Elland Road set for increase to 50,000 capacity

[Wholly Trinity]

what happened to the plans to build a new stadium for LUFC off the new purpose-built junction on the M1 which now leads to nowhere?

[Adelaide Tiger]

16 minutes ago, Wholly Trinity said:

what happened to the plans to build a new stadium for LUFC off the new purpose-built junction on the M1 which now leads to nowhere?

Was that the 50,000 all seater stadium proposed by Peter Ridsdale at Junction 45 on the A1/M1 link about 20 years ago?

A quote he gave at the time was ‘We deliberately set about investing the money we had in the squad and then to consider moving because I did not want to see the best stadium in the world with a team playing in the First or Second Division’.

Well he certainly helped deliver the latter part of the quote!  The bounder.

[Tommygilf]

33 minutes ago, Wholly Trinity said:

what happened to the plans to build a new stadium for LUFC off the new purpose-built junction on the M1 which now leads to nowhere?

What are you on about? There's an East Leeds junction that services the massive and growing industrial estate (incidentally also where the drive through covid testing centre is). 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.leedsunited.com/newsmobile/team-news/20019/ridsdale-backs-skelton-stadium-switch

This was a proposal in 2001 and never got any further.

Point being the council didn't build the junction for the clubs sake as its a route to the motorway for the growing inner east Leeds industrial area.

[fieldofclothofgold]

58 minutes ago, Wholly Trinity said:

what happened to the plans to build a new stadium for LUFC off the new purpose-built junction on the M1 which now leads to nowhere?

Long time ago the recession ,but the main reason was the financial demise spending money they didn't have on players they didn't need and the violent incident on City Square and mill Hill .then the fire sale including the sale of the stadium . No need to go on 

[fieldofclothofgold]

If promotion is achieved and money is available through new and Large investments and if crowd restrictions are still in place for the foreseeable future then it would be an ideal time to begin the redevelopment immediately 

[whatmichaelsays]

The club's priority is more the training ground at Matthew Murray and the community facilities at Fullerton Park (the latter because there is grant money on the table). Any stadium expansion is a much longer-term issue. 

[DoubleD]

12 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

The club's priority is more the training ground at Matthew Murray and the community facilities at Fullerton Park (the latter because there is grant money on the table). Any stadium expansion is a much longer-term issue. 

This. I understand the Rhinos are involved in discussions with the council and LUFC on training ground at Matthew Murray. It may see them move from Kirkstall

[DoubleD]

43 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

What are you on about? There's an East Leeds junction that services the massive and growing industrial estate (incidentally also where the drive through covid testing centre is). 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.leedsunited.com/newsmobile/team-news/20019/ridsdale-backs-skelton-stadium-switch

This was a proposal in 2001 and never got any further.

Point being the council didn't build the junction for the clubs sake as its a route to the motorway for the growing inner east Leeds industrial area.

There’s also a nice McLaren and Lamborghini dealership there too now, by the park and ride and opposite the Amazon warehouse. I just couldn’t make my mind up which car I wanted

[tms]

 

 

17 hours ago, The Daddy said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/elland-road-expansion-leeds-kinnear-17102591.amp

Once they are confirmed for promotion to the premier league Leeds Utd will have the funds to develop one side of the ground and increase the capacity. 

To my mind this will be the first time in the modern era where the West Yorkshire heartlands has a decent sized stadium for large events. Can only be a good thing for RL. 

 

As a footnote the last time my team liverpool won the old first division 1990 leeds  were promoted as 2nd division champions

[Rupert Prince]

6 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

There’s also a nice McLaren and Lamborghini dealership there too now, by the park and ride and opposite the Amazon warehouse. I just couldn’t make my mind up which car I wanted

Stick with your Ferrari ... !

[hunsletgreenandgold]

I love Elland Rd (can you guess I'm a LUFC fan?) and also love the idea that if RL was to have a 'home' Leeds is the perfect choice. All that said and to prove my bias doesn't stretch that far, until they can figure out out to make the playing surface full size for RL I don't think it should be there. Once again, I know this doesn't bother most but it really does me - the most frustrating thing is it shouldn't be a hard problem to solve. Here's hoping that can be done if/when some agreement is made. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

17 hours ago, HawkMan said:

That's good, perhaps Elland Road for CC Final,  as Wembley seems to be losing its lustre.

I'd have balked at that years ago

Having attended almost all of the last 20 Wembley finals I am wavering

The absolute bottom line is the attendance.... It potentially does more damage to RL seeing a half full Wembley on terrestrial than good. At least they should make sure the bottom tier that is shown on telly is rammed on one side.... Sell them cheap to make 100% sure

As I say I love Wembley and the CC Final but starting to be less staunch on my stance

[Tommygilf]

26 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I love Elland Rd (can you guess I'm a LUFC fan?) and also love the idea that if RL was to have a 'home' Leeds is the perfect choice. All that said and to prove my bias doesn't stretch that far, until they can figure out out to make the playing surface full size for RL I don't think it should be there. Once again, I know this doesn't bother most but it really does me - the most frustrating thing is it shouldn't be a hard problem to solve. Here's hoping that can be done if/when some agreement is made. 

Me and my dad were thinking about this yesterday regarding the positioning of the tunnel as well so perhaps you can help. Did the rebuilding of the south stand/scratching shed mean the pitch was shortened at that end (and thus overall?

[Wholly Trinity]

2 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

What are you on about? There's an East Leeds junction that services the massive and growing industrial estate (incidentally also where the drive through covid testing centre is). 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.leedsunited.com/newsmobile/team-news/20019/ridsdale-backs-skelton-stadium-switch

This was a proposal in 2001 and never got any further.

Point being the council didn't build the junction for the clubs sake as its a route to the motorway for the growing inner east Leeds industrial area.

Ah right. Just asking. 

It's obviously longer ago than I thought since I was last that way out.  Not lived in the area since 2005. The junction was 'opened' in 1999 and was unconnected for 10 years.  At the time I asked why it was there and was told it was where the new Leeds Urinal stadium was going to be before they got relegated. 

Don't follow soccer. 

 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Me and my dad were thinking about this yesterday regarding the positioning of the tunnel as well so perhaps you can help. Did the rebuilding of the south stand/scratching shed mean the pitch was shortened at that end (and thus overall?

Yes, you'd be exactly right to think - but it's actually a combination of a couple of things. This is quite an old image but that is still the origins of the west stand we know today and you'll see the tunnel bang on the half way with the pitch going to within about 20 metres of the path on the old South Stand/Scratching Shed end (left stand by the road for anyone reading not familiar with ER). 

 

Jump forward to today (first image) and you can see the South stand comes out much further so the pitch had to be shifted to the right - this was seemingly planned for when they properly built the Kop end though as for years before they rebuilt South there was an almost comical amount of space behind that goal at the Kop (second image) until the pitch was shifted to the right.

So in short (pun intended) the pitch needs to find only about 10m in total - the short 10 at the 30m line is about 6m by my reckoning (so plus 4m each half and make the in goal areas a metre deeper. I think there's enough room (just!) when you look where the current in goals end and imagine them pushed back further with the adjustments i've mentioned. The run offs don't dip like OT but would make the back of in goal areas very close to advertising boards similar to Wigan. 

[M j M]

It's an ok ground but there aren't that many events in the RL calendar which need a 50,000 stadium. Test matches and, at a push CC semis, yes. It would be too small for a cup final in the heartlands or the Grand Final. Obviously for Kangaroo tests it would be default for one of them, but then it already is. It's not well suited to Magic and with anything less than 25,000 inside there are better options in Yorkshire - KC, Headingley and McAlpine. Cycling our events between grounds seems to still be the best option to me.

[whatmichaelsays]

2 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I'd have balked at that years ago

Having attended almost all of the last 20 Wembley finals I am wavering

The absolute bottom line is the attendance.... It potentially does more damage to RL seeing a half full Wembley on terrestrial than good. At least they should make sure the bottom tier that is shown on telly is rammed on one side.... Sell them cheap to make 100% sure

As I say I love Wembley and the CC Final but starting to be less staunch on my stance

The solution for the Challenge Cup is not to scale it down to the point where it becomes a much more ignorable event that it already is, but to invest in making it something that is much harder for people to ignore. 

The RFL wants to keep insisting that the CC Final is a 'blue ribboned' event and it really needs to have the conviction to not only market and sell the event, but to do so at a credible price point. Selling one of our two major club events "on the cheap" does much more harm than it does good. 

[Adelaide Tiger]

4 hours ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

Long time ago the recession ,but the main reason was the financial demise spending money they didn't have on players they didn't need and the violent incident on City Square and mill Hill .then the fire sale including the sale of the stadium . No need to go on 

You forget to mention the Goldfish!

[kev p]

they will need to be in premier league more than a season to fund redevelopment. building a new stand will not be done strait away, so the team could be on the way down (again) by the time its built. then the debt & championship football. an age old problem. but i wish them luck. 

[Blind side johnny]

19 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Sounds good, will be a fantastic place for test matches, let's hope they get promoted! Just hope they are a bit more generous with the leg room. 

Great for car parking too and lots of local transport links.

[Gooleboy]

7 hours ago, POR said:

 

 

As a footnote the last time my team liverpool won the old first division 1990 leeds  were promoted as 2nd division champions

I hope lightening strikes twice!

[Mr Plow]

2 hours ago, scotchy1 said:

It's a chicken and egg situation.

We dont have many of the huge events because we dont put too many on

We dont out too many on because we need to find and rent a stadium, then build the market, then make money.

Then the next year the cycle starts over.

It also makes us reticent to start events and invest in the long term.

It also leaves us, generally, with quite a short runway to sell things as they need to be negotiated.

Having a home means that we can look at the events we have, create some new ones and create a calendar for 5-10years and build those events.

There is also a sense that the events we do put on are like a gas, they fill the container they are in. Treat something like a big event and people treat it like a big event, dont and they wont.

There are plenty of events we can sell at that level. The WCC, Cup semis, 9s weekend, England games. That's 5 or 6 events straight off.

Then you can look at creating them. Start the season with a bang. Replay the GF as a stand alone game. 

Yorkshire day triple header with the 6 yorkshire clubs playing as a mini magic. 

The play-off games are terribly attended, perhaps the prestige of a big event helps that.

We need to build things and avoid the cycle we too often create of looking to smaller stadiums to create a sell out and instead just getting even lower attendances. 

Remember when the RFL wanted to turn Odsal into a national stadium for RL? 
 

Seeing as the RFL is moving to the Etihad Campus is have more events there. An increased capacity/ modernised Elland Road would be good for internationals and Cup semi finals. Wembley and Old Trafford should remain Finals venues IMO. Plus you have Newcastle and Tottenhams stadiums

So they’re the 6 ‘ Major’ stadiums I’d use for big events. Then your looking at Headingley, KCOM, John Smiths Stadium, Halliwell Jones for smaller games like Championship finals/ semi finals and smaller internationals. 
 

Ive always like the idea of starting the season with the Champions v Cup Winners

[Gooleboy]

6 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Me and my dad were thinking about this yesterday regarding the positioning of the tunnel as well so perhaps you can help. Did the rebuilding of the south stand/scratching shed mean the pitch was shortened at that end (and thus overall?

When the Scratching Shed was still there, the tunnel was on the halfway line. They knocked down the old Spion Kop and built the Kop further back as it is now. Then moved the pitch up to the new Kop and then knocked down the Shed and built the South Stand.

[The Daddy]

A 50,000 capacity Elland Road works well for England test matches. Not too big to not sell out and not too small. 

It's a decent sized stadium in the centre of the heartlands. Perfect for NZ, PNG test matches or even France. 

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

34 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

In truth I would avoid smaller stadiums where possible. Small stadiums get low visibility and small attendances.

I agree about maintaining a spread. But there needs an element of lock in.

If there is one proven thing in the game its consistency and a long run way sell more tickets.

This is an absolute must. We always seem to have less than 12 months run in. At every Magic, Challenge Cup Final and Grand Final we should have next years tickets on sale, possibly with a one day only or limited number special discount. An example, for the last few years we've been to the Rebellion Festival, the first thing we do after collecting our wristbands is go and buy next years ticket.