How to expand your stadium and when it’s worth it

How to expand your stadium is one of the first questions when the pitch starts to feel too small. But expanding is not always the right call: a bigger stadium costs money, takes weeks to build, carries maintenance on every seat, and if you do not have the support to fill it, it adds nothing. In this guide we explain how works run in ELDT, how attendance is worked out, and when an expansion pays for itself.

The stadium’s three stands

Your stadium has three sections, each with its own capacity and ticket price:

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• Popular: the big stand, with the cheapest entry.
• Platea: the middle section.
• VIP: the priciest one, with the fewest seats.

Each section fills up differently. The Popular gets the highest share of fans attending, and the VIP the lowest, but each VIP ticket is worth much more.

How to expand the stadium step by step

On the Stadium page, right at the bottom, you’ll find the expansions for each section. Each stand has three options of different sizes. For example, the Popular can be expanded by 1.000, 5.000 or 10.000 seats; the Platea by 500, 2.000 or 5.000; and the VIP by 100, 500 or 1.000. The bigger expansions work out better on a per-seat basis.

When you choose one, the cost is charged straight away and the work begins. The build times are:

• Popular: 3 weeks.
• Platea: 4 weeks.
• VIP: 5 weeks.

If you already have work of the same type underway, the new one goes in the queue and starts when the previous one finishes. At the top of the Stadium page you can see all ongoing work, with its progress bar, end date and queue.

The stadium has a total cap of 100.000 seats.

Before you confirm, each expansion shows you the extra money it would bring in per match and how many home fixtures it would take to pay for itself with your supporters and today’s prices. If a section would not fill up, the screen tells you.

Why it does not fill up without enough fans

This is the most important bit. Attendance in each section has two limits: the stand’s capacity and the number of supporters you have. A chunk of your supporters go to the Popular, a smaller share to the Platea and only a tiny number to the VIP. If the Popular already gets all the supporters who can attend, making it bigger will not add a single extra person.

So before you expand, look at how your last home game filled up. If the section is still leaving seats empty, the issue is not capacity: it is the number of people, the price, or the team’s current form.

What affects attendance

Besides supporters and capacity, several things affect every match:

• Price: if you go above the ideal price for each section, fewer people turn up; if you go below it, more do, but they spend less inside on food and the club shop. On the Stadium page you can see your price against each section’s ideal price.
• LED screens: +10% attendance in all sections.
• Parking: +5% attendance overall and an extra boost in the VIP.
• Marketing: an active campaign adds attendance while it lasts.

There is also a small random swing in every match, so two similar fixtures do not produce exactly the same crowd. And friendlies draw quite a lot fewer people than an official match.

How supporters grow

Supporters go up or down after each official match depending on the result, and a heavy win counts for more. Promotion, the title and relegation also play a part. There is a supporter ceiling that depends on your division and the size of your stadium: if you hit that ceiling, winning no longer adds more supporters.

Here is the interesting part: the ceiling is whichever is higher between your division’s limit and 1.5 times your stadium capacity, counting expansions that are already underway. If you are already at your division’s ceiling, expanding gives you room to keep growing. That is the case where an expansion makes sense even if it will not fill right away.

The other stadium upgrades

Expansion is not the only option. Sometimes these upgrades are better value:

• Pitch: better home performance, up to +20% at the highest level.
• Changing rooms: the squad is more comfortable.
• Concessions: each spectator spends more on food and drink.
• Shop: increases how many people buy merchandise and how much they spend.
• LED screens and parking: more attendance.
• Floodlights: lets you play at night.

If your stadium already fills up as it is, improving concessions or the shop squeezes more money out of the same crowd.

What it costs to maintain it

Every seat pays maintenance every week, at Monday’s close. And anything you have invested in upgrades carries a monthly maintenance cost. A huge, half-empty stadium is a fixed expense that gives you nothing back. We explain that in how to manage club finances.

Paying cash or financing it

If you do not have all the money, the bank offers an infrastructure loan that goes straight into the work. Financing always costs more than paying cash, and the screen shows you the comparison before you confirm. It makes sense when the work pays for itself in just a few fixtures.

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A simple way to decide

1. Check how each section filled up in your last few home games.
2. If a section always fills up and you have supporters to spare, expanding it helps.
3. If it does not fill up, work on prices, marketing or attendance boosts first.
4. Check how many fixtures it takes to pay for the work and whether your cash reserves will cope after the close.

For more detail, you have the stadium and staff help and the stadium and finances page. Sponsors also depend on the stands: see how to get sponsors.

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