Cornwall, so the demographic is quite broad already. I think the piecemeal nature of the development is intended to guard against going too far too fast, all supported by the conferencing side of the business too

The piecemeal approach looks like the right one - but the trick for Exeter (and other clubs) is to get approval for where you want to end up and then build in stages to what the attendance base will support. Quins have long followed a policy of build, increase the support base until there are several sell-outs in a season, build some more.

Exeter has several big advantages as well:
- They are pretty much the only game in town for a large catchment area (who presumably regard fairly long travel times as part of daily life so won't mind travelling)
- They aren't burdened with debt and IIRC run at an operating profit
- Sandy Park is easy to get to from the main transport arteries and I presume has no parking issues
- They're a local success story with, I imagine, a lot of good will and strong local roots.

"15k crowds and owning your own ground" is reckoned to be the minimum criterion for financial stability. I think only Leicester, Saints and Gloucester are at or near that point today. Quins, Worcester and now Exeter could get there, and Bath could too if they could sort out planning permission.

The challenge for the AP as a whole is to get the remaining clubs to the same point, and it's not at all clear how that can be done.

Under those circumstances, it doesn't sound so ridiculous... but some perspective is needed. They are talking about attracting more fans on average than Leinster or Toulouse! I applaud the ambition, but wonder if a 20,000 seater stadium is 3000-4000 too much.

Cumbrian they seem to have a great fan base down there and a bit of success will drive up the interest in the club. It's a club with local ties and a real feel good factor. Over time there's nothing stopping them expanding the support base toward the 20k, people a few years back were unsure whether Tigers could regularly get 20k but we manage it and have sell outs for the big game. The trick is to have a big enough stadium to take advantage of the big games but have it small enough so the atmosphere is still great for the smaller games. They may have a 20k seater but only average 17k, that wouldn't be a bad thing.