Stadium
Your stadium is where your fans watch your team, and where much of your income comes from. Club > Stadium shows your ground, your crowds and the state of your pitch.
Your ground
The stadium page shows the capacity of your ground, your crowd and gate receipts at the last home match, and your best and worst crowds this season. It also shows your ticket price and how many seats go to season ticket holders.
Crowds depend on the match. A game between two strong teams draws more fans than one between two weak ones, cup ties draw bigger crowds than league games, and a visit from a club in a higher division pulls in more fans. Derbies and cup finals are always sell-outs. The ticket price makes a difference too.
The pitch
In the premier games, the state of the pitch matters. On a good pitch your players pass the ball better and get injured less; on a worn one, more passes go astray and more players get hurt. Rain and cold days make any pitch play worse.
The pitch wears down a little with every home match, faster in rain, hail and snow, and a worn pitch is restored to good condition at the end of each season. The match report describes its condition. In the free games the pitch is always kept in good condition.
In the premier games
You run the stadium yourself:
- Ticket prices: set the price of a ticket, within limits around the normal price for your ground. Dearer tickets bring in more from each fan, but fewer fans come, so finding the right price is worth the effort.
- Undersoil drainage: counters the rain, so the pitch plays better and wears less in wet weather.
- Undersoil heating: counters the cold, so the pitch plays better and wears less on hail and snow days.
- A groundsman: slows the wear on your pitch through the season.
- A new pitch: with a groundsman, you can re-lay the turf for a pitch in perfect condition. A better groundsman does it for less.
Drainage and heating each come in three levels, basic, normal and advanced, and each level counters more of the weather, with advanced countering all of it. An upgrade is paid for once, costs more at each level, and takes a few weeks to build.
In the free games, the ticket price is set for you, so you can concentrate on the football.