New Town End - Key to The County Ground as a summer concert venue?

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

It's been a few years since they had a proper concert at the county ground in the summer. There was the Elton John and then the Bryan Adams concerts in 2005 and 06 and then there was supposed to be Bon Jovi but we missed out due to The County Ground being too small.

I never went to either of these, not my thing, but I remember seeing photos at the time. The Elton John concert which was a bigger draw used The Town End and the view from it looked utter shite. You can barely work out whats going on in a football game at the Stratton Bank End let alone enjoy a concert taking place on a stage at that end. For the Brian Adams concert the Town End wasn't used.

Knocking The Town End down and building a stand similar to Walsall's could see a big summer concert every year for The County Ground and generate some decent cash for the club.

[Paolo69]

Think the Bryan Adams concert actually lost money, not much but still a loss.

Think we'd need an entire redevelopment before we started thinking about concerts again. Maybe a goer long term though.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Just did a quick google search, showed it made £19,000 a lot of effort for 19 grand that. But that was under Diamond Mike, surely a better managed concert would bring in the money better.

[pauld]

Just did a quick google search, showed it made £19,000 a lot of effort for 19 grand that. But that was under Diamond Mike, surely a better managed concert would bring in the money better.

And you actually trust those accounts?

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

And you actually trust those accounts?

Even better point.

[LittleRed]

The town end would be a great end to develop with a second tier. The view would improve, more people would go in it and be encourage to sing to their hearts content. That would create a better atmosphere, more people would go and more could be made from refreshments, food etc. I'm actually quietly confident the new owners will go down this route if they are serious.

[@MacPhlea]

Yo can stick your concerts up your arse - unless it funds the returfing of the pitch afterwards...

[Summerof69]

The town end would be a great end to develop with a second tier. The view would improve, more people would go in it and be encourage to sing to their hearts content. That would create a better atmosphere, more people would go and more could be made from refreshments, food etc. I'm actually quietly confident the new owners will go down this route if they are serious.

That was the plan NW announced two years ago.

[jutty274]

Yo can stick your concerts up your arse - unless it funds the returfing of the pitch afterwards...

They should do it right after the season ends like last season. Then it gives plenty of time for the pitch to be worked on.

[Bumpkin]

A two tier Town End for one concert a summer??

[LittleRed]

That was the plan NW announced two years ago.

And we were led to believe it was gonna happen but a bobble on the pitch and a relegation put a stop to it. But this was in the minds of the consortium before their attentions had to be switch to the field. Now that I would say we are doing very well on the pitch any new investment should be used to develop the town end as was previously planned. I am hoping the new investors wish to put money into the club. I also think paolo has been pivotal and monumental in raising the profile of the club and attracting, indirectly, the interest currently shown.

[LittleRed]

A two tier Town End for one concert a summer??

No so much for a concert but to generate a better atmosphere. The signing bosses are there and if the facilities I.e refreshments, possibly boxes and view could be proved I believe a lot more would go in the town end and this would in turn generate extra money and better atmosphere with the extra noise. A better atmosphere could help on the pitch and attract more bums on seats. Less restricted views would be welcomed and extra capacity would also help in the championship if we do get there.

[jonny72]

The problem with rebuilding the ground to provide other sources of income for the club is that it will also need to repay the capital used to perform the rebuilding. Turning the ground in to a half decent stadium (25k-30k capacity, modern facilities, boxes etc) would easily cost £20m and the repayments on that would be something like £1.5m a year for 20 years.

So you've got to find a way of generating £30k a week (all year round) of extra profit from the rebuilt ground, before there is any financial benefit to the club (other than increased match day revenue).

I just can't see how to could generate that kind of revenue within the footprint of the current stadium, even if you include the car park and land behind the DRS. The same would apply with rebuilding just the Town End, difficult to see any real return that makes the plan financially viable.

[STFCDude3]

surely we should think about using the COUNTY GROUND, and not the COUNTRY GROUND?

If our own fans can't even get our ground name right.......

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

The problem with rebuilding the ground to provide other sources of income for the club is that it will also need to repay the capital used to perform the rebuilding. Turning the ground in to a half decent stadium (25k-30k capacity, modern facilities, boxes etc) would easily cost £20m and the repayments on that would be something like £1.5m a year for 20 years.

So you've got to find a way of generating £30k a week (all year round) of extra profit from the rebuilt ground, before there is any financial benefit to the club (other than increased match day revenue).

I just can't see how to could generate that kind of revenue within the footprint of the current stadium, even if you include the car park and land behind the DRS. The same would apply with rebuilding just the Town End, difficult to see any real return that makes the plan financially viable.

Has it not been suggested before that we could build a completly new ground on the cricket club footprint with the cricket club moving elsewhere and the current CG site being used for additional revenue streams?