Writer: Jod
Going to the new stadium for the first test event was certainly an eye-opener. My thought at the end was “in the future all stadiums will be built like this”.
I should explain what I mean by that. I’m not suggesting all stadiums will be fitted out the same way, there won’t be a microbrewery in each one. Nor am I saying they will be built with retractable pitches.
Although having said that, the speed with which Saracens signed up to play on our all-weather surface suggests there is a market out there and maybe a handful of dual pitch stadiums strategically scattered through the country would make sense.
What I’m talking about is the actual shape of the thing, the sides built as steep as legally permitted, more like cliff faces than the traditional bowl shape. When Spurs said every seat would have a great view I took it with a pinch of salt. On Sunday I sat right at the top of the stand and still had a fantastic view of what was happening on the pitch.
By building it the way we did we made it a better experience for most of our supporters. There’s another consideration too. By making it taller you reduce the footprint, for any given size of stadium you need less land than for a traditional build. Land, as we know, is expensive.
A club will probably only build a new stadium once a century, so change is slow. But Everton are apparently in the design stage for a new ground. When it’s built don’t be surprised if it looks a lot like ours.
