An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom , Spain , and the Netherlands . Most association football and American football stadiums in the United States and Canadian Football League stadiums in Canada are all-seaters, as are most baseball and track and field stadiums in those countries. A stadium that is not an all-seater has areas for attendees holding standing-room only tickets to stand and view the proceedings. Such standing areas are known as terraces in Britain. Stands with only terraces used to dominate the football attendance in the UK. For instance, the South Bank Stand behind the southern goal at Molineux Stadium , home of Wolverhampton Wanderers , had a maximum of 32,000 standing attenders, while the rest of the stadium hosted a little bit less than that; the total maximum attendance was around 59,000.
39-561: The bet365 Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent , Staffordshire , England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City . The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was renamed on 1 June 2016 when the club entered into a new stadium-naming-rights agreement with its parent company, Bet365 . It has a capacity of 30,089 following the completion of expansion works in 2017. The stadium
78-490: A portion of the game from a different angle (such as the bullpen area and centerfield terrace at Seattle's T-Mobile Park ), or are admission-free (such as an area at San Francisco's Oracle Park , where the game is visible from a public waterfront walk, through a series of fenced archways which form a part of the outfield wall). Notable exceptions to this are the NFL Washington Commanders' FedExField, which contains
117-484: A relatively small section far from the playing field, and are often referred to as the "cheap seats" (in baseball stadiums, generally, the bleachers are often located along the outfield . One example of this is in San Diego , where the only ground-level bleachers are located beyond the right field corner, and others are on the top of a historic building in the left field corner). Because standing-room terraces are so uncommon,
156-669: A stunning pre-match display that brings the bet365 to life in a whole new way The away end was moved to the south-east corner ahead of the 2024–25 season with safe standing installed in the south stand. The club also opened a fan zone situated behind the Boothen End named the Boothen Quarter. The stadium also has full conference, banqueting and events facilities and has, as well as football, also staged firework displays and music concerts. The likes of Bon Jovi , Bryan Adams , Busted , Elton John and Rod Stewart have all played out on
195-476: A terrace-style standing room only section in the higher areas above each end zone, and the Dallas Cowboys, who sell standing-room tickets for 4 large endzone terraces and smaller terraces located in the corners of AT&T Stadium . Plans for the future Buffalo Bills stadium include a 5,000-person standing room terrace to compensate for the fact that the stadium, once complete, will be the smallest capacity in
234-620: Is a major trunk road in England between Warrington and Leicester ; historically it was also a major route from London to Leicester. The current A50 runs south-east from Warrington via Junction 20 of the M6 , Knutsford , Holmes Chapel , Kidsgrove and Stoke on Trent to Junction 24 of the M1 near Kegworth , via Derby 's southern bypass . From there it is concurrent with the M1 until Junction 22, where it runs into
273-587: Is used by both home and away supporters can hold 4,996 people. The club's dressing rooms, offices, boardroom, ticket office and club store are positioned between the West and South stands. In 2006, work took place on the A50 to allow direct access to the stadium from the eastbound direction, involving building a bridge across the road. It is close to the Sideway junction with the A500 . At
312-839: The 2006 FIFA World Cup ). Many cricket stadiums in South Africa , New Zealand and Australia are not all seaters, many areas of the ground provide grass banks offering cheaper entry, this means that spectators can sit on the grass. Examples of this include Adelaide Oval , the WACA Ground in Perth and the Basin Reserve in Wellington . North American stadiums rarely have standing-room terraces; rather, many stadiums have bleacher seating, which are tiered seating areas using flat benches and are usually uncovered. In most large facilities, bleachers are in
351-516: The Ultra fans require terraced areas for their choreography. For instance, Borussia Dortmund 's Westfalenstadion (commercially known as Signal Iduna Park) has an all-seated capacity of 65,829, but during Bundesliga games the attendance limit is set to 81,360. (If the general rule "two standing occupies the same space as one sitting" applies, then around 15,000 seats are replaced by 30,000 standing attenders at Bundesliga games.) Meadowbank Stadium ,
390-603: The City of Leicester . The section from junctions 24a (in Lockington-Hemington ) and 24 (in Kegworth ) of the M1 is the former A6, and has not been widened. It has only three lanes westbound from junction 24a. The Stoke-and-Derby section was originally intended to be part of an M64 motorway but this project was cancelled in the 1970s. In November 2013 it was reported that funding would be being made available for improvements to
429-705: The M1 opened, the A50 used to terminate at Hockliffe in Bedfordshire at a junction with the A5 . When the M1 motorway opened alongside the old route south of Northampton it was down-classified as: From that point until the 1990s the southern point of the A50 was at a junction with the A508 in Kingsthorpe , Northampton. In the 1990s, with the opening of the A14 and to discourage traffic from using
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#1732845153519468-715: The NFL. The Boston Red Sox baseball team offers standing room tickets when a game is sold out. The Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers both offer standing room only seating. There are no major standing room terraces; rather, people stand along the edges of the concourses directly at the back of the seating areas. A50 road [REDACTED] A46 [REDACTED] M1 [REDACTED] A453 [REDACTED] A6 [REDACTED] A38 [REDACTED] A500 [REDACTED] A52 [REDACTED] A53 [REDACTED] A34 [REDACTED] A54 [REDACTED] M6 [REDACTED] M56 [REDACTED] A56 The A50
507-476: The atmosphere at the stadium, one of the factors credited with Stoke City's resurgence in the top tier of English football, stating: "The big risk when anyone expands their stadium is that they could lose that 'sell-out' factor, which would affect the atmosphere. I would loathe to give that up." At the end of the 2009–10 season, Peter Coates indicated that the club would wait at least another 12 months before deciding whether to spend up to £6 million on expanding
546-519: The club back to Peter Coates, and soon after the club obtained full ownership of the stadium in a deal worth £6 million following the previous joint-partnership with the Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Stoke-on-Trent Regeneration Ltd. The name of the ground was changed to the bet365 Stadium in June 2016. In total, the stadium cost £14.7 million and took around ten months to construct on
585-602: The club up to standards with the Taylor Report of January 1990 to end 115 years at the Victoria Ground . Along with the possibility of converting the Victoria Ground into an all-seater stadium, relocation was being considered by 1995 and by early 1996 the decision to build a new stadium elsewhere had been confirmed. Construction of the stadium was underway during the 1996-97 season . In August 1997 it opened its doors for
624-453: The club were in no rush to expand the stadium. In April 2016 plans were again revealed for stadium expansion, with a stated completion to be in time for the beginning of the 2017–18 season, which was met. Work began on expanding the stadium to over 30,000 in February 2017 and was concluded in the summer of 2017. Stoke began a £20 million five-year refurbishment project at the stadium beginning in
663-548: The consequences of the Luton Town vs Millwall hooligan riot during their FA Cup sixth round match on 13 March 1985. The first English professional football club to convert to all-seats following the watershed of the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster was Ipswich Town's Portman Road in 1992. The other ground often cited as all-seated in Britain before 1990 was Ibrox , home of Rangers . However, although Ibrox had no terracing after
702-456: The final day of the season, with the visiting side also going down after the relegation-threatened sides above them all won their final games. The club's supporters protested against chairman Peter Coates , who stood down afterwards, only to return in 2006. Four seasons of third-tier football followed with Gunnar Gíslason taking control of the club in November 1999. In May 2006 he sold control of
741-608: The first time as the Britannia Stadium thanks to a £1 million, 10-year sponsorship deal with the Britannia Building Society which was instrumental in the overall funding of the project. Another £4.5 million was given as a grant by the Football Trust . The stadium's opening did not go according to plan, as from the outset there was concern about getting there, as the plans covered only one access road from
780-506: The former site of Stafford No.2 Colliery, which had been closed in 1969. Building work began in late autumn 1996 and was completed in August 1997. The all-seater stadium can hold 30,089 supporters in four cantilever stands. The main West stand consists of two tiers of seating which house 7,357 spectators, plus all of the stadiums corporate and media facilities. The Boothen and East stands hold 6,006 and 8,789 people respectively. The South Stand, which
819-603: The game and famous all over the world. The first such notable casualties were Manchester United's Stretford End and Arsenal's North Bank, both of which were demolished in 1992 to be replaced by new all-seated stands. Two years later, Liverpool demolished their iconic Spion Kop and replaced it with an all-seater stand, while a similar redevelopment occurred with Aston Villa's Holte End. FIFA , UEFA , and CONCACAF also mandate that all matches in competitions that they control be held in all-seater stadiums. This means that in countries where standing terraces are commonplace, either
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#1732845153519858-505: The home of Meadowbank Thistle from 1974 until 1995, was the first all-seated football ground in the United Kingdom. Aberdeen reconstructed Pittodrie in 1978, putting benches on the open south terrace as the final part of a longer-term plan to make the ground all-seated. Subsequent to this, the south side of the ground was covered over, and Pittodrie Stadium was proclaimed as the country's first all-seated, all-covered ground, although
897-489: The nearby A50 , and as a result, spectators arriving from the city or the motorway had to travel up the A50 for over a mile to a roundabout at Sideway and double-back the other way, which caused huge congestion. The stadium was officially opened by club legend Sir Stanley Matthews , then aged 82. After he died in March 2000, his ashes were buried beneath the stadium's centre circle and a statue showing different stages of his career
936-492: The north-west via Leicester, until it was replaced during the 19th century by what has become the A6 . A third route between London and Leicester was via the A5 to Old Stratford , A508 to Market Harborough and thence the A6. That route and the A50 route both passed through Northampton which was a significant calling point on many coaching routes until the arrival of the railways . Until
975-615: The pitch at the ground in addition to the numerous summer music concerts. The stadium hosted the 2002–03 , 2003–04 and 2004–05 playoff finals for the Conference National and on 16 April 2002, it hosted England's under-21s international friendly against Portugal's under-21s . The hosts lost 1–0 with 28,000 in attendance. England U20s and 19s have also used the stadium. All-seater stadium Some European countries do not have all-seater stadiums. In Germany for example standing places are priced more reasonably than seats and
1014-428: The proposals in 1992 saw non-Premiership and second tier clubs retain the option to have standing areas. From time to time there are calls for Premiership stadiums to be allowed to have standing areas, but these have always been rejected. The compulsory introduction of all-seated stadiums in the upper reaches of English football saw the demolition of several famous terraced standing areas which had been iconic throughout
1053-584: The redevelopment which was completed in 1981, there was still a significant standing area in the 'Enclosure', the front portion of the old Main Stand. St Johnstone opened the first purpose-built all-seater football stadium in the United Kingdom weeks after the Hillsborough disaster, with the opening of McDiarmid Park in August 1989. All-seater stadiums have been compulsory in the English Premiership since
1092-501: The road between Leicester and Northampton, the old route was re-designated as A5199 between Leicester and Northampton. At the same time the A50 became the A511 north of Leicester, between Burton upon Trent and Ashby-de-la-Zouch to Leicester when the dual carriageway section bypassing Derby was completed. Part of the route mirrored the plans for the original M64 motorway , with three lanes in some sections – notably between Kegworth and
1131-471: The section around Uttoxeter , with work starting no later than 2015/16. A few days earlier the MP was lobbying for the improvements, stating that improvements were needed to the traffic islands for safety reasons and to improve traffic flow. There are plans for 700 new houses to the west of Uttoxeter and to the south of the A50. Prior to the opening of the M1, the A50 route was one of two main routes from London to
1170-492: The southern corners of the ground remained open to the skies. In 1981, Coventry City converted Highfield Road to all-seating, the first club in England to do so, at the instigation of the then chairman, Jimmy Hill . This move, forced on the fans, proved unpopular, with attendances declining, and terracing was reinstated at one end by 1985. In 1986, Luton Town converted their Kenilworth Road stadium to all-seater status as one of
1209-421: The stadium, saying: "You don't do these things lightly. It is on the drawing board and is something we will consider. But we want to feel confident we can justify it in terms of getting the increased capacity, filling it and it making economic sense." Plans to increase the stadium's capacity to over 30,000 were unveiled in November 2012. By June 2014 work had not started, and the club CEO, Tony Scholes, stated that
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1248-587: The stadiums cannot be used at all, or the standing areas must be closed to spectators. Either temporary seats have to be installed (as is the case with Croke Park , home to the Republic of Ireland national team during the Lansdowne Road redevelopment), or the standing areas must be converted to seating (as is the case with several of the larger stadiums in Germany, many of which were used in an all-seater configuration for
1287-405: The start of the 1994–95 season as a result of the Taylor Report , which gave recommendations to improve stadium safety after the Hillsborough disaster. The initial plan, drawn up in 1990, had recommended that standing areas should be banned from stadiums in the upper two tiers of the league from 1994 onwards, while stadiums in the lower two tiers had until 1999 to meet these requirements. A review of
1326-447: The start of the 2010–11 season, the stadium was accessible via a new underpass under Stanley Matthews Way, to reduce traffic problems with exiting the area back onto the A50. In the middle of 2009, surveyors were asked to investigate the feasibility of filling in one and possibly two of the stadium's open corners. Filling in a corner of the ground would cost approximately £3 million, increasing capacity by around 3,000 seats and taking
1365-416: The summer of 2022 including replacement seats, and upgrades to Delilah's Bar (re-named Ricardo's after Ricardo Fuller ) and corporate boxes. Ahead of the 2023–24 season, Stoke City undertook a floodlighting upgrade to state-of-the-art LED floodlights. With the floodlighting upgrade, the stadium also has the ability to put on light shows – which is now a standard occurrence at every evening game – it produces
1404-641: The term "all-seater" is not generally used. A trend that has emerged, particularly in Europe, is to have convertible seats in parts of the stadium. This means that certain sections can easily be converted between seating and standing capacity, allowing for standing spectators in domestic games while also meeting the requirements for seating-only capacity during European fixtures, as well as other fixtures that require seating-only capacity. When standing-room areas do exist, they are generally not sold separately from seats, but rather are provided for spectators who wish to view
1443-488: The total capacity to over 30,000. In November 2009, chairman Peter Coates said that a decision on expansion would be made at the end of the season and was dependent on the club's Premier League survival. In February 2010, the club were still considering whether to expand the 27,500 capacity by filling in the scoreboard corner between the South and East stands. Chief Executive Tony Scholes cautioned that expansion might jeopardise
1482-525: Was built in 1998 at a cost of £14.8 million as a replacement for the Victoria Ground . Former player Sir Stanley Matthews ' ashes were buried beneath the centre circle of the pitch following his death in February 2000; he had officially opened the stadium on 30 August 1997. In European competitions it is known as the Stoke City Stadium due to UEFA regulations on sponsorships. The all-seater stadium cost nearly £15 million to build and brought
1521-562: Was put up in his honour outside the ground. On 27 August 1997, Rochdale were the visitors for the historic first-ever competitive match – a 1–1 draw in the League Cup watched by 15,439 – and four days later the first-ever league game took place against Swindon Town before a crowd of 23,859. The first season at the new ground was a disappointing one as Stoke were relegated from the First Division, losing 5–2 at home to Manchester City on
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