Stadium porn and edible food: What the King Power expansion means for us
Leicester City have been given the green light to expand the King Power Stadium and significantly enhance the surrounding area. After a few turbulent months, it’s safe to say this news is very welcome and can hopefully help lift the mood for everyone.
The stadium plans were approved in a Leicester City Council meeting in mid-September after multiple delays. These plans have been in progress for so long that it’s worth revisiting what we’re getting ourselves into and why it matters.
We’re not Little Leicester any more
The headline is the 8,000 extra seats. When we moved to this stadium the jump to 32,000 seemed like a massive expansion on dear old Filbo. This time it feels more like necessary inflation. The clubs in the ‘big six’ all have much bigger stadiums and, while we can’t be expected to compete with their figures on matchday revenue, this will help to close the gap.
Although catching the top six might be too big a leap, the most important part is that the clubs we are competing with either already have bigger stadiums (West Ham, Newcastle, Everton, Villa, Leeds) or are looking to expand themselves (Palace, Wolves, Everton again and even Forest). We were in serious danger of looking like ‘little old Leicester again’ without this in my view.
With everything that’s been said about us in recent times, the reaction of many people I have spoken to has been “how come LCFC can afford a new stand but can’t buy any players”. The simple answer is that expenditure on infrastructure does not come under the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations and so allows Top to fund this without worrying about balancing the books.
It’s a big frustration of mine that many in the media simply do not understand FFP and display astonishment that we haven’t “backed the manager” in the transfer market. However, FFP and it’s Machiavellian ways is for another day.
Our kingdom for a cold beer
The next thing to consider is the design. It looks magnificent; stadium porn, if I may go that far! We all love the King Power and it’s now seen some incredible days…but it is a pretty basic ground. This will blow away the ‘IKEA flat pack stadium’ jibe from opposing fans and give us the look of a serious Premier League team. The increase in revenue is an obvious benefit, but there is also a strong argument for looking like a big team. Big players want a big stage. This will elevate us capacity-wise and, importantly, in people’s perception too. A lot of other clubs are going down this road and we don’t want to be left behind.
Whilst the information on the interior is not as detailed as the outside as yet, it seems pretty clear that it’ll be of a much higher standard than the rest of the stadium. Corporate tickets are often a source of anger but the reality is that the revenue significantly improves the state of the coffers and allows for better pricing elsewhere. What I’ll be really interested to see is the design for the general public areas and whether this extends to the Kop and Family stand (as implied by the planning).
The present ‘options’, if you can call them that, are overpriced junk food and expensive flat beer, served at a snail’s pace and in very uncomfortable surroundings. I can hear the traditionalists shouting at me that “that’s what football is all about”, but it wouldn’t take much to enhance this experience to give the concourses a ‘pub feel’. A small investment in technology and staff might mean help us get food that’s vaguely edible and a beer without a huge wait. This would enable more people to be served before matches, at half-time and perhaps enjoy a celebratory drink afterwards (here’s hoping these times return!).
The most intriguing part of the plans are outside the stadium. The bland car park is being replaced with a huge fan zone, a bigger fan store, a hotel, flats and a (much needed for the city) 6k seater arena. Once again, the specifics of these are not in the public domain yet but it’s pretty clear the surrounding area will change for the better. At present there is a lot of standing about around the stadium on matchdays and the fan zone in particular should offer a way to monetise this. Although this maybe isn’t what the local pubs want to hear, I’ve often thought how daft it is that I’m spending money on food and drink on a matchday elsewhere and therefore that money isn’t going into the club. There’s also the opportunity to make more money on non-matchdays over and above the odd wedding or conference that occurs at present.
Growing the game
Finally, I’d like to return to the 8k expansion. I’ve seen a lot of argument for it not being enough and (as is often the case on social media), the opposite being said of it not being needed at all. What I would say is, yes games outside of the ‘big six’ and local derbies do often get to general sale, but it’s only usually odd tickets here and there. It’s very rare that, for someone like myself with a family, I’d be able to move my season ticket seat and buy 3/4/5 extra tickets together elsewhere. It’s a job to get two together!
I also think there are fans out there who still love the club but have got out of the habit of going to matches as they find it difficult to get a ticket if they aren’t a member and don’t know a season ticket holder. It gives them the opportunity to return and will help increase the active fanbase.
8k feels right for now and seems doable whilst keeping the stadium open. If we’d gone to 50k, I think it’d meant playing elsewhere (probably Coventry beach) for a season or two which isn’t appealing.
The commitment and vision of the owners is to be commended once again and I for one can’t wait to see spades in the ground. Now, where’s that 40 point mark!