Norwich City to expand capacity of Carrow Road
David Cuffley Norwich City have confirmed that they plan to put 1,000 extra seats in Carrow Road in time for the new season. The Canaries have been exploring ways to increase ground capacity on their return to the Championship, and chairman Alan Bowkett produced a definite figure yesterday.
David Cuffley
Norwich City have confirmed that they plan to put 1,000 extra seats in Carrow Road in time for the new season.
The Canaries have been exploring ways to increase ground capacity on their return to the Championship, and chairman Alan Bowkett produced a definite figure yesterday.
“We hope to be able to increase capacity for the coming season from 25,900 to 27,000,” he said. “All the new seats will be in home areas.”
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Bowkett, answering selected questions from fans on the club's official website, did not specify where the seats would be installed, but admitted City would not immediately profit from accommodating more supporters.
“Clearly this will cost us money in the short-term, so sadly there will not be any extra cash from the seats this year,” he said, a comment that suggests the extra seating could be a permanent addition to the stadium rather than a temporary stand.
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The chairman also spoke of his long-term vision of a City side playing Premier League football in a 35,000-capacity ground.
He said: “Given the changes in the parachute payment regime from the Premier League going forward it becomes ever more vital that Norwich achieve Premier League status over the next five years.
“Just one promotion to the Premier League would guarantee incremental income of �90m and this should be judged against our total revenue last year of �17m.
“My vision is that we do gain promotion, hopefully stay in the Premier League or yo-yo, which would give the board confidence to extend the capacity at Carrow Road to around 35,000.
“Our calculations indicate that if we were able to fill a 35,000 capacity stadium in the Premier League we could be self-financing and be competitive in that league.
“However, let's not run before we can walk. We do have a vision, we have calculated the finances necessary, but our overriding key objective for the coming season is to do well at football. If we do that, everything else will fall into place.”
