[exgaffer]

Average gate for Sunderland in League One consistently above 30k

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/afc-sund...verein/289

Sunderland could not be a better archetype for our potential.

Even them down the road averaged 22k in League 1 and the Championship and we know how much more fervant we are compared to them https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-south...verein/180

We should be planning for 30k football attendances and a 35k seater stadium so we can bid to host concerts and internationals.

It also allows 10% head room for further growth in future generations and if we get a big fish in an FA Cup draw.

I follow your logic with comparisons to Palace and Norwich but IMO you're not aiming large enough for all use cases and for your children and your children's children's generations.

Sunderland are a consistently better supported club than us, so are not a good example.

The scummers have been in the top division most of the time, so they are also not a good example.

History would suggest that a 30,000 capacity is more than adequate for our needs, we should aim for that imo.

[scumslayer]

That may well be your conventional wisdom Gaffer, but the facts prove it wrong I'm afraid.

Roker Park opened the same year as Fratton Park and had a capacity of 22,500 when it closed. Attendances rocketed when they moved to the Stadium of Light.

The scum hit their 15k ceiling at The Dell and doubled their attendance when they moved to St Mary's.

As you can see, Sunderland see a perfect archetype for comparison.

And separately, like others, you're looking only at present day footfall requirements and only for Pompey matches.

The development needs to be for the city, not just for the football club, and for tomorrow, not just today.

[exgaffer]

That may well be your conventional wisdom Gaffer, but the facts prove it wrong I'm afraid.

Roker Park opened the same year as Fratton Park and had a capacity of 22,500 when it closed. Attendances rocketed when they moved to the Stadium of Light.

The scum hit their 15k ceiling at The Dell and doubled their attendance when they moved to St Mary's.

As you can see, Sunderland see a perfect archetype for comparison.

And separately, like others, you're looking only at present day footfall requirements and only for Pompey matches.

The development needs to be for the city, not just for the football club, and for tomorrow, not just today.

You have to compare like with like SS and when the scum were in the lower divisions they did not double their attendances compared to the Dell, far from it. Their big attendances have been in the Prem (surprise, surprise) and they don’t fill the ground for most matches even then.

Attendances depend on the division you are in and the opposition you are facing. Sunderland are much better supported than us in terms of regular attendees, they always have been. When I was a kid the capacity of FP was knocking on 50,000, we very rarely came even close to filling it. We had very big gates occasionally for big league games and cup games against higher division opponents. You only have to look at when we were in the Prem, we didn’t fill the park for every game.

You could do with a dose of realism methinks   .

A capacity of between 30 and 35,000 is about right for us and we should aspire to that.

What is the point of having a huge stadium that the crowd rattles around in most of the time? You want a stadium that provides an intimidating atmosphere and doesn’t look half empty. We have that already and it would be a mistake to change that just so you can see the Killers, or whoever, occasionally.

[scumslayer]

To substantiate your point of view on this, you have needed to go back 40 years with your talk of Sunderland and Pompey gates which is not comparing like with like. That's on the way to two generations ago. Those numbers were also highly dubious as you know! There are more of us now and let's also take into account the huge increase in women attending games in that time which further increases the demand.

You then repeat the claim that Sunderland have ways been better numbered than us which has already been dismissed as false with sourced information about the gates at Roker Park.

The project needs to be looking four generations ahead, not four years. There needs to be enough head room to profit from good seasons, Premiership runs, big FA Cup draws and extended non football use.

It needs to be 35k for that.

[BlueArmy]

We did sellout the majority of the games this season even with the shite that was served up.  If we do well next season we will sellout every game.

Increase fratton parks capacity to 25,000 ish, at least to start with.