New White Hart Lane - Delayed

No, it was meant to be their stadium for 1 home game and the PL bent the rules to allow Spurs even that.

I'm personally not overly fussed about the use of two stadiums but the dishonesty and contempt for supporters that Spurs have shown over this is shameful. I'm sure they knew long before that the stadium had no chance of being ready to open in September but waited until a month before to annouce it.
 
All those things are uncontrollable though. You cannot predict the weather conditions or the state of the pitch, it's luck of the draw. This is a conscious decision to allow one side to play in two completely different stadiums. It doesn't bother me personally and who knows whether it's going to be an advantage or disadvantage to Spurs/their opponents but it's clearly not going to be the same for all, which is the purpose of the rule.

Like you, I'm struggling to see the sense in moving for the sake of 4 games. Had they waited until the opening day of next season they could have built it up and had a big grand opening, instead with just two weeks to go they don't even know when the opening will be or who it will be against. A bit of an anticlimax for a £1bn stadium. I can only assume that Spurs have been hit so hard by the spiralling costs of the stadium and costs of hiring Wembley that they've had to move ASAP.
 
HangTime said:
They are pretty predictable, the average low temp in August is much higher than the average high temp in January for example. OT getting made bigger was hardly uncontrollable, they could have capped the number of tickets and not allowed MU to sell more than that number until the following season.
Then you've got transfer windows, not really the same conditions if the opponent has made transfers between fixtures, e.g. last season depending on fixtures you might play Arsenal before or after Sanchez left, that's a conscious decision by the regulating body to permit mid-season transfers.

That said, if the rule is in place it should be adhered to, I guess it was a bit of a weird scenario because the FA have a vested interest in Wembley rather than it just being some random ground Spurs were using.
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Obviously you can have a rough guess at what the weather will be like in August compared to January but the fixtures are drawn randomly and you cannot control whether 1 side will play in perfect 20c weather and the other in a mud bath. It's the luck of the draw. I see your point regarding Old Trafford but relatively speaking that's an incredibly minor change - it's still the same stadium, changing rooms, pitch etc, just +- a few thousands supporters. As for the transfer window, iinm part of the reason why it was introduced was to make things as equal as possible during the season and that was also part of the reason why the PL moved the end of the summer window to fall in line with the start of the season. Clearly there is a need for a mid season window though and having one means that you cannot make things 100% equal but it is pretty much right in the middle of the season and any new signings/sales will/won't be available for pretty much every opposition.

You're never going to have a perfectly even playing field, where every side plays every other in the exact same conditions but it's understandable why the PL would want to put rules in place on things they can both control and where there isn't a justifiable reason for allowing some flexibility. As I've said before, it's not something that particularly bothers me as I can see it having the potential to be both an advantage or disadvantage but once the PL have put the rule in place and given their reasons regarding conditions being equal for all opponents, it seems odd for them to change it for no good reason, particularly for just 4 games.
 
Yea, I strongly suspect it was a tactic from Spurs to drip feed news of the delay. The stadium was meant to open on the 15th September and Spurs were still going with that date right up until a week after the season kicked off(?) despite there being no pitch and cranes all over the place still. Had they announced it before the season had kicked off then there's a good chance the PL would have blocked them moving into their stadium until next season.
 
A bit of a kick in the nuts for Spurs and an odd decision from the PL & Sky that the opening game isn't going to be televised. The Palace game was originally selected to be shown on Sky but they've now changed that and will be showing the City - Cardiff game instead.
 
Janesy B said:
Jokes on them, people will just stream it.
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I think it was an odd decision from Sky, especially as it was due to be televised anyway but I can't see it impacting them. While I'd guess more neutrals would rather watch the Spurs game, I don't think there's a great deal in it because of the title race factor with the other game and I doubt that too many would be bothered enough to find an illegal stream rather than just watch the City game on Sky.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Is it possible Sky don't want to do a live event in a new stadium without having done a broadcast from there yet? As in what if there are issues, drop outs, etc, better that footage goes into a highlights show than a live broadcast that has issues?

anyway, from the pictures of the stadium I see football has finally caught up to modern technology, every seat with a drinks holder... Emirates was a decade too early for this extremely new technology and it's sorely missed. The risk of getting a drink tipped on you when a goal is scored and everyone jumps about like idiots is fully 25% lower at the new Spurs stadium.
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No idea. Not quite the same situation, although the main camera positions etc were in the main stand, but the first game following Liverpool's new main stand was televised. I'm sure the first game at Wembley would have been televised too although I can't remember for certain and similarly, I'd guess the first game at the Emirates would have been too.

As for your 2nd point. I hate the idea of football stadiums having drinks holders, being overly spacious and comfortable. It contributes to the lack of atmosphere we see at modern stadiums. Have all the facilities you like on the concourses but keep the rest of the stadium as a football stadium, not a NFL or MLB stadium were you're sat there for an entire day while nothing goes on.
 
Spurs' supporters trust confirmed that the attendance was down to a few factors. The first 2 rows in the north and south stands weren't open due to concerns over sight-lines, as I speculated there were unsold premium seats and then a couple of hundred seats lost to segregation.
 
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