New Bloomfield Road Capacity To Be Only 12,000?

On 10th July a new planning application went in to Blackpool Council which appears to show that the stadium capacity will only be 12,000.

On document 20 entitled ‘Overall stadium seating layout including phasing and numbers’, produced by the architects which is available to view by the public on the Blackpool Council website, it states, with regard to the temporary East stand,

‘1,292 is the maximum number available to maintain a capacity of 12000 or less’

Capacities are given for both the current stands, listed as ‘Phase 1’ together with the new South Stand and South West Corner which total 3,347 including 256 seats in the new hotel balconies which will occupy two floors in the new South Stand. The seating capacity in the stand, which is set to house home fans when it opens, with Season Ticket holders in the Kop being moved to the South, is listed as 2,260 – meaning it will hold less fans than the Kop which is listed as housing 2,650.

The temporary East stand would appear to be having a reduction in size as it currently houses over 1,700. Yet the club were granted planning permission to extend capacity of the stand, usually called the Gene Kelly or GK stand by fans as it is open to the elements, to 2,937.

The new hotel will now take over the 2nd and 3rd floors in the South stand. There had also been mention of it having a new Supporters Bar, although it is not clear whether or not this will go ahead.

With season tickets reported as being about 400 down from last season, which in turn had also been lower than 2007-08 it looks like the new caacity is likely to be 12,000 rather than the expected 13,150. However, with no official news as yet forthcoming from Blackpool Football Club, this is of course all conjecture.