Ground improvements

[carrickfan]

With Bohs, Pats and other LOI clubs selling out on match nights, will we ever see a full house for league matches in Oriel?

Pats have bought their full allocation for the away section in oriel on Friday night. Is it time to extend the size of the away section and take advantage of this revenue if we can’t fill our home allocation?

[niall_hearty2000]

Let's call a spade a spade here we will never come close to selling oriel out. Even the glory days of three in a row under Kenny did we have more than 4k in oriel for a league game more than once or even twice? Realistically there is no will from the owners to do any improvements. Ffs even a lick of paint , some weeding a general tidy up b hind the advertising hoarding would be a start!! I wonder how much that it cost to erect the stand wr were in on Friday night in Dalymount? Would it have 50k or is that seriously over or under estimating the costs involved? Could easily build something similar behind both goals especially the carrick Rd end as it is already level and tarmac'd. Bit of grounds work to the town end to clear the grass and level it and then we could have one behind that goal as well. Easily increase attendances, especially in the away end and create an atmosphere. But as I say there doesn't appear to be any real interest to improve the infrastructure even on a small scale

[niall_hearty2000]

With Bohs, Pats and other LOI clubs selling out on match nights, will we ever see a full house for league matches in Oriel?

Pats have bought their full allocation for the away section in oriel on Friday night. Is it time to extend the size of the away section and take advantage of this revenue if we can’t fill our home allocation?

How many tickets do away fans get in oriel these days? What's our capacity? Is it 6k? Which would mean 600 away tickets We got 450 for dalymount. We will prob get what 600 or so for Drogheda. RVs will have to give us 900. It's 10% of capacity. So when new stand is completed it will be almost 10k. We might struggle for tickets in inchicore.

[mike]

I think capacity is 5.5k (only pushed that time last match of 2014 season v cork city), away terrace probably 500 abs max, then they get another 150-200 front corner of stand.

Pity that terrace (and covered) section behind away dugout is never used, apart from medical stuff, they could even make it into a proper wheelchair access part for fans and their helpers.

[Richie87]

With Bohs, Pats and other LOI clubs selling out on match nights, will we ever see a full house for league matches in Oriel?

Pats have bought their full allocation for the away section in oriel on Friday night. Is it time to extend the size of the away section and take advantage of this revenue if we can’t fill our home allocation?

How many tickets do away fans get in oriel these days? What's our capacity? Is it 6k? Which would mean 600 away tickets We got 450 for dalymount. We will prob get what 600 or so for Drogheda. RVs will have to give us 900. It's 10% of capacity. So when new stand is completed it will be almost 10k. We might struggle for tickets in inchicore.

Rovers new stand will bring it up to 10,500 capacity https://www.the42.ie/tallaght-stadium-e ... 6-Jun2020/

Athlone Town have plans in place for development at their ground to cater for increase in the women's teams https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/202 ... ade-plans/

[Pepsi]

Let's call a spade a spade here we will never come close to selling oriel out. Even the glory days of three in a row under Kenny did we have more than 4k in oriel for a league game more than once or even twice? Realistically there is no will from the owners to do any improvements. Ffs even a lick of paint , some weeding a general tidy up b hind the advertising hoarding would be a start!! I wonder how much that it cost to erect the stand wr were in on Friday night in Dalymount? Would it have 50k or is that seriously over or under estimating the costs involved? Could easily build something similar behind both goals especially the carrick Rd end as it is already level and tarmac'd. Bit of grounds work to the town end to clear the grass and level it and then we could have one behind that goal as well. Easily increase attendances, especially in the away end and create an atmosphere. But as I say there doesn't appear to be any real interest to improve the infrastructure even on a small scale

Well said Niall. If we were close to filling the ground weekly we would have grounds to ask for public money or demand for something to be done. The least the club or supporters clubs should be doing is getting together to do things up and clean the place up.
As for a temp stand/terrace structure behind the Carrick end, I think we may find that if a structure was put up we would have to stop using the YDC as the tarmac surface is designated for emergency access to the building.

[carrickfan]

The question remains, if we can’t sell our full allocation of home tickets should we be looking to give the away fans a bigger allocation of the ground so the club could benefit from this? 500 away tickets @ €15 or 1000 away tickets at the same price…

Bohs and Pats are selling out their home games and creating a demand because availability is limited, they are creating a hype.

Would this encourage our part time fans to make a better effort if home capacity is limited and perhaps generate a better atmosphere not to mention better revenue streams.

[tip on]

The question remains, if we can’t sell our full allocation of home tickets should we be looking to give the away fans a bigger allocation of the ground so the club could benefit from this? 500 away tickets @ €15 or 1000 away tickets at the same price…

Bohs and Pats are selling out their home games and creating a demand because availability is limited, they are creating a hype.

Would this encourage our part time fans to make a better effort if home capacity is limited and perhaps generate a better atmosphere not to mention better revenue streams.

Better facilities would encourage more people to attend games.

[carrickfan]

To a certain degree yes this is true, but I don’t believe it’s the sole reason that we can’t build the fan base, nor do I believe in the build it and they will come theory. What Bohs and Pats have done is very clever, they’ve created demand using the limited availability line and fans are buying tickets in advance as availability is limited. The sold out sign creates an occasion, if you’ve missed it get tickets now for the next one etc… We have sold out once in 10 years for a home league match, we need to think of ways to create full house occasions and then push for ground improvements to facilitate the numbers

[Martin Lawlor80]

The question remains, if we can’t sell our full allocation of home tickets should we be looking to give the away fans a bigger allocation of the ground so the club could benefit from this? 500 away tickets @ €15 or 1000 away tickets at the same price…

Bohs and Pats are selling out their home games and creating a demand because availability is limited, they are creating a hype.

Would this encourage our part time fans to make a better effort if home capacity is limited and perhaps generate a better atmosphere not to mention better revenue streams.

I agree with your point but if we were to try and limit the home tickets, I’ve no doubt the locals would be complaining that there are no tickets for sale at the ground . God forbid that they can’t just turn up and pay at the gate…

[Louth4sam]

To a certain degree yes this is true, but I don’t believe it’s the sole reason that we can’t build the fan base, nor do I believe in the build it and they will come theory. What Bohs and Pats have done is very clever, they’ve created demand using the limited availability line and fans are buying tickets in advance as availability is limited. The sold out sign creates an occasion, if you’ve missed it get tickets now for the next one etc… We have sold out once in 10 years for a home league match, we need to think of ways to create full house occasions and then push for ground improvements to facilitate the numbers

I think that would be one of the first things I would do if I took over the club, employ someone whose sole remit is to get more bums on seats. This is a role that the FAI subsidised a number of years ago and it is a shame that it was discontinued. There are thousands and thousands of football fans in Dundalk and in nearby towns and villages. How do we transition them from watching football in pubs/watching football at home/going to games in UK etc. to attending matches in Oriel.

[mike]

Under Kenny and when things got really going from 2014 and peaking at 2015 and 2016 we probably only averaged 3k or just under some seasons. We did get over 4k some games but just the usual infrequent ones of big Rovers away following, big summer top of the table game v Cork City and the end of season trophy nights, but it was 3k and around that was more the standard. I think we dipped below 2k for the odd mid week game too.

There are plenty of people I speak to who won't take their young daughters to games due to the toilet situation in the stand, this is just ridiculous carry on in 2023 that lack of toilets is a cause for fans not going, and they would be right too.

Bohs have shown what can be done, if we are not going to build it and they will come stuff, that's fine, put a damn temp / perm stand behind town goal (equal to what pats have), do something for away fans - encourage more to come, and paint and clear up the place. The stand is so old no idea what the solution is for more toilets, maybe that area front of stand behind away dug out but what we have is just 1960's stuff - is there 2 toilets upstairs, then whats in the LW lounge?

[niall_hearty2000]

The queue for the toilets at halftime men's and ladies upstairs is a joke. Ridiculous. Especially the ladies. Convert the men's into additional ladies toilets imho and then have the ones downstairs as the men's. It's not a big job as the plumbing is already there.

[Richie87]

I see they mentioned 30 people attended the 1903 meeting about any potential ground development on the Town end pod. How would anything take off with so little numbers.

[Louth4sam]

I see they mentioned 30 people attended the 1903 meeting about any potential ground development on the Town end pod. How would anything take off with so little numbers.

The 1903 AGM? I think 30 is an ok turnout for something like that.