ricky2tricky4city
Steffen Freund
The whole stadium is to completed by the end of summer in 2018. The roof is designed in a way that means it can only be put in after all stands are complete. There's only a couple of floors left that will be concrete, the rest will be a steel frame and that will speed things up. They've taken a lot of time with the current floor in the corners as the raker beams were done on site instead of the prefab ones they've used everywhere else. The south stand will not have a basement and will be entirely made of steel. The three stands currently being built will be more or less in place by this summer.
Some ITK from SC:
I went to the spvrs presentation at Lillywhite House yesterday. It's a very slick presentation and surprisingly whilst it's a sales operation it isn't terribly hard sell.
The virtual reality head sets showing you where you might be sitting in the stadium are amazing. There's also what is best called a mini IMAX with 360 degree projectors.
There will be 2 sky lounges either stand with so called premium tickets starting at about £5k per season.
Otherwise the lower lounges offer tickets starting at £2,500 if you don't mind sitting next to the away stands but otherwise at £3,250,
All prices plus VAT of course and all packages include food, some drink and other benefits.
Some interesting comments from our sales person, most of which will have been mentioned before
- the North stand will be at full height by Mid February.
- At present the project is one week ahead of schedule
- After Christmas they expect to have over 900 workmen on site (Seems a lot but that's what he said!)
- the club will be running shuttle buses at least for the premium tickets to include Alexander Palace and (they hope) Ikea
- They have sold a number of the top priced tickets already mainly to existing box holders - front row seats in demand of course!
- there will be 55 boxes compared to about 110 at present as the demand for corporate boxes is far less but all boxes will have outside seating.
- they will have speciality restaurants in the corporate seating areas to be booked in addition to the buffet areas.
- they hope to be able to allow premium seat holders to have access pre match to the south stand areas to meet friends and there will be cashless card system in operation
- They will have a re sale programme in place for the premium tickets
- They are in regular discussion with the hospitality people at Club Wembley and the Emirates to try and learn from their experiences.
The premium tickets are interesting but I have to say that the south stand kop looks amazing via the virtual reality headset and that's where I want to be!
Visiting the sales suite and seeing all the visuals was really exciting and they really seem to be trying to get as much right as they can on lots of things - but (and a big but) I think it will all be more expensive whatever level of supporter you are!
The weather has been kind to us this autumn and the summer weren't bad. That said if the current northerly/north-easterly air flows continue come Jan/feb we could be sub-zero and even fighting some white stuff.
Looking at the horse shoe, now we have already sacrificed the NE corner for silo 6 to be completed, I'd be quite happy for them to concentrate on getting the current site 95% done next season while we carry on at the current lane and then knock down the old ground and crack on with the new south stand (steel frame, so quick build) from May 2018. Get the pitch done ready for Sept 2018 in the new ground as we finish off the South stand.
Basically back to the original plan. I've done Wembley twice and it's just not doing it for me. Can't believe how quickly the novelty has worn off.
We're a Bilbao type of club, we love the Lane and I'd rather look at the progress and excitement of the new girl blossoming than a queue back to Wembley park.
. It would also help make the stadium look full when there are empty seats.
