The Madejski Stadium - Royals New Home
For the latest piccies you can try the following (I haven't had much time to get the piccies in here):
Stadium Update: 24 February 1998
Ticket Prices For Madejski Stadium
| pre-purchased | purchased on the day | |
| West Stand Upper Level | ||
| Adult | £18 | £20 |
| West Stand Ground Level | ||
| Adult | £12 | £14 |
| Concessions | £7 | £8 |
| Young Royals | £6 | £6 |
| Disabled | £6 | £7 |
| East Stand (Unreserved Seating) | ||
| Adult | £12 | £14 |
| Concessions | £7 | £8 |
| Young Royals | £6 | £6 |
| Disabled | £6 | £7 |
| North Stand | ||
| Adult | £12 | £14 |
| Concessions | £7 | £8 |
| Young Royals | £6 | £6 |
| Disabled | £6 | £7 |
| 1997/98 Season Ticket Holders | New Season Ticket Holders | |||
| purchase by 29/5/98 | purchase from 1/6/98 | purchase by 29/5/98 | purchase from 1/6/98 | |
| West Stand Upper Level | ||||
| Adult | £320 | £360 | £340 | £380 |
| Concessions | £190 | £210 | £200 | £220 |
| Young Royals | £100 | £110 | £100 | £110 |
| West Stand Ground Level | ||||
| Adult | £225 | £255 | £240 | £270 |
| Concessions | £130 | £145 | £135 | £150 |
| Young Royals | £80 | £100 | £80 | £100 |
| East Stand | ||||
| Adult | £225 | £255 | £240 | £270 |
| Concessions | £130 | £145 | £135 | £150 |
| Young Royals | £80 | £100 | £80 | £100 |
| North Stand | ||||
| Adult | £225 | £255 | £240 | £270 |
| Concessions | £130 | £145 | £135 | £150 |
| Young Royals | £80 | £100 | £80 | £100 |
Stadium Update: 15 January 1998
Here is a picture of the West Stand, the main stand of the Madejski Stadium,
taken around Christmas. Click on the image for a full screen image.
Stadium Update: 13 November 1997
Here's the latest piccie of the ground.
Stadium Update: 30 October 1997
Thanks to Dean Madden for this lot:
The plans we've seen in the papers have tended to be from one or two angles, and have generally lacked details of the interior layout - which I can now reveal to you...
Starting below ground level:
The away team has just four baths in its shower room while our lads have
six!
The referee and visiting officials each have rooms with their own private
loos.
There is a TV interview room next to the home changing room.
Paul Turner -or his successor- has a fairly big suite, with his own
office, physio warm-up room, another room with 3 couches and a rehab gym.
There is also a laundry and tea room down there, plus rooms for the
coaches and manager and a boot room. Both changing rooms have underfloor
heating (I guess the rotting stuff beneath the site will keep it fairly
warm down there).
Ground level (i.e. slightly above the pitch)
The players' tunnel comes up to this level and is flanked on both sides
by the dugouts.
There's an exhibition area in that bit the juts out from the main stadium
that you may have seen in previous drawings. Next to this is the players'
lounge and bar. Nearby are the reception area and a large area devoted to
banquetting administation. There's also a creche and Junior Royals Club,
several mechandising/programme selling points, a proper shop and shop
display area (on the North side), plus lottery ticket/tote sales booths.
There are at least 11 serveries at this level plus a fast food outlet
behind the East stand (for orientation, the players' area is opposite,
beneath the West stand). The South Stand looks the least interesting.
There seems to have been plenty of space set aside specifically for
disabled viewing all round the pitch at ground level.
First floor
The large banquetting room occupies the whole of the jutting out block
off the West Stand. There's a big cocktail bar at this level, with a
movable wall so that the banquetting area can be merged into it.
Adjoining this is another dining area with room for 75 people. (Neill:
i'd get your reception booked up now, otherwise you're going to have to
make do with Parsley the Lion Thing in a church hall somewhere).
Still above the West stand there are five posh lounges and the executive boxes. Alongside them is the family enclosure. The Club's single open-plan office occupies almost all the space at the back of the North Stand (i.e. above the shop). The East Stand has a Supporters' Sports Bar at the back (over the fast food outlet). [Imagine the scrum in there while those on the West Bank are tucking into their canapes. However, with all the bars and two beers store rooms on the West side, they may be chucking them all up again soon.] Again, the South Stand is pretty boring, with the back of it just marked 'void' on my plan.
Second floor
This is where the Director's box is, plus the Royal Club Lounge, the
Vice's President's Club, the Executive Club plus the Director's Guests'
lounge. All the rest of this level (all the way round) is just seating.
Top floor
All the action is again in the West stand. Here we've got the
centrally-positioned TV gantry (a bit like Molineaux), flanked by the
'control room' (ie. Cops' TV room) and a media suite. There are positions
for broadcast TV cameras in the centre of each stand. All the rest is
seating.
There is a place for a video wall above the East stand (and therefore not visible to occupants of that stand - but I gather that this has already been scrapped on grounds of cost). The outside of the stadium cladding will be painted (wait for it) blue and white! However, there will be plenty of that dreary multi-storey car park grey and a splash of red. In conclusion, very impressive.
Only one concern - it surprises me that the West stand seems to have plenty of toilet facilities (including two toilet areas marked for future expansion), while the rest of the ground looks poorly-served in this respect.
Pictures Of The Site As At 12 August 1997
Sorry for the lack of new pictures currently here - this should be resolved soon:
Summary Of Stadium Meeting From 8 May 1997
Thanks to Martin Brailli for all these notes:
The stadium has been designed / orientated so noone will get the sun in their eyes during games ( good news for the North Stand !)
The car park space for 2000 has been calculated by a firm of specialist engineers as optimum for this size stadium. It will take no more than 30 minutes to clear the car park when they are full. The car parks will be free.
The club is contributing 6 million to the cost of the A33 relief road to get it built quicker. It won't be ready until December 98 which means the first 6 home games will have some traffic problems ( not sure why only 6 - surely there are at least 2 a month). The payment was a condition of planning permission.
There will be bike and pedestrian routes built into the stadium and
bike parking for 300 cycles.
There isn't a railway station included yet but the club are discussing
it with the railways and definitely want to have one.
The club will be running supporters coaches from various areas of town
to the ground. The specific example quoted, in response to a question,
was buses from Ford's Farm.
There will be a Sports Hall built next to the training ground which
will be suitable for indoor athletics ( sound slike a big sports hall
!). This has just been added to the plans.
There is 80k sq ft of land available for future development.
There is no hotel included ( Nigel commented when I asked him about
this that one would be built on the away fans car park - not sure
whether this was a serious answer !)
The site is currently 8 m deep in refuse. This won't be removed ( it would cost 45 million to completely clear the site) but will be 'controlled'. A major issue is that Courages draw their water from a chalk acquifer next to the site and were concerned that disturbing the refuse would contaminate the water ( not sure how you'd tell that with Fosters I must admit).
The space under the East and West stands ( the long ones) will be used.
Under the West stand will be lots of hospitality suites, a pitch side
restaurant, 700 seat restaiurant, a creche, club offices etc.
Under the East Stand will be a members only Sports bar with room
initially for 500 to be expenaded to 1500 ( no doubt employing 2 bar
staff). The space under the ends will be developed when the finance is
available.
There will be TVs in all the concourses plus food outlets, betting
shops, merchandising outlets, lots of toilets.
There will be a club superstore.
There is a disabled viewing area right on the half way line at the
back of the East Stand. I hope there is a lift to it - didn't get a
chance to ask.
There is an exhibition area on the ground floor of the Conference
centre which will be sued by local firms to display their products.
The stadium is to a higher specification than any of the other new
grounds built. Howe was impressed by Bolton's new ground but said most
of the others (he mentioned Boro, Sunderland, Derby and Stoke) are
built from a single design. Ours is completely unique and has used
state of the art features throughout.
There won't a a big screen - they cost 1.5 - 2 million each. He has met
with the MD of Panasonic and suggested they give us 2 screens in
return for an Exec box - he's waiting to hear back !
There will be a score board.
A retractable roof would add 15 million to the cost
Build time is 56 weeks starting mid July - look out for wet paint at
the start of next season.
He is certain that we would not be allowed to stay at Elm Park beyond
the end of next season under any circumstances. Converting Elm Pork to
all seater would give a capacity of 8000 and would probably not get
planning permission.
There will be 16 bars in the new ground!
The ground will be owned by Reading FC plc. The Non food retail site ( anchored by B&Q but with other stores also expected) has been sold to B&Q. This had to be done to raise the upfront cash for the stadium, therefore there is no ongoing rental income from that area.
There are no plans to float the club on the Stock Market
Admission prices have not been set yet. They will be higher than Elm
Park ( surprise) but they will not be much higher.
There will be undersoil heating.
The pitch may mix grass and synthetic fibres - they are looking at a
number of options.
The business plan is based on attendances of 12000 growing to 15000 over 3 years. They expect to get more but these are the break evens. Payback on the costs is expected over 5 years ( seems quick to me !). It is assumed we will be in Div 1 for this period.
It will be possible to block book seats so people who have stood
together at Elm Park can sit together.
There will be areas of unreserved seating.
The single tier stands can be expanded to double tiers once we reach
the Premier and sell out every home game!
There will be no cash payments on the turnstiles and the aim is to have unmanned turnstiles. Payment will be by smart card or tickets purchased from machines outside the ground ( not sure about this one - but I think he said no cash on the door !) The club is currently negotiating for a retail outlet in town.
There will be a viewing platform on site to watch the stadium grow,
tours will be run during building. They want people to be able to feel
involved in the stadium from the start.
The seats are to the highest green guide specs (ie they will be big
enough for the largest fans with loads of leg room).
We have had no money from the Football Trust but are top of the list
for the next grant payments.
The floodlights are hung from the roof.
The reserves will probably play on the training pitch. They are keen to attract other sports but need decent gates to make it worth opening the ground, he implied that the rugby club would be welcome but would need to attract more than the players girlfriends to watch.
Our current turnstile income is 1 million and our wage bill is 3 million. He expressed horror at the recent state of other commercial activities but believed that things had improved and would really take off with the new ground.
I hope you got all that ! I was actually extremely impressed by the plans and his comments. This stadium is really something and I can't quite believe that the shambling club we all love to criticise has put something this stunning together.
