MCG redevelopment - incorporating safe standing room to temporarily increase capacity.

[Sinoswooper]

Is it time for the MCC, AFL and state government to consider "safe standing room" at the MCG for premium events like the AFL finals series etc
The German Bundesliga have had safe standing for domestic games and revert to all seating for Euro football. Celtic are looking to extend their safe standing area after a successful trial the past few years.
My point here is that so long as toilet amenities and exit points meet OH&S standards, there's no reason why safe standing could not be used on ANZAC day, Granny, prelim and other high attendance events.
With clubs pushing up to and beyond 100,000 members, and MCG that safely held 125,000 in lieu of 100k would have meant more tickets for members. It could be done. Obviously not everyone can get a ticket, but it would mean less heartache for high paying members. Imagine if competing clubs could have 30,000 tickets each.

 

[Fizzler]

Right, but where would they stand? I haven’t been to a 90k+ game at the MCG but the concourses don’t exactly have a great deal of room and if you’re not a head taller than everyone you have to be standing at the fences to get any sort of view of the game. At which point, that’s basically what standing room is at the MCG, is it not?

 

[Cuzz09]

100% prefer standing at the footy.



On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[acm21]

Something to look at. They will need to renovate soon anyway so may aswell look at how they could increase capacity at least in a temporary way for big games. As long as it doesn't make the 60-80, or even 95k crowd look small.

 

[Sinoswooper]

Something to look at. They will need to renovate soon anyway so may as well look at how they could increase capacity at least in a temporary way for big games. As long as it doesn't make the 60-80, or even 95k crowd look small.

Good point! That's the beauty of safe standing room. for smaller crowds the safe standing area is converted to seating.

As per the photo below from Germany. I think the ratio is 2 people standing to every one person sitting.

 

[The_torpedo]

Aren't they gonna do a rebuild of the SK Warne stand so that it becomes a single ring all around?

 

[The Tilt]

Is it time for the MCC, AFL and state government to consider "safe standing room" at the MCG for premium events like the AFL finals series etc
The German Bundesliga have had safe standing for domestic games and revert to all seating for Euro football. Celtic are looking to extend their safe standing area after a successful trial the past few years.
My point here is that so long as toilet amenities and exit points meet OH&S standards, there's no reason why safe standing could not be used on ANZAC day, Granny, prelim and other high attendance events.
With clubs pushing up to and beyond 100,000 members, and MCG that safely held 125,000 in lieu of 100k would have meant more tickets for members. It could be done. Obviously not everyone can get a ticket, but it would mean less heartache for high paying members. Imagine if competing clubs could have 30,000 tickets each.

It's not the worst idea, though I doubt you'd get to 125,000 - more a case a 105,000 capacity increasing to around 110,000. That said, do we even know if the redevelopment of the Southern Stand will deliver a bigger capacity than the current 100,000?

 

[Sinoswooper]

It's not the worst idea, though I doubt you'd get to 125,000 - more a case a 105,000 capacity increasing to around 110,000. That said, do we even know if the redevelopment of the Southern Stand will deliver a bigger capacity than the current 100,000?

From what I remember hearing or reading the redevelopment will increase capacity to 105,000, presumably without increasing standing room. This is from wiki about Borussia Dortmund's stadium It has a league capacity of 81,365 (standing and seated) and an international capacity of 65,829 (seated only). I'm sure with the right model/design plan the G could handle 120k and not compromise safety.

 

[Sammoll]

Current Kardinia Park redevelopment has a few permanent safe standing bays going in. Could be a good test to see how popular it is, and if successful I'd expect a future Southern/Warne stand rebuild to incorporate some. I'd expect it to be successful given standing is already popular in Aus and will only be enhanced by the extra comfort given in this model. It's already super popular in Europe and a very cost effective way to boost stadium's capacity.

 

[Sinoswooper]

View attachment 1820447
Current Kardinia Park redevelopment has a few permanent safe standing bays going in. Could be a good test to see how popular it is, and if successful I'd expect a future Southern/Warne stand rebuild to incorporate some. I'd expect it to be successful given standing is already popular in Aus and will only be enhanced by the extra comfort given in this model. It's already super popular in Europe and a very cost effective way to boost stadium's capacity.

 

[Sinoswooper]

Cheers Sammoll. That is fantastic to read. Thanks for posting.

 

[The Tilt]

From what I remember hearing or reading the redevelopment will increase capacity to 105,000, presumably without increasing standing room. This is from wiki about Borussia Dortmund's stadium It has a league capacity of 81,365 (standing and seated) and an international capacity of 65,829 (seated only). I'm sure with the right model/design plan the G could handle 120k and not compromise safety.

I'm not sure you can read too much from Dortmund's stadium to gauge what's feasible at the MCG. For one thing it's easier to incorporate standing areas in rectangular stadiums, as you can more easily designate an entire end as a standing. It's harder to do at circular venues: you can't really have standing bays directly next to seated bays without impeding the view of those seated. The other thing is, Dortmund's stadium has massive, single-tier ends; the new Southern will be either 3 or 4 levels, with standing areas limited to the ground level (as they are currently).

 

[Sinoswooper]

I take your point of impeding the view of those seated. Standing from the boundary line is not an option. I think one option may be to extend safe standing down from the back on the lowest bays as per the MCG in early 1970s but have the railing. This is how the safe standing will work at Kardinia Park. Another option is to also include rail standing at the very back of level 4.

 

[BG32]

Assuming the Northern stand sits more people than the older Southern stand they should just make it a nice complete ring. But i also think the train lines will get in the way

 

[JohnZ]

By my calcs of the KP redevelopment, safe standing gives about a 65% uplift in capacity compared to traditional bucket seats. (ie a 100 seat bay can stand 165 people).

I do think the AFL/MCC should look into making the M level fully convertible between standing and seating. That would increase the capacity from ~100k to ~125k (assuming Level M currently seats ~45k). The other question would be whether that many people would actually want to stand.

I'd love to see a trial whereby the olympic stand and half the AFL members Level M gets converted to measure the uptake. I'd also want test different configurations (full bay standing | first 7-10 rows seated & remainder standing | front half seated & back half standing) to see what works best.

The biggest issue is capacity outside of the seating area. The exits would need to be widened in case of evacuation, you'd need additional facilities (toilets, bars and food). For the northern stand (which is why I suggested the olympic stand) it's easy, just extend the building at ground level out by 10-20m (like at Marvel Stadium) and increase the facilities.

For the southern stand, probably need to do a limited trial and wait for the rebuild do implement the changes researched in the northern stand. If successful go for the full wrap around. Personally think having some seating in the front rows would be the sweet spot, and by having them interchangeable you could increase/decrease standing based on demand (ie more standing for finals or anzac day).

 

[kickazz]

The biggest issue is capacity outside of the seating area. The exits would need to be widened in case of evacuation, you'd need additional facilities (toilets, bars and food).

100%

Moving around on Grand Final day in the Southern Stand is already very difficult.

 

[Aristotle Pickett]

The arena looks crap now, they need to put some character back in it instead of trying to increase capacity for a few games a year.

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

100%

Moving around on Grand Final day in the Southern Stand is already very difficult.

Not even GF day. Any big crowd it's awful. It's narrow and made even worse with the food lines.