http://www.stadiumguide.com/marseillenew.htm Is OM really planning to increase capacity to more than 80.000? Can't believe that....
they will not be having a "new" stadium for a very long time... they wanted to add a roof on top and add some more seats because the 2007 Rugby world cup will be in france and they thought it would be a good occasion to modernize it a little for better comfort for the fans... unfortunately for french soccer, they could not find an agreement with the city officials so talks have been delayed... it will happen, but will have to wait a few more years...
I am no expert on l'OM but their attendances doesn't show an urgent need for an expansion: http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/2005/avefra.htm
Well then you've clearly never tried to get a ticket to an OM game..... You have to know someone to get a ******** ticket. 20,000 extra seats would be filled faster than they could build them.
For every match? Come on, an average of 4.000 empty seats could led to the impression that 20.000 extra seats aren't really needed.
These numbers must reflect turnstyles and not tickets sold. Regardless. OM can fill 80,000 no problem, assuming they don't get relegated. Hell even when they were relegated they were filling that son of a bitch up. Good old Tony Cascarino heading in goals left and right. Good stuff.
OM's last league match against Ajaccio on a Saturday afternoon was in front of 45.000: http://www.om.net/index.php?pid=102002&lng=en&evt=47 even their first match against Bordeuax had 48.000 only: http://www.om.net/index.php?pid=102002&lng=en&evt=1 80.000? I still have my doubts.....
48,000 against Bordeaux???? Look at the game pictures at the bottom of that page and tell me there are empty seats there? Not one.
that's a virage, which is "owned" and run by supporter's groups. for depor, ganay looked less than 2/3 full, and jean bouin probably was no better. it's clear that OM draws well, the best in L1. they could fill maore than 55,000 often, but not every match, and 80,000 doesn't seem realistic to me.
1. The pics you posted are NOT from the match I linked to. Your pics are from last season, my link directs to statistics of this season's match. 2. http://omsoccer.com/Photos/OM_Bordeaux_070804/16.JPG I see at least some space in the lower left corner. Anyway, 48.000 THIS season doesn't seem that impressive.
Look at the link that you sent me and look at the pics at the bottom. They won't open for me, but the place is filled to the max, and that is with an awefull OM this year.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that since those seats are empty at just about every OM match that's not against PSG, Lyon, or one of the other Provence teams, it's the away fans area. I don't think too many fans travel from Caen or Lille or Ajaccio to Marseille very often.
A few things guys... first of all, the visiting teams supporters section is just right of where the picture is taken (not shown in the picture)... so that lower left area is NOT the visiting section secondly, 45,000 Ajaccio is not GREAT, but not BAD... ajaccio is not known to attract a huge crowd at games thirdly, 48,000 on their first game against Bordeaux is, again, not GREAT, but not that bad when you consider it is the middle of vacation (end of july) and you know how the french take their vacations (months at a time)... most of the major cities in france during the months of july/aug are empty except for tourists... all the french went out into the country... finally, i think an expansion would be nice... maybe not 80,000 but 70-75,000 would be nice... when the season has really started and you have lyon/nice/monaco/nantes/rennes/lens/lille/auxerre and ESPECIALLY PSG of course, that stadium is full to capacity... the other games, it sits in the mid to high 40,000 range...
i agree that the visiting section now is in the tribune to the right of this photo, but was it then? if that's not the visitor's section, ça en a furieusement l'air! and the only blue i see there looks like security. i beg to differ. there is a huge corsican population in marseilles and the two clubs from the ile de beauté are generally good draws. of course it would be great for the vélo to be one of the great stadiums of europe for more reasons than their fans. but covering it is more important than making it bigger. frankly though, i'll wait to see it before i believe it's more than a tall tale. one of my wife's aunts is on the marseilles city council, so i've heard my share of sardine stories.
Oh, I didn't meant to diss OM. An average of 52.000 is great and even 45.000 is a number many clubs in Europe would be happy with. My "is not that impressive" comment was referring to an expansion to 80.000 as that is a really huge number.
They wanted 80,000 seats so they could have a Stade de France type stadium in Southern France. A roof is needed so the stadium can host a Champions League final or Uefa Cup final.
A roof isn't needed to host a CL final (see Barcelona and Istanbul). Even the actual capacity is enough. Much more important is the infrastructure within the stadium (dressing rooms, vip sections, media seats, etc.) AND outside (enough hotels in the city, an airport reachable, enough parking lots etc.).
guingol, you made your point about ajaccio... i do have to say though, while ajaccio (and bastia until this year) can have really good teams, it really annoys me to watch highlights of a games in corsica and seeing 5,000 people in the stadium... i love corsica (even if sadly, there is a pretty big fascist/racist group there) and one has to consider that on an island that has a total population of less than 400,000, having two ligue 1 teams was something to be proud of... personally though, i'd rather see a sedan/toulon/caen stadium of 20,000 packed when psg/marseille or any other big teams come into town instead of seeing a 1/2 filled crumbling stadium... just my thoughts...
just as they say there are more irish in london than in ireland, there may be more corsicans in marseilles than in corsica.
Yeah, but most of them aren't what I would call soccer supporters... More into, oh I don't know..... murder for hire?
careful boy, the last time i made a quip on the subject i snagged about 20 point of red rep in less than 24h!
Yikes.... Listen though, I know for a fact that 15,000 francs gets you a good clean kill, no questions asked.... It's just a fact, nothing personal.
