• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - Licence To Stand

Re: Northumberland Development Project

jimmyb said:
More likely to be the other way round.

Capacity for NFL games will be more limited because of the added pitch level space required and the necessity for the front row of seats to be 5 or 6 feet above the field of play.

Spurs could, I suppose, artificially limit the availability of tickets for Spurs games. But a 65K capacity for NFL games should allow for a potential capacity of 70K for Premier League games.
Click to expand...


I can't see it that way round at all. 70000? As I said, I strongly doubt creating a buyers' market for tickets to Spurs games is anywhere on Levy's agenda.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

mudshark said:
I can't see it that way round at all. 70000? As I said, I strongly doubt creating a buyers' market for tickets to Spurs games is anywhere on Levy's agenda.
Click to expand...

What I'm saying is that, if the capacity for NFL games is 65,000, then the potential capacity for Spurs games would be 5,000 or so bigger. Wembley's capacity for NFL games is about 85K. For England games, cup finals etc, it's 90K.

Spurs could, if they choose, artificially restrict capacity to 60K. But that's a different matter.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

It happens to be precisely the matter I wanted to address in my post, though. I agree that potentialities based on the dimensions of the playing surface are a separate consideration, but I take it that we'd be agreed that isn't very likely to be the limiting factor.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

jimmcompletely52 said:
What I'm saying is that, if the capacity for NFL games is 65,000, then the potential capacity for Spurs games would be 5,000 or so bigger. Wembley's capacity for NFL games is about 85K. For England games, cup finals etc, it's 90K.

Spurs could, if they choose, artificially restrict capacity to 60K. But that's a different matter.
Click to expand...

Wembley is completely different though, as the reduced capacity is due to covering a large number of seats for various uses. The capacity for the Champions League Final wasn't much more than for the NFL games. The Spurs stadium would be purpose built so shouldn't have to put temporary camera positions in the stands. Purpose built should mean that capacities are very similar between Spurs and NFL configurations.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

T-C said:
Wembley is completely different though, as the reduced capacity is due to covering a large number of seats for various uses. The capacity for the Champions League Final wasn't much more than for the NFL games. The Spurs stadium would be purpose built so shouldn't have to put temporary camera positions in the stands. Purpose built should mean that capacities are very similar between Spurs and NFL configurations.
Click to expand...

It's really not that different.

We know for a fact that Spurs want to build a stadium that will maximise atmosphere. We also know that one of the best ways of achieving that is having the stands as close to the pitch as regulations allow.

Yet it also now seems that Spurs are considering the option of building a stadium that can also host NFL games. And that means that more room along the sidelines and at each end is required. It also means that the front row of seating for NFL games has to be five feet or so above the field of play.

How to marry those two, conflicting objectives?

Simple. Two words. Retractable seating.

There will be no need to cover up the front 5-10 rows for NFL games. Nor will there be a need for the front row to be elevated and a long way from the pitch when Spurs are playing.

As you say, unlike Wembley, the new Spurs stadium would be purpose built to accommodate both sports. So when Spurs are playing, retractable seating would take the front row to ground level and as close as possible to the pitch. When NFL games are staged, the retractable seating would be stowed away - creating the extra space required and ensuring that the front row of seating is at a sufficient height. Two birds with one stone.

The consequence of all of which is that the potential capacity for Spurs games would be some 5K or so more than it would be for NFL games.

Edit: P.S. How on earth did my name become jimmcompletely52 when you quoted me? Bizarre!!
 
Last edited:
Re: Northumberland Development Project

It's wrong to suggest that significantly more room is required on the sidelines though. The playing area is much narrower for NFL - at Wembley the players and coaches at the sides are on the football pitch.

It could be a different issue at each end where a retractable structure might be needed to maintain the closeness to the pitch.
 
Last edited:
Re: Northumberland Development Project

T-C said:
It's wrong to suggest that significantly more room is required on the sidelines though. The playing area is much narrower for NFL - at Wembley the players and coaches at the sides are on the football pitch.

It could be a different issue at each end where a retractable structure might be needed to maintain the closeness to the*pitch.
Click to expand...

Wonder how long you last watching a sport with a 100 people standing infront of you whilst your sitting in row 3
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

Superhudd said:
Wonder how long you last watching a sport with a 100 people standing infront of you whilst your sitting in row 3
Click to expand...

What has that got to do with the space available on the side lines?

As others have pointed out Wembley covers the front rows of seats at the sides because of the restricted views, but not at either end. Its nothing to do with space available.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

T-C said:
It's wrong to suggest that significantly more room is required on the sidelines though. The playing area is much narrower for NFL - at Wembley the players and coaches at the sides are on the football pitch.

It could be a different issue at each end where a retractable structure might be needed to maintain the closeness to the pitch.
Click to expand...

I only said that more room would be required along the sidelines for an NFL game than for a Spurs game. I didn't use or suggest the word "significantly".

Spurs' pitch at the new stadium will most likely be the standard 105m x 68m. That's 115 yards x 74.

An American football pitch is, including end zones, 120 yards x 53 1/3. Each of the bench areas has to be 4 yards back from the field of play and each is 40 yards long and has to accommodate more than 30 giant players and GHod knows how many coaches, doctors, physios, kit men, water boys, cameramen, massage benches, other American football paraphernalia, warm up areas, kicking practice area, etc etc. So bench areas tend to be a good 8-10 yards deep.

Add all of that together and the overall width required is 77-81 yards. These pictures of Green Bay's Lambeau Field give a rough idea:

Lambeau%2007Dec09_DSC2021.jpg


Lambeau-Field-Packers-1024x768.jpg
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

T-C said:
What has that got to do with the space available on the side lines?

As others have pointed out Wembley covers the front rows of seats at the sides because of the restricted views, but not at either end. Its nothing to do with space available.
Click to expand...

There is no need to create space along the sidelines at Wembley because there is a much bigger gap between the pitch and the stands than there will be at Spurs' new stadium - assuming that the club remain true to their promise to deliver a stadium that is designed to get the fans as close to the action as possible. But there is still an issue with the front few rows at Wembley being too low for NFL games. Hence the covered seats.

Wembley does not have retractable seating because it was not designed for the purpose of hosting NFL games. If the new Spurs stadium is designed to host NFL games, however, then any architect worth their salt ought to design it to include retractable seating. That way, Spurs fans will be as close to the action as possible when Spurs are playing, NFL teams will have enough room for their bench areas and NFL fans in the front row for NFL games will have an uninterrupted view of the pitch.

Job done. Everyone's happy.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

I think your calculations on width for the NFL is pushing beyond the minimum that a clever design would need, and that your numbers for a football configuration are underestimated.

Spurs will be going for a UEFA category of stadium at least capable of hosting a Europa League Final. With that comes minimum run off distances for player safety in wet conditions. for example I don't think Green Bay would be able to fit a football pitch.

I have no doubt that there will be temporary or movable seating in the designs. I just don't believe it will be related to space. It will be for sight lines.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

T-C said:
I think your calculations on width for the NFL is pushing beyond the minimum that a clever design would need, and that your numbers for a football configuration are underestimated.

Spurs will be going for a UEFA category of stadium at least capable of hosting a Europa League Final. With that comes minimum run off distances for player safety in wet conditions. for example I don't think Green Bay would be able to fit a football pitch.

I have no doubt that there will be temporary or movable seating in the designs. I just don't believe it will be related to space. It will be for sight lines.
Click to expand...

Lambeau Field could easily fit a football pitch. Even for international games, the pitch can be as little as 100 yards long and 70 yards wide.

Looking at the first picture above, the pitch is a tad over 53 yards wide and, minus the end zones, exactly 100 yards long. So assuming that the pitch would stretch from goal line to goal line, the corner flags on a 70yard wide pitch would still be 4 yards or so from the front of the stands. That's despite the fact that Lambeau Field is somewhat bowl shaped. A more straight sided stadium would have even more room.
 
Last edited:
Re: Northumberland Development Project

If having a sliding pitch meant (due to engineering) the pitch exiting through no stand at all like that at the Uni. of Phoenix Stadium, or a small single tier like that at Lansdown Road (which it possibly slide under), would anyone want a sliding pitch?

I personally wouldn't tbh.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

spurs' magna carter said:
If having a sliding pitch meant (due to engineering) the pitch exiting through no stand at all like that at the Uni. of Phoenix Stadium, or a small single tier like that at Lansdown Road (which it possibly slide under), would anyone want a sliding pitch?

I personally wouldn't tbh.
Click to expand...

Likewise.

But the good news is that a sliding pitch doesn't necessitate an end like that at University of Phoenix stadium. Schalke's 60K stadium, the Veltins Arena, is a standard wrap around stadium with a pitch that slides under one end.

I'm fairly confident that there's no need for any of the worry that people are expressing about the possibility of the stadium being shared with an NFL team. The whole reason why Spurs would have brought Populous, a world leader in the field of stadium design, onto the project is so that the different demands of Association and American football can be met without the need for unsatisfactory compromises.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

Five minutes exactly between each repeated post....

Mysterious.

Waiting for 18.42.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

Can you explain what your reference to 'sideshow bob' represents? I'm sure it's not a Carlos Valderrama look-a-like.
 
Re: Northumberland Development Project

Jim B:

Those are lovely images you've posted of Lambeau Field. Gets your points - which were already well made - across quite clearly to anyone not grasping the issue.

As usual, you continue to be one of the most informative, constructive and incredibly patient posters on this issue, here and elsewhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back