There is little doubt that this will be upsetting for many supporters, especially since the club received well-deserved accolades for their suicide prevention movie just a few years ago. The value of the tenuous bonds you form with others around you at football cannot be overstated.

They may appear minor in the larger scheme of things, and you may not even know their names, but the relationships formed via traditional match day bonds are absolutely unique to football.

However, Carrow Road redevelopment is something we’ve all been clamouring for forever, and as the phrase goes, you can’t create omelettes without breaking eggs.

Clearly, the club could have been far more clear about its plans and undertaken a larger engagement with supporters before opening the egg box.

There’s no way of knowing where this is headed or what the long-term impact will be on the “match day experience,” to borrow an Americanism that appears to be infecting our borders.

All the talk is that this Carrow Road shake-up is being led by our new owners, who appear to be eager to sprinkle some stars and stripes on NR1. Club officials have also confessed that part of the reason is to extract more revenue from supporters, something I personally don’t object to.

Many people have match day routines that include eating or drinking before a game someplace in the city. If they’re going to spend the money anyway, shouldn’t the club strive to recoup part of it?

When supporters blame football clubs for attempting to generate money, it seems like a contradiction to me, especially because these are the same individuals who will cry blue murder if the same clubs refuse to spend the money.

So, rather than joining the swarm of individuals attempting to disprove the theories, I’ve come up with a few ways we might delve deeper into this way of thinking, with some Transatlantic inspiration.

Capture the experience

Is there anyone that performs a better job of extracting every dime from visitors than theme parks?

Whether it’s Disneyland, Alton Towers, or our own Pleasurewood Hills, almost everything in theme parks gets made into a memento. Rollercoaster reaction photos, with their typical shots of gurning faces and grins at the end of a tremendous drop, are a big moneymaker here.

Imagine a camera trained on each individual seat. Then, after the game, all you have to do is go to the club shop and give your seat number and minute, and Robert is your father’s brother.

A specific age group of fans seemed to be more concerned with documenting their reactions for TikTok or somewhere else, so we should capitalise on that.

Bring your pet—what could go wrong? One of my favourite ever news articles “went viral” in September 2023, and it revolved on ‘pets day’ at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.

Fan Joie Henney was perplexed when he was denied permission to bring in his emotional support alligator to watch the game. However, it is evident that others were free to bring their pets, which makes perfect sense and would create a beautiful and non-problematic environment.

But what about the chances this could open up? No, I cannot either… Sales solicitations are omnipresent. One of the concepts being discussed is the creation of custom zones of the stadium where concession offers can be tailored to specific demographic groups.

This makes logic, so credit where it is due. But here’s where the secret gets missed: there are lots of spots in the ground where goods aren’t being sold, despite the fact that money is available. Based just on television, it appears that America excels at this.

Hot dog vendors traverse the terraces, cheerleaders wielding t-shirt cannons, and people tossing peanut packs. Then there are the restrooms – if nightclubs can have individuals flogging things in the restrooms, why can’t football stadiums?

Embrace virtual reality

I’ll admit, I used technology to help with this column. I made the cardinal mistake of asking AI for thoughts on things you may see in American sports venues that aren’t common here. One of them completely surprised me: interactive fan zones with virtual reality games.

This leads me to an even better idea: why not give fans the opportunity to experience virtual reality throughout the match? Fans may purchase a VR headgear for a little charge and watch the game from their seats, complete with new views, close-ups, and replays.

Even better, the headsets may display various games, ones in which we truly win. Imagine how that might affect mood and atmosphere?

All joking aside, there is only one thing that consistently improves the atmosphere: watching winning football.

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