Excellent stadium - pity about the team! (Kassam Stadium (Oxford United FC))

Member Name: alexbr

Product:	Kassam Stadium (Oxford United FC)
Date:	05/05/02 (959 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good visibility, Excellent facitilities, Looks great

Disadvantages: The quality of the football, Poor public transport, Small car park size

On the field, the last season has been desperately disappointing for Oxford United as they finished in their lowest ever league position. In fact, one of the only positive things to come out of this season has been the move to the excellent Kassam Stadium. It has a capacity of around 12,000 and some excellent facilities. Officials from Real Madrid even came to the Kassam a couple of months ago to have a look at the pitch and want to have a similar one in their Bernabeu stadium. There were suggestions that Real Madrid might even arrange a pre-season friendly against Oxford United this summer to see how the pitch plays. The gulf between the two teams has perhaps scuppered those plans though!

It is a slightly odd stadium though in that it only has three sides with a fence occupying the fourth. However, there is plenty of room for expansion and, if needed, a fourth stand could be built on the final side. In fact, much room has been left for expansion throughout, but, before this can happen, the team must improve on the field.

Whilst the stadium itself looks superb though, the facilities outside need some improvement. Car parking is a nightmare as the stadium's car park fills up about an hour before kick-off due to its small capacity. This means that many people park at the side of the main road, running alongside the stadium. Originally this was banned, but the 'no parking' rule there is no longer enforced as the police have recognised that there is nowhere else for supporters to park. Perhaps the problem is that the only public transport that goes to the stadium are buses, forcing people to use their cars and maybe this could also be looked at, rather than just increasing the size of the car park.

The main other downside is the price of tickets, which are way above most third division teams, probably due to the expense of the stadium but Oxford United have announced that most prices will be freezed for next season so th
is should help. On the other hand, visibility is good and all round the stadium there are excellent views of the matches. The capacity is huge for Oxford United and is perhaps slightly too big for the club's current situation as typical crowds are only around 6,000 so the stadium is only half-full. This mainly shows as one of the two stands running along the length of the pitch is just filled with the away fans, typically under 1,000, leaving three-quarters of the stand completely empty.

However, overall the stadium itself is excellent. It is a stadium geared for the future and is certainly better than many first division side's grounds. Other events are being staged there now too. A couple of weeks ago, the semi-final of rugby union's Parker Pens Shield, Europe's second competition, was held in the stadium and was a great success as Pontypridd beat London Irish 33-27. The final of this competition between Pontypridd and Sale Sharks will also be held at the Kassam. Whilst the current quality of football is poor and may not be value-for-money, there can be no doubting the quality of this stadium.

Summary: