[BBC News] Stadium planned for sports ground

[triskelion]

Fairly sure there was a discussion about a national stadium not long after I joined. People cited the fact that there is stuff-all parking and the site is quite restricted in terms of its size and potential for expansion. The industrial park area opposite the airport was suggested as a possible alternative.

 

The IoMFA has very little money, and the creation of a 'showpiece' like this, whilst not an inherently bad idea, is beyond their capacity. Instead we are going to see centrally-funded project that will be a feather in the cap of the Corpy.

 

This report they are submitting to Tynwald better be publically released.

[Lonan3]

A National Stadium might be nice even if it is a refurbished Bowl but who would use it that the Bowl can not currently accomodate.

 

Football already use it but it would seem that the capacity as it stands is already far in excess of any football crowd that I have seen there, be it the IoM games, local cup finals, the old Steam packet events. Hockey will not as they much prefer astroturf and the pitch is not really big enough for rugby. I think the rugby clubs also prefer to play at their own grounds and keep the money over their bars.

 

I presume it could already be used for events but generally is not already. The Peel Festival showed that we struggled to get crowds of more than a few thousand even with "big" names and held in side. What are the chances if it is outside, although being in Douglas it might help.

 

If you are only going to get 2/3 thousand you might as well hold in the the Villa Marina as whilst it is a slightly smaller venue, I am not sure what it holds when standing, you have no costs for hiring in setting up a stage and other all related infrastructure.

 

To me the Bowl does need renovating both on and off the pitch but this just seems to be a way of the Corporation trying to get somebody else to do and pay for the work. I struggle to see if once it is done that the use of the bowl will really change.

 

"The council hopes to retain ownership of the site" may provide a clue as to the ultimate strategy. Perhaps the intention is to offload to the DTL so that larger sporting events and concerts etc could be held there in the future?

As a venue, it is certainly in need of upgrading at the very least.

As for the PBF, I'd suggest that comparisons shouldn't be made since that was a week-long event that was always going to prove over-ambitious. If you could imagine a group such as the Who playing a one-nighter, for example, at the Bowl, I'm sure there'd be no difficulty in filling it.

[Albert Tatlock]

I don't know the actual dimensions of the Bowl, but I know the length of a football pitch must be between 100 yards (90m) and 130 yards (120m) and the width not less than 50 yards (45m) and not more than 100 yards (90m).

 

Working on the smallest dimension, 90 metres X 45 metres and allowing 2 square metres per seat (e.g. Wembley is 2.5 sqM per seat), then 2,500 seats would mean: 270 metres of seats 9 seats deep (going back 18 metres). Being a bit more realistic, the length of area available for seating is likely to be bigger than that, say 110 metres X 55 Metres, giving a total of 2,500 seats 7 seats deep (going back 14 metres). Taking into account walkways and tunnels etc. will probably mean adding an additional row of seats to these totals.

 

Preston North End are in the process of building a new stand at a cost of £6.5M seating 4,500 people. No similarly constructed stands would be required at the bowl, and much of the construction would surely be fairly simple low level concrete constructions with folded seats. Personally I can't see the cost of that going much above £2.5M even with new shelters across the top of those seats (assuming no poor PM practices though!).

[Lonan3]

Preston North End are in the process of building a new stand at a cost of £6.5M seating 4,500 people. No similarly constructed stands would be required at the bowl, and much of the construction would surely be fairly simple low level concrete constructions with folded seats. Personally I can't see the cost of that going much above £2.5M even with new shelters across the top of those seats (assuming no poor PM practices though!).

The difference being that there would be entertainment at the bowl.

[Pat Ayres]

Your whole argument is, as usual, flawed from the outset.

How do you get "2 sq mtrs" per seat? That's about 5ft x 5ft. A hell of a bigger space than in any stadium I have ever visited, lucky to get 2ft x 2ft from my experience.

[triskelion]

Your whole argument is, as usual, flawed from the outset.

How do you get "2 sq mtrs" per seat? That's about 5ft x 5ft. A hell of a bigger space than in any stadium I have ever visited, lucky to get 2ft x 2ft from my experience.

Whilst it would actually be approx 5ft by 2.5 feet, I'm still fairly sure I've never got that much space at a stadium. Typo maybe?

[Mr. Sausages]

I could almost get my 2 seater sofa in that space.

[triskelion]

I could almost get my 2 seater sofa in that space.

Haha, a mate of mine bought a two seater sofa at auction, and we decided (being students with no transport) to carry it back to our flat. This was on a Saturday afternoon and we had to carry it past Meadow Lane (Notts County's ground) on match day. We counted 18 'jokes,' all along the lines of 'You've brought your own seats then,' 'That's my seat' and 'You've got the best seats in the house.'

[monasqueen]

How do you get "2 sq mtrs" per seat? That's about 5ft x 5ft.

 

2 meters = 6.56167979 feet

[WTF]

1 square meter = 10.763 910 417 square foot, so 2 square meters is double it, in round numbers 21.5 square feet, so a box slightly larger than 5 feet x 4 feet ( american anorexic size ). i wonder if people are confusing 'square foot' with 'foot square'???. maths aside, it would be great for a velodrome or any other sporting venue, but that would be a decent use of our money so it will NEVER happen.

[WTF]

Why not turn the Bowl into this 'much needed' Velodrome that some were banging on about not too long ago?

Not big enough?

if the old summerland site was muted as a location the bowl would piss it.

[Albert Tatlock]

Has anyone actually looked at the artists impression on the front page of the Courier this week, saying that the stadium will seat 4000? Look at the half way line, and you can count 300 seats (I counted 50 rows of 6 to the right of the half-way line). So that implies 600 on each long side, and there are two long sides so that covers 1200 seats. That leaves 2800 seats, or 1400 seats to go behind each goal (over twice the number of seats on each long side). Look at the inset picture on the front page and it shows only 5 seats deep.

 

It must have been a piss artist.

[Albert Tatlock]

Your whole argument is, as usual, flawed from the outset.

How do you get "2 sq mtrs" per seat? That's about 5ft x 5ft. A hell of a bigger space than in any stadium I have ever visited, lucky to get 2ft x 2ft from my experience.

Whilst it would actually be approx 5ft by 2.5 feet, I'm still fairly sure I've never got that much space at a stadium. Typo maybe?

I picked the Wembley seating area size of 2.5 sq m and shaved a bit off. I said I was also guessing at the size of the place. My point was that based on 2500 seats it would still likely be a small concrete seating structure rather than stands which will ramp up the price.

 

No need to get so worked up about it Skrappey, so now might be a good time to take one of your tablets.