++ [ originally posted by avfc
] ++
I see a lot of people are drawing comparisons with what Arsenal are doing with their move from Highbury to Ashgrove (the EmiratesDome). There is also some disappointment Juve having a ground that has less than 40,000 capacity, which is interestingly enough about the same size as Arsenal's curent stadium, which they are spending a lot of money to leave behind.
Arsenal's rationale - quite rightly - is that one day Wenger and the current team will be gone and there is no reason to expect their successors to work the same miracles with (comparitively) so little money.
They can only realistially compete with the likes of Manu etc. in the long term if cash in on their current success and get to a position where they can generate similar turnover.
Their answer is to build a much bigger stadium.
I have a feeling that they have identified the problem correctly (as have the Juve board), but have gone for the wrong solution.
I recently saw figures that estimated the number of 'sympathetic' Real Madrid fans worldwide as being 320 million. Man United were quoted at 280 million. No other football club was mentioned, but I guess that Juve may not be as high but will still be hundreds of millions.
Arsenal could well be making a big mistake. Building a bigger ground costs a lot of money (even if it is mostly someone elses). The extra 25000 or so paying supporters this gets you will generate peanuts compared to the kind of money to be had by getting to a worldwide paying audience via TV or the internet.
It could be that the most critical thing about a football ground is that is is full, to provide a good atmosphere for the wider broadcast audience. As I write this I am watching Juve trash Chievo. There is plenty of noise coming from somewhere but all I can see on TV is empty terracing. It's like watching a reserve game with added skills.
Arsenal's perception is that their current gound is too small. There is a good chance that they are wrong. Juve's idea is tha the SDA is too big and soulless. They have probably got it right.
The only thing I don't understand is the extra expense of re-developing the existing stadium which is is far more costly than building afresh on a new site. It's not like Juve - unlike Arsenal - would be leaving their spiritual home.
p.s. 38 - 40,000 might be too big
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