West Stand Poll

Is it not? When did it go? I've only been to one match this season and before that it was West Brom just before lockdown.

 

Just had a look online. Their main stand is exactly what I had in mind. Looks absolutely superb, the footprint doesn't appear to be that big, and the capacity is exactly the same as our existing West Stand.

 

I only came across it when I was working for Halifax Bank. We had to deal with PPI claims management companies, and one of them had offices there.

 

Move with the times.
The only way as I see it, to get improvements to the ground is to sell it all lock stock and barrel to the consortium that owns 80% of the team, with a cavitate that Oakwell must be used as a football ground and nothing else.

 

Demolished in 2016

 

The only thing I would say, is that much of the talk about adding commercial success is easier said than done...what actually can you do that isn't catered for elsewhere? When the spate of new Lego stadiums went up a few years ago one of the driving forces was that the stadiums could double up as concert venues and conference centres, from what I can see these plans haven't really come off.
If you look at the Keepmoat stadium in Donny it managed to host a couple of events when it was first built but sod all for the last 10 years.

 

It had an event yesterday

 

You could do a lot more than just events though. I reckon it would make a killing if it had office space to rent, then a couple of food outlets to supplement that. Maybe even flats, or a hotel with space for weddings etc. I've been to a wedding at Fleetwood's ground; the facilities there are much better than in the East Stand.

 

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To be fair I almost always walk across the car park and in through the turnstiles on the left side of the Ponty. Still pretty impressive that I've failed to notice its absence though!

 

Demolish the whole thing. Make a one tiered stand with corporate boxes with balconies and a roof that goes further forward than the east stand one does. Make it with the chance to easily put on a upper tier down the line if needed.

 

Bonfire night Fireworks?...I doubt the Hallam FM sponsored event can really be counted as a major commercial score.

 

I'm not convinced by that tbh...to support food outlets you need at least hundreds if not more office workers just to keep them afloat....in the space available there won't be room for that and an x thousand seater stand with the facilities it needs, as for weddings etc...don't they do that already?

 

Always thought looking at that part of the ground from Grove Street was a mess,

 

You might have a point, and to be fair the stadium isn't in a great location to attract regular foot fall. I do think there's space there for a football stand and office space for 500+ people easily. When I worked in Leeds, I was just outside the city centre, and there was a tesco express, Starbucks, and a couple of small independent eateries. Their entire custom base was probably served by about 4 or 5 office blocks, and a few blocks of flats. They were always rammed. Don't get me wrong, that's on a much bigger scale than you'd get from Oakwell, but I reckon a small supermarket and 1 eatery could thrive with just 200 or so customers Monday to Friday and then boosted by match day traffic on a weekend.

I think the conference suite at Oakwell could do with some work to be honest. You could leave the East Stand purely for the club to use day to day, and move all that to a new West Stand.

 

Yes. Made quite a bit of money too

 

It's more obvious from the east stand than the ponty because you're literally looking straight at it (or not)

 

Massive waste of money doing that though. You spend huge amounts of money making it able to be upgraded in the future but then when the future comes designs have moved on and it gets ripped down anyway. You have to either do it or not and by not doing it all you're doing is penny pinching and limiting the club for years

 

Who at this moment in time would build a new stand, the council? the owners?,the money fairies?.

 

Apologies to the money fairies i suppose they may have a slight chance.

 

I pretty sure the OP was just asking theoretically.