2 million cash pumped into the business in return for shares. Reported at companies house.

Edited December 6, 20214 yr by Mounts Kipper

Keep reading how close we are to the motorway we are etc. Its a nightmare getting out for those that go regular. Getting out for non regulars is carnage. Like this lot never happened

Manchester Evening News

Stadium bosses issue statement after car park chaos at Pi...

Fans were still stuck in the car park at the University of Bolton Stadium until the early hours

Edited July 25Jul 25 by RoadRunnerFan

13 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Not sure if you have been to the States. Quite a lot of the Stadia are out of town. I really hope you are right and he see's us as a punt on the football side. The likes of the Coats at Stoke and Gibsons at Boro are in it for the football and are not that bothered about losses year on year and have no interest in using their stadiums for anything other than football. I am sure things will become clearer in the next few weeks, it will be great if football related, but either way i think it could be win,win

I have been but there are seriously different fundamentals between the UK and the US and assuming that things that work in the US will translate to the UK is one of the key things US investors get very wrong.

We do a lot football club deals and one of the things that is often repeated is that average stadium spend per person in the US is about $50. In the UK it’s closer to £5. Yanks assume they can roll out their initiatives and have a massive upside on matchday revenue - it doesn’t work, we’re a different culture.

That’s a slight tangent but the point remains. They don’t make material returns in any other situation than Bolton Wanderers being a Premier League football team.

16 minutes ago, RoadRunnerFan said:

Keep reading how close we are to the motorway we are etc. Its a nightmare getting out for those that go regular. Getting out for non regulars is carnage. Like this lot never happened

Manchester Evening News

Stadium bosses issue statement after car park chaos at Pi...

Fans were still stuck in the car park at the University of Bolton Stadium until the early hours

Aye but that doesn’t stop events happening.

23 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

We don't have to produce players from our Academy to turn a profit on transfers

???

I know.

The point I was making was that not only did we not create much profit from players we brought in and sold on but I can't think of anyone we nurtured ourselves that we sold on for anything worthwhile AND that was the time that we had the best facilities we ever had from Allardyce right up to around the time the club was sold to Holdsworth.

I know the idea is to do both but clearly it isn't necessarily down to what Cat our facilities are - is it?

Seems somewhat of a fools errand to me with the likes of City and United just down the road hoovering up any kid that shows any sign of talent.

25 minutes ago, RoadRunnerFan said:

Keep reading how close we are to the motorway we are etc. Its a nightmare getting out for those that go regular. Getting out for non regulars is carnage. Like this lot never happened

Manchester Evening News

Stadium bosses issue statement after car park chaos at Pi...

Fans were still stuck in the car park at the University of Bolton Stadium until the early hours

That situation can be easily addressed if the moneys there. It should have been considered in the original plans and certainly will be if the intention is to increase the use of the stadium.

My extensive research on the Oak View Group (reading their Wikipedia page) suggests their involvements are entirely based on sporting venues and concert arenas. So I don't get why people are questioning that. There's nothing that would lead you to believe their business is about spunking money on football players.

Ultimately, how many football clubs bang on about staging concerts and becoming a 365 day a year venue? How many have minor shareholders who have links to a shit load of money? How many would like to be Premier League clubs?

The answer is lots of them. There's nothing particularly revolutionary here, just slow and steady attempts to maximise our revenue. That's not a bad thing at all, but it won't lead to Duberry turning up with Mbappe to play Preston.

5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I have been but there are seriously different fundamentals between the UK and the US and assuming that things that work in the US will translate to the UK is one of the key things US investors get very wrong.

We do a lot football club deals and one of the things that is often repeated is that average stadium spend per person in the US is about $50. In the UK it’s closer to £5. Yanks assume they can roll out their initiatives and have a massive upside on matchday revenue - it doesn’t work, we’re a different culture.

That’s a slight tangent but the point remains. They don’t make material returns in any other situation than Bolton Wanderers being a Premier League football team.

They also know that using a stadium 23 times a year makes no business sense

Football is a broken model

Tim Leiweke knows the sector inside out and the area pretty well. He knows the logistics, the market. I doubt he is even bothered in the slightest about getting Bolton to the premiership.

Yes it will be a bonus.....Now the dealbreaker is it worth demolishing the toughsheet and starting from scratch. Only a few can answer that but what it does have is great infrastructure beside both the motorway and rail network and a large catchment area. It is also home to the country's biggest retail park which draws 13m visitors a year.....Yet we use it 23 times a year sheer madness

13 hours ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Could anyone - perhaps @Sluffy - explain what a board observer is?

Someone who finds their observing job boring?

Edited July 25Jul 25 by freds dad

4 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Yes it will be a bonus.....Now the dealbreaker is it worth demolishing the toughsheet and starting from scratch. Only a few can answer that but what it does have is great infrastructure beside both the motorway and rail network and a large catchment area. It is also home to the country's biggest retail park which draws 13m visitors a year.....Yet we use it 23 times a year sheer madness

Ffs lad this isn't happening 🤣

4 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

They also know that using a stadium 23 times a year makes no business sense

Football is a broken model

Tim Leiweke knows the sector inside out and the area pretty well. He knows the logistics, the market. I doubt he is even bothered in the slightest about getting Bolton to the premiership.

Yes it will be a bonus.....Now the dealbreaker is it worth demolishing the toughsheet and starting from scratch. Only a few can answer that but what it does have is great infrastructure beside both the motorway and rail network and a large catchment area. It is also home to the country's biggest retail park which draws 13m visitors a year.....Yet we use it 23 times a year sheer madness

Fair enough, all valid views and opinions.

We’re way apart on what makes sense to a US investor in a northern town’s championship football club but we won’t know until it happens.

Whoever is right, I only hope it benefits the football club

2 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

Ffs lad this isn't happening 🤣

leaving it there

28 minutes ago, tomski said:

Aye but that doesn’t stop events happening.

Pretty sure that was the last one 3 years ago - none this summer so if we are able to get one next year will be 4 years since last one.

19 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

That situation can be easily addressed if the moneys there. It should have been considered in the original plans and certainly will be if the intention is to increase the use of the stadium.

Assume additional trains wouldnt be beyond the wit of man. But in terms of large scale road improvements they are still pissing about with that road through the Loco Works, so dont hold your breath on better motorway access. I can be in The Ale House on foot before many folk are off the car park.

You can't hang around in the Hotel, Nam Ploy etc to let the traffic clear if your gig finishes c10pm.

Edited July 25Jul 25 by RoadRunnerFan

I think we all just need to settle down and see what emerges from these Americans. It doesn't feel like it will affect the short term but hopefully the minimum is that it provides more solidity and resilience about our business model as we look to establish in the Championship and progress. The detail will follow....

If you've got the money stadiums are not difficult to modify, towards the end of the prem days they were stalking about adding 1000 seats.

The roof is structurally supported from the outside, so a new roof wouldn’t be as difficult as some other stadiums.

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

P.s - if there is a roof on it in the next 25 years I’ll bungee jump from it naked.

I reckon the stadium is being rebuilt underground, the land is in such demand

20 minutes ago, jayjayoghani said:

I reckon the stadium is being rebuilt underground, the land is in such demand

Has it sunk that much! 😉

I’ve been to a 4/5 gigs in the stadium over the last few years. The organisation of stuff like catering, drinks & car parking have left a lot to be desired.

But that’s the point. The current board and management are good at running a football club. Running a concert venue, hotels and catering for it is a completely different skill set. The yanks can bring that plus their contact book for artists.

Wasn’t part of the Gartside plan to build another hotel and offices in front of the North stand. Got planning permission from memory but never happened.

U.S. sports executive buys minority stake in second-tier Bolton after Donald Trump pardon - The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7467956/2026/07/24/bolton-tim-leiweke-donald-trump/

1 hour ago, Tombwfc said:

My extensive research on the Oak View Group (reading their Wikipedia page) suggests their involvements are entirely based on sporting venues and concert arenas. So I don't get why people are questioning that. There's nothing that would lead you to believe their business is about spunking money on football players.

Ultimately, how many football clubs bang on about staging concerts and becoming a 365 day a year venue? How many have minor shareholders who have links to a shit load of money? How many would like to be Premier League clubs?

The answer is lots of them. There's nothing particularly revolutionary here, just slow and steady attempts to maximise our revenue. That's not a bad thing at all, but it won't lead to Duberry turning up with Mbappe to play Preston.

Correct, not sure there's much scope for misinterpretation or overthinking of that article, the work being done by them at Venezia further clarifies, at least for me.

Aside for what might be able to be maximised out of the stadium / Premier Suite / hotel, it'd be interesting to see if they explore scope to lever control of the arena and facilities across the road, to build the campus model. Those facilities have never fully realised their potential under local authority control, with the athletics track having been let go to rack and ruin due to long term under investment. Something similar has happened with Robin Park Arena, with control being given over to Wigan Warriors in return for a modest degree of investment. I suspect our people could make a much bigger go of it.

1 hour ago, Sluffy said:

???

I know.

The point I was making was that not only did we not create much profit from players we brought in and sold on but I can't think of anyone we nurtured ourselves that we sold on for anything worthwhile AND that was the time that we had the best facilities we ever had from Allardyce right up to around the time the club was sold to Holdsworth.

I know the idea is to do both but clearly it isn't necessarily down to what Cat our facilities are - is it?

Seems somewhat of a fools errand to me with the likes of City and United just down the road hoovering up any kid that shows any sign of talent.

It was that you responded to a post about us turning a profit from transfers with two posts mentioning only producing youngsters

But anyway

I didn't realise Middlebrook was the biggest retail park in the UK

But is there really much more money to be made from the stadium?

A few more concerts/events over year perhaps but I can't see that it'd generate a huge amount of money

2 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

A few more concerts/events over year perhaps but I can't see that it'd generate a huge amount of money

Pink made us around a million. Prem suite definitely could be used more, sure, but these wouldn't exactly move the needle.

7 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I didn't realise Middlebrook was the biggest retail park in the UK

But is there really much more money to be made from the stadium?

A few more concerts/events over year perhaps but I can't see that it'd generate a huge amount of money

I'd heard that but filed it under local folklore like Bolton being the largest town in Europe told by taxi drivers

2 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

I'd heard that but filed it under local folklore like Bolton being the largest town in Europe told by taxi drivers

I've just checked and apparently it's true

11 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I didn't realise Middlebrook was the biggest retail park in the UK

But is there really much more money to be made from the stadium?

A few more concerts/events over year perhaps but I can't see that it'd generate a huge amount of money

Others have mentioned the Arena. I recall we had a big stake (25%?) in that, when it was constructed. We also owned the waste land between the athletics track and the police station, which was used as an overflow car park in Premier League days.

With all the upheaval in the late 2010s, I don’t know if we still own all this. I’m hoping Michael James’ purchase included this.

if we do, the wider Arena, athletics stadium and, especially, that waste land would be ripe for development that would facilitate 365 days use.

We’re not necessarily just talking about more use of the pitch and stadium.