The stadium gas generated zero in sponsorship money since 2018, surely its worth 1m a year to someone in terms of sponsorship? All we need is someone with 1m quid spare. “The Brian Rouse stadium” has a ring to it? What you think?

He wont part with 1mill

From a fan's perspective I'd personally enjoy that but we would be spending a fair bit of money for no real return. In fact I assume we would have a lower capacity so we would lose money on sell outs. Add in that I reckon we have more older fans than most clubs, who won't want to stand all game (I know they can go in the East or West but that involves paying more and giving up the spec they have had for 24 years). A simple thing they could do is sort out whatever the issue seems to be with the beer pumps in the South. For years I've watched p****d off staff struggling with loads of foam coming out of them, taking ages to get one pint and having to throw another pint's worth of foam away. I've no idea what the issue is but it's been going on for years, leading to big queues and lost sales.

I dont think it has ever generated money has it as its always been under Whelans company

would have a far higher capacity with standing, we could learn a thing or two from Saints, thought their bar service was excellent on my last visit

Why on earth would there be any need a larger capacity when it is to large for the crowds for the crowds both clubs now get for the majority of games.

What should have happen is that Whelans Folly should have been built with a capacity of only 20,000 with standing in the North and South Stands and then it would have been a proper rugby stadium like in Leeds, St Helens and Warrington.

Since it was opened twenty years ago, it has only exceeded 20,000 for a few Rugby League Internationals/World Cup Challenge games and a handful of Warriors and Latics cup and league games.

Are you sure about that? I know you can physically fit more people into standing but I thought H&S restrictions limited capacity on standing in order to avoid crushes. Hence our all seater has a higher capacity than the HJ, AJ Bell, Langtree Park.

There's restrictions on capacity for terracing, sure, but the DW is physically bigger than all of those stadiums.

Who knows what H&S would say about turning one of our stands into a terrace, they're that steep, it might be a safe standing thing, rather than old school terrace.

They could be levelled out though so that 3 rows of seats could become one standing area with a safety rail for leaning on across the front and 3 steps down to the next level. There are a few ways it could be done but it deffo could be. I don't think it will but would be great if it did.

That would drastically reduce the capacity and remove the point of terracing. The safe standing I'm taking about would see a fence in front of every row so no one could fall down onto the next row, this is done at Celtic and across the continent. Effectively the capacity would remain the same with a seat space replaced with a standing space.

How much do you think that would cost?
What would be the benefit/cost?

The stadium is now 20 years old and needs a lot spending on it, putting standing areas will be quite a bit down the list.

I do hope IL buys Sharpeys and turns it into a Aussie style Leagues club, that could be a good asset IF the fans support it.

Owning a stadium might sound nice and shows up as an asset on the balance sheet , BUT it can be expensive
.
For example since Saints moved into their new stadium their accumulated losses are around £7 million, Wigan in the same period are around £3 million. The tenancy agreement that Wigan had at the DW was excellent value.

Walk before we can run I’d say. To buy the stadium would be a good look for the club but I doubt there will be any great changes to it in the short to medium term. There’s some maintenance issues that need sorting as a priority for me and they’re issues that have bugged me for a while (broken windows, graffiti, filthy seats in the top corners). There’s been a lack of money spent on the upkeep since Latics left the premiership and if they couldn’t afford to keep on top of things whilst shelling out £20m on wages each year, I wouldn’t be hoping for too much if we own. As a fan of both clubs, it doesn’t matter to me who owns it, I just want a bit more pride shown in the place.

Yeah i don't think it will happen Brian, i said that and i am not expecting it to. Just be a nice addition. Also the point about it reducing capacity, thats kind of part of my plan. If we lost 5000 in capacity to make the games more enjoyable for the fans and the stadium looking packed its well worth it. I think so anyway. Also the stadium as an asset isn't really an asset. It is just a tool that if worked properly will make the club money in the future as opposed to spending dead money on rent. If the rugby of football can't use it, it's a pointless thing to use as an asset because its no good to anybody outside of the 2 clubs and the land is also worthless. It cost about 30m to build and the Latics club didn't pay a penny for it. The plan for the stadium was always to host both football and rugby matches with both Springfield Park and Central Park being sold so they can get off their high horses about us getting 'THEIR' stadium for next to nothing. They are getting 2.5m that they never had for something that doesn't belong to them, they should be happy.

Do you think that we need Sharpeys now Rouges if we do buy the stadium particularly on match days?

I stopped reading at "if we lost 5000 capacity to make the stadium look packed it would be well worth it"

Thank Christ you aren't our accountant.

The South Stand bae could go back to being what it was I guess.

I know yeah. The DW stadium is always packed to the rafters.

I know Lenagan has always wanted to put a RL museum in Wigan and that (Sharpeys) would be an ideal place IMO. I asked Kris Radlinski about the old honours boards that used to be outside Central Park and he said that they had been found and the the plan was to refurbish and update them. Again that would be great place to display them.

Not being able to get a South stand ticket is one thing (the South does sell out a fair bit) but I would be absolutely raging if I couldn't get a Good Friday or England ticket because we had voluntarily reduced the capacity

. Not to mention all the lost money on those big games

Ok, how about......................... Reduce the numbers in north and south to get the safe standing terracing in.....bear with me.......... Then fill the soulless corners in with seats to bring the capacity back up and giving the stadium some much needed atmosphere. yes? no?

You got the 10million I reckon it would take?

I’d be all for that, it’s a good plan to me. We just need someone to foot the bill for it now.

As a fan I'd love that, but I wouldn't have it high in the list of priorities to be honest. Especially as the club was running at a loss even before COVID took away our crowds and added testing costs. Doing whatever maintenance work is required to keep the stadium safe and legal will probably be a big enough expenditure right now.

It isn't that black and white tho is it?

Decrease the capacity, but increase the atmosphere.

Increased atmosphere means increasing the spectacle of coming to watch a match at the DW. That then adds an extra reason to go and people 'not wanting to miss out'. Would that mean more pre-booked tickets Vs walk-ups, or increased season ticket purchases?

I'm sure the club world be happy with around 20k every week Vs 12k & one potential 25k Vs Saints.

Having 25k, but not offering a reason for 25k people to attend (which is what's happening now) is stupid.