Economics time.

PPL opened in 2010. The reason the owners (the soccer club) don't want to expand too quickly is supply and demand. If they can have lots of soccer sell-outs at 18,500 seats, you have a high demand product with a limited enough supply of seats that you can keep ticket prices fairly high.
Addition of supply (seating) is allowed but only slowly as to not over-saturate the market too quickly. It looks like 4-5 years is their interval for adding seats to the venue. So...extrapolating that based on the article...

2010 to Current: 18,500 seats
2014: 20,000 seats (+1,500 seats)
2018: 27,000 seats (+7,000 seats)
2022: 30,000 seats (+3,000 seats)

And this is, of course, based on best case scenarios like constantly growing the soccer fanbase's demand, the economy, etc.

(06-07-2011 11:07 AM)panama Wrote:  2014 is too late. I still cannot believe Villanova was not more pro-active in getting a viable plan done.

Nova wouldnt be able to join until 2015 anyways. Now they will have a shiny 20k stadium ready for the BE.

If the BigEast takes a team with a 20,000 seat stadium they should be kicked out of the BCS

(06-07-2011 11:27 AM)TIGER-PAUL Wrote:  Duke's stadium not much bigger.

Yea, and Duke is terrible. I don't think anyone would bring Duke in to improve football.

The BEast has no interest in Duke - football or basketball...

(06-07-2011 05:10 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  The BEast has no interest in Duke - football or basketball...

I was replying the a poster who mentioned Duke as a comparison to Nova. My response was that no one was interested in Duke, so comparing Nova to Duke was futile and only proved the point that, even a 30k soccer stadium, was wholly unimpressive.

Depending on which year you draw from, even a 30,000 seat stadium would leave you, at best, at the very bottom of attendance among BCS schools.

(06-07-2011 05:14 PM)Nola Gator Wrote:  

(06-07-2011 05:10 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  The BEast has no interest in Duke - football or basketball...

I was replying the a poster who mentioned Duke as a comparison to Nova. My response was that no one was interested in Duke, so comparing Nova to Duke was futile and only proved the point that, even a 30k soccer stadium, was wholly unimpressive.

On that we agree. Anyone with half a brain can see that. If they can't see that, we know they're working on less than half a brain...

Quote:Nova wouldnt be able to join until 2015 anyways. Now they will have a shiny 20k stadium ready for the BE.

The B...C...S...Big East conferance is supposed to be (((IMPRESSED))) by a 20,000 seat soccer stadium???

I look at it like this, there are MAC and Sun-belt team with stadiums bigger than 30k. 30k is far to unimpressive IMO. And 20k in 2014 then stepping up to 30k is a joke (sorry Nova fans, just calling it like I see it). ECU for example, DFS has been 35 from like 1978 to 1998, then 43,000 until the move to 50,000 in 2010, and now 58,000 as early as 2016 and possibly 60,000 with room to grow.

I understand Nova needs to build it's fb fan base and it would take some time, but I just don't see the fb playing members going for 20 to 30k, 45k I'd say would be a good starting point and moving up from that point, If a plan like that was presented, Nova probly would already officially be the 10th fb playing team.

A 45K seat stadium would be pointless for Nova. They couldn't fill close to that. If we were building an on-campus stadium, it would likely be 38-42K to start.

(06-07-2011 10:58 AM)swagsurfer11 Wrote:  Will it come with fans?

You could conduct Villanova football in ECU's basketball arena.

Sorry but this is all too comical. Is THIS what the Big East has come to?

(06-07-2011 11:32 AM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote:  Negative Nellies. You must all be anti-Catholic. Either that or anti-basketball.

I call baloney on the whole Nova idea.
And that literally from a former alter boy back in the day.

(06-07-2011 04:06 PM)SMUmustangs Wrote:  If the BigEast takes a team with a 20,000 seat stadium they should be kicked out of the BCS

Sadly, I could not agree more.

(06-07-2011 10:13 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  A 45K seat stadium would be pointless for Nova. They couldn't fill close to that. If we were building an on-campus stadium, it would likely be 38-42K to start.

If Villanova were to build a 40K seat on campus stadium, and show a plan for filling it, my opposition would immediately subside. However right now their plans are so unbelievably moronic that they are bordering on being patronizing and offensive.

I'm sorry but anyone who looks at Villanova's plan of maybe expanding to 20K in the next four or five years, and then possibly 23K down the road, then potentially going to 27K yet further down the road, before finally one day feasibly reaching the magic number of 30K seats; and decides that is an acceptable plan needs to have his or her head examined.

There is just no other way to say it.

Look, I like Villanova too and if all things were equal - or even remotely close to being equal (like on the same planet) - they would deserve the nod over all of the other candidates by virtue of our longstanding mutual relationship. However every single thing we have heard from them to this point has been so far shy of the reasonable threshold that I have very little optimism that they are ever going to come remotely close to reaching the level we need them to reach for them to be an acceptable choice for expansion.

If they can't even get their basic stadium situation in order then how on earth can anyone expect them to put the resources into their program that are going to be necessary to help propel the league forward? Where are they going to find the money to build something like UPMC Sports Performance Complex in Pittsburgh or the Hale Center in Piscataway or the Burton Family Complex in Storrs? Those facilities cost those schools hundreds of millions of dollars to build and VU can't even come up with $20 million to expand the the soccer stadium to a measly 30K seats.

This isn't even close.

Now, I want to caution people that does not necessarily mean that we need to take ECU or UCF (or both) in their place. We could just stay at nine teams and let it ride for a while to let things sort themselves out a bit before we enter into any sort of long term partnerships. However, I don't care if we've been partners for 1,000 years, if the Big East takes on a program that basically doesn't have a legitimate stadium at which to play its home games, we are going to be (correctly) destroyed by the national media for our indefensibly arrogant decision.

The cacophony of howls for us to surrender our BCS bid will grow deafening and the addition of TCU will have been effectively neutralized by adding a 1-AA program who plays in a teeny tiny off campus soccer stadium.

We can't possibly be this inept. I refuse to believe that our leadership would be incompetent enough to make such a ghastly mistake.

Tell Nova to stay 1AA BE schools will try and schedule them for their 1 or 2 bcs games.

(06-07-2011 10:13 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  A 45K seat stadium would be pointless for Nova. They couldn't fill close to that. If we were building an on-campus stadium, it would likely be 38-42K to start.

As a point if fact, Nova can't fill their 12,000 seat stadium now, while winning FCS national titles. And as another posted, they couldn't fill ECU's basketball stadium with their football fans. Nova has a good history and a GREAT basketball program and fan base, but fb on other hand, ODU or Valdosta ST. are better choices as far as FB and FB fans support goes. Nova has about the same issue as Duke, they could sell 50,000 tickets for bb, but can't get 20,000 for fb. That is a problem that just can't be fixed over night or in a decade for that matter.

I find it amusing how many get worked up over what they think should happen and not focus on what IS happening. Whether we like it or not, the Big East has made Nova part of the football equation. Now they have tabled them for expansion but it still appears that the issue is still open ended for Nova.

I do think it has been made clear that the football league WILL expand to 10. The conference wants the 45 games the 9 game conference schedule will bring them. That make sense math-wise even if the 10th team were Georgetown or a local High School football team.

Nova needs 6 votes from the football schools. Pitt and Rutgers are said to be firmly opposed, WVU is said to need see a better stadium option.

All the other candidates (CUSA schools, Temple) need 12 votes from all the schools to join.

From some reports I have read, I don't think BYU was ever seriously considered. Those rumors appear to have come from BYU alumni trying to see if they can get the Big 12 to give them a call.

So basically the issue in a nutshell is can Nova get WVU to change their vote? What will that require?

Otherwise, how will any other school get 12 votes from all the schools?

I still think Nova will be the link to 12. One issue is with JUST Nova you wouldn't have the 9 game conference schedule by the time the new TV contract starts because they can't move up till 2015 at the earliest and the new contract starts with the 2014 football season.

Thus what you may see, is the Catholic schools will hold 10th member (i.e. UH, ECU, UCF) hostage until Nova is approved. If/When Nova is approved, then the 10th member will be allowed to move up in the 2014 season, with Nova and one other member coming up in 2015.

(06-08-2011 11:05 AM)ecumbh1999 Wrote:  Nova has about the same issue as Duke, they could sell 50,000 tickets for bb

Not really. Their basketball fanbase isn't really anything special. They basically picked up almost all of the non-affiliated fans in Philadelphia once Coach Chaney started to lose it and our basketball program spiraled. They give us crap for our attendance numbers, but everyone knows how laughably inflated theirs are at the Wachovia/Wells Fargo Center.

JHG - Your assertion is patently false. Here are some BB attendance facts to clear up your cherry-colored glasses:

NCAA BB 2010 attendance figures:

38. Villanova 14 153,105 10,936 (as amply noted by some many on this board with a meager student body 7,500 and small alumni and yes bolstered by opponent fan attendance but that's the beauty of being in the BE)

83. Temple 14 89,263 6,376 (student body 30,000, with 15,000 now living on or near campus so why only avg of 6,376?)

2009:

52. Villanova 17 159,876 9,404
90. Temple 11 65,258 5,933

Also, NCAA BB attendance during the Chaney era (see http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketba...d/1997.pdf (and just chg the year to move around):

1999:
54. Villanova 15 128,106 8,540
61. Temple 12 95,101 7,925

1998
54. Villanova 14 117,472 8,391
57. Temple 13 103,536 7,964

1997
39 Villanova 15 149,558 9,971
Temple not listed in Top 100

1996:
50 Villanova 14 130,392 9,314
Temple not listed in Top 100

1995:
60 Villanova 13 104,693 8,053
Temple not listed in Top 100

1994:
78 Villanova 14 91,924 6,566 Down
Temple not listed in Top 100

1993:
73 Villanova 13 89,368 6,874
Temple not listed in Top 100

1992:
65. Villanova 11 83,920 7,629
151. Temple 9 30,558 3,395

1991:
48. Villanova 12 111,693 9,308
130. Temple 12 50,523 4,210

1990:
58. Villanova 13 110,540 8,503
111. Temple 14 67,880 4,849

1989:
63. Villanova 15 116,663 7,778
120. Temple 11 47,159 4,287

1988 (TEMPLE WAS A No. 1 seed and ranked No. 1 in country as one point):
55. Villanova 13 105,565 8,120
114. Temple 12 54,000 4,500

1987 (THIS WAS THE YEAR TEAM WAS a NCAA No. 2 seed):
60. Villanova 16 117,734 7,358
140. Temple 15 52,418 3,495




http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/8753...967b4a3893