Stadium modification

Hi..

i'm thinking about making some stadium changes and would appreciate some advice please. I've read on a few offsites that having a low standing capacity is beneficial but i'm unsure of how to proceed.

Here is what I currently have:
Standing: 2000
Uncovered: 2600
Covered: 2500
Members: 750
Corporate: 150
Total: 8000

Current members: 805

I'm thinking about adjusting it to:
Standing: 500
Uncovered: 5050
Covered: 1500
Members: 550
Corporate: 60
Total: 7660

Does that sound ok? It's a fairly costly modification ($343000) so I want to be sure that it is a good move.

Thanks for any help

Personally I would never reduce any area except standing so if you have 300k to spend I would go something like 1 standing and an additional 1000 seats on covered and uncovered and try that to start with.

Thanks for the reply tomo.

I do have a little cash to spend but this modification would take a huge slice of it.

Borganizer suggests the difference could be +14899 which would be most welcome...although it does say it will take me 21.5 games to recover the costs. Is that an accurate reflection of what I can expect?

I'm sure I read somewhere that 1000 extra seats takes a full season to recoup the cost. But if cost is the problem then just expand by 1k a time so add 500 seats to the covered & uncovered sections total coast 150k and see what your funds are like mid-season.

K, seems pretty sensible. Thanks for the advice

Most people advise to expand by as much as you can at a time based on the fact that if you were to increase by just 1 seat the starting cost is 25. Therefore you spend 25k each time you expand.

Personally, I didn't like to spend more than 200k at any one upgrade because I didn't want to spend loads expanding if I could fill the stadium.

Are you currently filling your stadium and is your contentment near the top end or lower. The reason I ask is this. If you are filling your stadium now and your contentment is the highest it can then that is most likely the reason. If you are going to get promoted for example but your next season opponents are going to mean losing regularly, your contentment could drop off and your stadium attendance will drop wasting seats.

What I mean is that its a balancing act. I expanded when my wages increased to a point that my two week normal finances pages went negative. Don't worry about the payback time. If you have the money and want to do it then its time. Don't forget, recouping will be based on games and will be quicker with a longer cup run.

Thanks for the reply Towz.

I'm not coming close to filling the stadium in regular league games. When I originally expanded, I didn't seek advice and pretty much plucked the numbers out of the air and my 20/20 hindsight has told me that wasn't very clever.

I can usually expect an attendance of between 5500 and 6500 for regular league games. My members are currently euphoric but I have spiked their water with Es

As for promotion, i'm planning on fielding a weakened team for the qualifier as I want to stay in division IV for a little bit in order to build some cash and a stronger team.

In the meantime, i'm thinking about the following changes to my stadium:
Standing: 1 (-1999)
Uncovered: 3500 (+900)
Covered: 2500 (No change)
Members: 750 (No change)
Corporate: 75 (-75)

Total: 6826 (-1174)

In time, I will increase covered a little bit but this will cost $149990 so I don't really want to spend much more than that at the moment. Does this look ok?

Hope you haven't done that yet. I wouldn't get rid of your corporate seats either as they are your most profitable ones. If you're nowhere near filling the seats with your contentment on euphoric, it may be too early anyway.

If you are going to upgrade though, there is a link on the offsite somewhere to a stadium calculator spreadsheet. I can't find it on this computer as it the missus' laptop. I have it on the other computer and may get a chance to see what the ideal seating is for 805 members. You type that in and it tells you what to upgrade to.

What I do normally, is upgrade to halfway between my current seating and the level the calculator suggests. That way I normally fill the stadium with 70-80% contentment. That allows for a fluctuation in contentment without losing attendance and therfore cash.

I haven't made the changes yet.

I found the stadium calculator spreadsheet and for 805 members it recommends a 7648 capacity. That seems a little high for me considering i'm usually getting between 5500 and 6500 for regular league games. To make the recommended changes with 0 standings, the cost will be $253000 and with 1688 standings it'll be $93640 but with less generated turnover.

I'm kinda tempted to go ahead with my plan above but take the corporate seats up to 100. I generally only sell about 60 each week anyway, but the extra seats will be handy for play offs and cup games (although i'm not expecting an extended run!). I may also increase covered to 2650 bringing the total capacity to 7001 which is kinda in between what i'm currently getting and what the calculator recommends. Total cost is $167490 which isn't too bad.

That sounds better. Like I said, I always go half way between current and what the calculator says.
You may not be selling out at the moment but there are two guaranteed things going to happen next season to increase the gate. By staying in Div IV your supporters contentment is going to go up as you are unlikely to come up against many hard opponents. A strategic LTNT here and there will boost it also.
The other one is that your members will increase each week regardless.

Experiment on the calculator. Add 16 x new members of last week to see what size stadium it recommend for this time next season. I know it may vary but it kinds of gives you an idea of how long it will take to fill your improved stadium.

It wont happen in time for the playoffs and I don't think you get the playoff gate reciept anyway but it is the right time to maximise profit from any cup run you can get. Go for it.

Thanks again for the help