Are 3G pitches really that popular?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18285716

I guess a lot of people thought they were better than they actually are, not much support from leagues 1 and 2, players, fans and officials by the looks of it!

These pitches are not popular with clubs because they block promotion and progress. This is the real issue, not the quality or the benefits of the pitches themselves.

This will have the same knock on effect in the Conference. Their clubs will not be interested if it prevents progression into the football league.

This decision will be a massive blow to Redditch United.

That's the sacrifice you make when installing a 3g pitch as a first team pitch, sacrificing promotion, bigger crowds and more money and the f.a cup potential for an income stream and -£500,000 out of the bank account (however much the pitches usually are)

Personally, for non-league clubs, for the sake of a few games called off, they're not worth having, no many non-league clubs have half a million anyway! let alone to use on a 3 pitch which may pay for itself over a period of what? 5 years? whereas a good F.A cup run would keep alot of teams going for alot longer.

I can see why not many lower league clubs want them

Del is correct.

Clubs want these as they can maximise income by using the pitch/ground/clubhouse to increase revenue. In an ideal world you would have a facility like Studley have where you can have income from the pitch and from the bar.

rawlings09 wrote:

Personally, for non-league clubs, for the sake of a few games called off, they're not worth having, no many non-league clubs have half a million anyway! let alone to use on a 3 pitch which may pay for itself over a period of what? 5 years? whereas a good F.A cup run would keep alot of teams going for alot longer.

Reducing the chance of games being called off because of bad weather is not the only reason!!!!!!! A 3G pitch can generate revenues of 2k-3k per week, plus income from regular use of the clubhouse.

How often do we have money spinning FA Cup runs? Once every….. never!! Do you really think that the unlikely chance of a good FA Cup run is really better than regular, guaranteed income?

rawlings09 wrote:

I can see why not many lower league clubs want them

"However, discussions at the meeting in Portugal on Thursday revealed a 13-11 majority in favour of artificial surfaces in League Two."

This is a quote from the link that you provided. This vote is hardly "not many".

del boy wrote:

rawlings09 wrote:

Personally, for non-league clubs, for the sake of a few games called off, they're not worth having, no many non-league clubs have half a million anyway! let alone to use on a 3 pitch which may pay for itself over a period of what? 5 years? whereas a good F.A cup run would keep alot of teams going for alot longer.

Reducing the chance of games being called off because of bad weather is not the only reason!!!!!!! A 3G pitch can generate revenues of 2k-3k per week, plus income from regular use of the clubhouse.

How often do we have money spinning FA Cup runs? Once every….. never!! Do you really think that the unlikely chance of a good FA Cup run is really better than regular, guaranteed income?

rawlings09 wrote:

I can see why not many lower league clubs want them

"However, discussions at the meeting in Portugal on Thursday revealed a 13-11 majority in favour of artificial surfaces in League Two."

This is a quote from the link that you provided. This vote is hardly "not many".

Guarunteed income? There's already 2 clubs in the localish area with a 3g facility... so there's 2 competitors already! Say the rugby club gets one, then the hockey club? Ours won't make as much if people aren't using it!

I agree that it's unlikely that we'll get a good cup run year in, year out, but it's nice to have that option... Redditch United Vs Kettering Town... 1101 on a tuesday night with very little advertising... imagine FC United of Manchester, saturday afternoon, more advertising etc, that would make more in 1 day than the 3g would in a week! Then should we win and progress, another home tie, first round propper... i know it's easily said but it could happen.

I'm not completely against them, but like leethal said, studley have the perfect setup there.

studley may seem to have the perfect set up with the 3g pitch but i dont think it is their pitch and i dont think that they get the revenue from it.