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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford 11:17 - Apr 1 with 2030 viewsNorthLondonBlue2

Was chatting to a Watford supporting friend over the weekend. Spurs' new stadium came up and their capacity of 62k versus Watford's 20k and the sustainability of Watford's business model.

His view, fwiw, is that there's just no need to expand Watford's stadium. First, because so many in that area support Spurs, Arsenal or Chelsea they would probably never fill it; and second, because of the PL money.

Watford apparently get £100m p.a. from television, with about £8m p.a. from gate receipts. It explains how Watford, along with clubs like Bournemouth, with a capacity of just 11k can still do very well in the PL.

While it was great to expand Portman Road back in the 2000s, the reality is, the money would have been far better spent on players instead.

Ho hum.
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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 11:31 - Apr 1 with 1958 viewsBobbychase

With hindsight, yes, but the accepted financial advice at the time was that you needed a 30,000-capacity stadium to survive in the Premier League. It's only in the past few years that the money has reached the levels which means clubs don't have to worry about attendances.

For a club like Bournemouth, it will be interesting to see what happens if they get relegated and don't return quickly because the financial sustainability rules in the EFL mean crowds suddenly become important again.

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 11:33 - Apr 1 with 1943 viewsSwansea_Blue

Yeah, I think when you're at that level the extra income now from TV means that the gate receipts from an extra 5 or 10 thousands seats is largely irrelevant. One bad signing could be far more costly.

Watford have benefitted massively from their partnerships with the other owners' clubs. And their football knowledge and good and timely decisions. You do wonder how long they've got though - it's rare that a smaller club will last in the PL more than 6 or 7 years.

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 11:42 - Apr 1 with 1907 viewsMarshalls_Mullet

We've proven there was no need to expand Portman Road.

And re Watford, ticket sales is a relatively small percentage of a Prem Clubs income these days.

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 12:33 - Apr 1 with 1813 viewsTractorWood

I think we got distracted by the FPR development and took our eye off the ball. We forgot what got us to the top half of the Prem, which was a Burley's fast, free flowing, home-developed philosophy. Season two we wasted cash on expensive journeymen, used a load of energy on the Uefa cup and lost the ethos.

I know that was then, but it could be again..
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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 12:35 - Apr 1 with 1806 viewsLord_Lucan

It wouldn't though would it.

The stadium needing doing, simple s that.

Anyway, we didn't pay for it did we?

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 12:38 - Apr 1 with 1775 viewsgiant_stow

Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 12:35 - Apr 1 by Lord_Lucan

It wouldn't though would it.

The stadium needing doing, simple s that.

Anyway, we didn't pay for it did we?


Aviva did, I think?

A large, full stadium matters more in the Championship.

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 12:58 - Apr 1 with 1710 viewsTractorCam

And for clubs like Arsenal, United etc, they could play in an empty stadium every week and still turn a profit.

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 13:01 - Apr 1 with 1696 viewsfactual_blue

Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 12:58 - Apr 1 by TractorCam

And for clubs like Arsenal, United etc, they could play in an empty stadium every week and still turn a profit.


Arsenal, Utd etc could fill their stadiums every week with tourists from Asia. (This explains the phenomenon of the half & half scarf: a memento of the actual match they attended.

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 19:42 - Apr 1 with 1458 viewsbournemouthblue

Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 11:33 - Apr 1 by Swansea_Blue

Yeah, I think when you're at that level the extra income now from TV means that the gate receipts from an extra 5 or 10 thousands seats is largely irrelevant. One bad signing could be far more costly.

Watford have benefitted massively from their partnerships with the other owners' clubs. And their football knowledge and good and timely decisions. You do wonder how long they've got though - it's rare that a smaller club will last in the PL more than 6 or 7 years.


As a side note I believe Watford make quite a lot more money compared to us through the corporate side, in part because of their vicinity to London

I presume they also benefited from Saracens playing there in the past?

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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 21:39 - Apr 1 with 1332 viewsWD19

Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 19:42 - Apr 1 by bournemouthblue

As a side note I believe Watford make quite a lot more money compared to us through the corporate side, in part because of their vicinity to London

I presume they also benefited from Saracens playing there in the past?


Not especially. Corporate setup is modest and general tickets v.good value. Can’t recall the exact details, but many season tickets are cheaper than ours. They still can’t fill the place (although suspect that is more season ticket holders just not turning up to every game).
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Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 22:49 - Apr 1 with 1250 viewsbournemouthblue

Premier League, stadiums and, er, Watford on 21:39 - Apr 1 by WD19

Not especially. Corporate setup is modest and general tickets v.good value. Can’t recall the exact details, but many season tickets are cheaper than ours. They still can’t fill the place (although suspect that is more season ticket holders just not turning up to every game).


It maybe modest but I can remember looking at club incomes and they seemed to have a lot more money coming into their club from the corporate side

That includes when they were in the Championship

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