Western Sydney Wanderers are set to receive increased capacity at Parramatta Stadium as early as this season due to an incredible surge in their membership sales.
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The A-League's newest club has already exceeded its target for new members as almost 14,000 season tickets had been sold as of Thursday. This will require the redevelopment of their home ground to be fast-tracked in order to accommodate more supporters.
Wanderers executive chairman Lyall Gorman revealed that the club is negotiating with the state government to add up to 4,000 extra seats to the north and south ends of Parramatta Stadium in time for their first home match of the season on October 20.
''We're also working vigorously with Venues NSW to see what the possibilities are of enhancing the capacity before kick-off. We're working vigorously with them and there's very much a 'can-do' attitude,'' Gorman said.
''There's a whole lot of research being done, feasibilities about increasing that capacity to take our memberships higher and ensure that the footy fan and the new fan can still come and enjoy the experience.''
The federal government had already pledged $20 million towards the redevelopment of Parramatta Stadium with a proposed increase of up to 5,000 seats included in the plans. However, the Wanderers are hoping to advance that stage of the upgrade by extending the north and south stands, bringing the total capacity to about 24,000.
The club is conscious of disturbing the venue's other tenants, the Parramatta Eels, though there will be little disruption to their NRL campaign as their final game at Parramatta Stadium this season is on August9, more than two months before the start of the A-League. The Eels have two more games to play and use the venue for training but support the timing of the proposal.
''We're on board with getting it done as soon as possible but we're working with them to ensure it doesn't disrupt our main focus, which is our football team,'' an Eels spokesman said.
The Wanderers' bid to commence an early upgrade has also received state government backing. ''We understand the Western Sydney Wanderers' pressing need to accommodate additional fans and Venues NSW is currently in discussions with a range of stakeholders, including the Wanderers, about the plans,'' a Venues NSW spokeswoman said.
Due to the unexpected requests for memberships, the Wanderers anticipate that only 20 per cent of the stadium's allocated seating will be made available to the wider public for each match this season. Despite the demand for tickets, the minor premiers have ruled out the possibility of moving high-profile games to larger venues such as ANZ Stadium. Fixtures against the likes of Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory will remain at the more intimate setting of Parramatta, which Gorman says has been one of the leading contributors to the club's off-field success.
''It's probably reinforced it and it's no disrespect to other venues. If there were other venues with 40,000 or 50,000 there wouldn't be the same urgency for fans to become members,'' Gorman said. The spike in members is a timely boost to the Wanderers' financial stability as the process of finding a new owner is gathering momentum. The club is owned by Football Federation Australia. ''Somewhere in the next few weeks I imagine there will be some expressions of interest for it,'' Gorman said.
