Plans for Power Court are becoming more detailed by the day and we’d like to ask supporters to help us as we approach detailed planning, by completing the additional short survey below on Safe Standing before midnight Friday 25th March 2022.
A standing ban has been in place in the top two tiers of English Football for over 25 years, but the Government and Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) gave five football clubs permission to trial safe standing areas from 1st January 2022. Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Championship club Cardiff City were each granted a special licence to take part in the trials, which are proving to be positive.
We definitely plan to include some Safe Standing at Power Court, but we now need to define what proportion we install - and where best to place these areas to maximise atmosphere and answer fans' preferences.
We firmly believe supporters should be given the choice whether to stand or sit to enjoy the game, and it appears that the early success of the trials will undoubtedly allow for this to happen.
In our previous survey to our entire supporter base, fans responded overwhelmingly in favour of standing at Power Court. Three summary headlines from this survey are:
- Over 90% wanted to see some form of safe standing at Power Court
- Around two-thirds of respondents stated that they would prefer to stand
- Over three-quarters would like the safe standing area primarily behind the goal
However, it also became apparent that some people aren’t entirely clear what Safe Standing is all about, so here are 9 Key Facts:
- Safe Standing IS The days of packed-out, overcrowded terraces have long gone. Every person standing will have their own space equipped with a safety rail in front and a foldable seat to allow them the choice to stand and watch the game, or sit at intervals.
- A safe standing space will occupy the same footprint as a regular seat.
- Installing Safe Standing spaces is marginally more expensive than installing regular seats.
- As such, ticket prices are not likely to be any cheaper (or more expensive).
- Installation of Safe Standing will not increase the capacity. The same number of supporters will occupy the same space as regular seating.
- Whilst this is certainly the case for the foreseeable future there are some supporter organisations that would like to see - and are predicting - a slight relaxation of this: for example, parents being allowed to bring a child into the same space.
- We are not relying on such a relaxation for Power Court but will (just to be safe) reserve sufficient safety standards for access, convenience and concourse space should this happen.
- Persistent standing in areas where supporters expect to sit is problematic, and it is felt that the introduction of standing zones and giving supporters and choice will stop this from occurring, reducing tensions between supporters. It also means supporters sitting will be expected not to stand.
- If Safe Standing is allocated for home supporters at Power Court we will also be required to offer Safe Standing for away supporters too.
At Kenilworth Road, whilst the venue is technically an all-seater ground many choose to persistently stand in certain areas. We estimate this is over 20% of attendees.
From a Club perspective, not only do we feel that you deserve to have a choice whether you sit or stand, but we also feel it would benefit the atmosphere at Power Court. Standing fans can be a little more vocal in their support of the team and will help provide zones around the ground according to your preferences.
We believe that modern stadiums will incorporate more Safe Standing areas according to supporter demand and, for us, this could act as an important differentiation between Power Court and more typical stadiums.
Please take some time to give your feedback to the Club and help inform and support the next stage of the process. Thank you.
Please click on the link below to conduct our important survey. Your opinion matters to us! The more responses we receive the more accurate the data will be and the better we can make Power Court for you!
The survey consists of 15 easy-to-answer questions as options and should take you no more than 5 minutes.
Safe Standing at Power Court – Survey 2
Further reading on safe standing can be found via the links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_standing
