Stadium expansion realistic or not?

I've been asking my FC United board to expand the Gigg Lane stadium regularly for the past two years in the hope that they decide to build the team their own stadium in a few years. I knew that every time I asked, the board would say the stadium isn't ours to expand. I just got promoted to the Premier League, and my board suddenly decided it's possible for them to expand Bury's stadium. I had to foot the bill, splashing out 3.4M on the 2750 seat expansion. I am a bit annoyed that FC United are now funding Bury's stadium expansion, as I only had about 5M in the bank which I've worked really hard to get. Now I'm back down to 1.6M, and I won't have any funds to buy any Premiership quality players at all. So is this realistic, or is the game just being dumb?

The stadium building/expansion is terrible in FM, Ive never had an expansion or new stadium despite making QPR the 2nd richest team in the world and winning the CL.

Just be thankful you got one, youll get more money in the long run.

I've read on the forums things about boards only building new stadiums every 20 years or so. Does this also apply with stadium expansions? Because of this expansion, will I have to wait years and years to get a new stadium if I do well?

It is the game not coping very well with the fact that you are groundsharing but also need to meet the stadium requirements for the Premier League.

If you can stay in the Premier League then I would expect you to get your own new stadium before long.

I've read on the forums things about boards only building new stadiums every 20 years or so. Does this also apply with stadium expansions? Because of this expansion, will I have to wait years and years to get a new stadium if I do well?

Yeah I have heard this too, which is a tad annoying.I think it should be a tad more 'random', not as easy as every 20 years you will get a new stadium etc. I think it shoudl depend on your success, capacity, fan base and finances (amongst other things!)

The stadium building/expansion is terrible in FM, Ive never had an expansion or new stadium despite making QPR the 2nd richest team in the world and winning the CL.

They just take a while, that is all. I've had four new stadia with the same club.

How many seasons have you played? How big is the current stadium? When was it built? Will the council allow an expansion?

Yeah I have heard this too, which is a tad annoying.I think it should be a tad more 'random', not as easy as every 20 years you will get a new stadium etc. I think it shoudl depend on your success, capacity, fan base and finances (amongst other things!)

That is how it works, new stadia are built when they are needed, not just every 20 years regardless of the situation. The gap between new builds is just to stop too many new grounds being built.

They just take a while, that is all. I've had four new stadia with the same club.

How many seasons have you played? How big is the current stadium? When was it built? Will the council allow an expansion?

18k, no expansion allowed with over a decade of success. In reality, plans are already being made now and there would be a new stadium within 2 or 3 years after promotion. This has happened in every single game in about a decade. Ive never had a new stadium in any FM.

Hopefully asking the board in FM11 will result in the right answer rather than being sacked for demanding it in the above scenario.

18k, no expansion allowed with over a decade of success. In reality, plans are already being made now and there would be a new stadium within 2 or 3 years after promotion. This has happened in every single game in about a decade. Ive never had a new stadium in any FM.

Hopefully asking the board in FM11 will result in the right answer rather than being sacked for demanding it in the above scenario.

That does sound a bit odd. After 10 years at the top you would expect a new stadium at the very least. Has anyone else had similar experiences with QPR?

It sounds even stranger that you have never had a new stadium in any FM, I think I've had one in every save game (apart from one in Brazil) since the feature was introduced.

Just had a quick look in the QPR thread, there are two people in there who have had a new ground built in 2014. Maybe you are just really unlucky?

I've been promoted from BSN to the Premiership in consecutive seasons, and in the Championship I was filling the stadium in nearly every game. Hopefully I stay up this year, and if I manage my finances (which I'm pretty rubbish at), I'll get a new stadium within the next couple of years.

Success and big crowds are more important than finances in getting a new stadium. If you can generate enough interest in the club to warrant a new ground then the board will take out a loan to cover it as it will be beneficial in the long run.

You probably won't want to hear this, but with my FC United game (FM09), I had a new stadium built after my fifth year in the Premier League.

This made me laugh. A month after saying they're expanding the stadium, I asked my board for another expansion out of curiosity, and they have gone back to saying they can't expand the stadium as we don't own it! lol!

This made me laugh. A month after saying they're expanding the stadium, I asked my board for another expansion out of curiosity, and they have gone back to saying they can't expand the stadium as we don't own it! lol!

I think there is a coded minimum stadium capacity of around 12000 for the PL in FM (not sure it is the case in real life). The expansion you got was to meet this requirement, the game just overlooks the fact you cannot expand the stadium and does it anyway.

You won't get another expansion of Gigg Lane, next time they will build a new stadium.

Cheers for your help dafuge.

Just had a quick look in the QPR thread, there are two people in there who have had a new ground built in 2014. Maybe you are just really unlucky?

No its a bug/feature not working for sure. It doesnt mean theres noting wrong just because it works for couple of people.

Ive played over 50 games over the years and it hasnt happened once. It should happen every time you become a fixture in the PL.

I think it's possible you might get another expansion, I had the same situation with my Chelmsford City side, they wouldn't expand from 3k capacity (saying the council wouldn't allow it) until I got to the prem, where I groundshared with Southend for a year while they expanded our stadium. It was expanded 3 times, despite any time I asked they still said the council wouldn't allow it, it's now a 26k capacity stadium, but as it was built in 2006 I'm still waiting for a new one.

No its a bug/feature not working for sure. It doesnt mean theres noting wrong just because it works for couple of people.

Ive played over 50 games over the years and it hasnt happened once. It should happen every time you become a fixture in the PL.

How long do you play each game for?

I've noticed that expansions and new grounds seem to take that little bit longer than you would expect, but being patient and sticking with it usually does the trick. What is the longest game you've had?

Here are my new grounds, just so you can see that it is possible:

Stadium 1

Stadium 2

Stadium 3

Stadium 4

I think that teams should look at the option of building new stadiums more frequently than is currently seen in FM10, especially the top teams. Whilst in most cases it wouldn't be feasible at least it would be nice to see that the board were at least looking towards solving the problem.

I have a similiar problem to the person playing as QPR except I'm MK Dons. The existing stadium has been maxed out to just over 40,000 (which is at least a reasonable size). It is very frustrating that all my requests lead to a sorry we can't get planning permission message. I'm guessing where it's only 2021 in my game and the existing stadium was built in 2007 that I need to wait for quite a while yet before I'll see any progress

Any chance for dafuge to show his stadiums!!! Its nepz all over!!! Only joking!!! I nwver get tried of saying great achievements!

I had to wait about ten years for a stadium with Blackpool but mostly because it was due to the council blocking the expansion. Then in 2021 after winning champs lge and for the last three seasons filling it 90% of the time (20k capacity) they built a new stadium with 31607 - filling that pretty well at the mo too - however they didnt name it after me!

Playing as Barnet I promoted to PL and got the "automatic 12500 capacity increase" in season 2022/23. After 5 years avging at 12400 per season I got a new stadium built two months into the 2028/29 season (capacity of 29985). In the 3 seasons before I got the message about the new stadium I had achieved a 8th, 4th and a 6th place in the league and 2 LC-finals where I won one.

From 2027/28 to 2034 I've won PL 7 times in a row(28-34), won the CL 3 times(29, 33, 34), the euro cup once (28), FA cup 3 times (32, 33, 34) and 3 supercups, 6 community shields and 2 Club WC.

And after this success I've got an expansion in 2030 (44977), 2031 (55149) and in 2032 (59970).

59970 is the max capacity at this stadium (fmrte), and my "Average attendance" (again fmrte | the number that really counts when it comes to expansions) is currently at 68000 (as I read this number it's "how many homefans that would be willing to see the team play an avg PL-match), so its 'bout 10000 (home)fans that wants to by, but cant get a ticket when I'm playing the avg mid-table PL-team.

But i reckon I need an "Average attendance" of about 75-80000 before I get a new stadium, and currently they responds my requests with the "cant get planning permission-card"

They just take a while, that is all. I've had four new stadia with the same club.

But is that really realistic tbh? I mean can you really see say arsenal selling the emirates stadium in say 15 years and building a brand new 90,000 stadium elsewhere, then just 20 years later they sell that and build another brand new 120,000 stadium somewhere else? it's just not going to happen for any club really is it?

Look at how long it can take for teams to expand/get new stadiums IRL. It doesn't happen overnight, taking 10 years isn't unrealistic I don't think. What would be nice would be some sort of update on progress of talks, planning permission etc, rather than than it being a single event.

How long do you play each game for?

I've noticed that expansions and new grounds seem to take that little bit longer than you would expect, but being patient and sticking with it usually does the trick. What is the longest game you've had?

Here are my new grounds, just so you can see that it is possible:

Stadium 1

Stadium 2

Stadium 3

Stadium 4

Decades, its ruined every long term game Ive ever played, the last game I even ticked the sugar daddy option and guess what, no new ground.