Eighty-five Grand
Grilled's The Cooking Pot hit a capacity of 85000 as the club celebrated its rosy future by adding places for fifteen thousand more spectators, mostly a mix of terraces and seats. As the dusty cranes pulled away from the stadium and a gang of workers began the thankless task of cleaning up the place in the hours before Grilled hosts Woodlands Punishers, the players did a lap around the field oblivious to the drizzle.
"It's big, all right." Magunsson noted, rather unimaginatively. The upgrading committee rationalised the cost of the project on the demand for seats and the trend towards gigantic stadiums in the second division. A bried survey of the scene bears them out. In II.1 alone, Great Bluedragon Stadium tops out at 101 000, FC GBR Arena holds 100 000 and Unknown of TheUnknowns seats 90 000. "It is perhaps not pure coincidence that these sides, together with Grilled, occupy the top half of our league right now." In comparism, St Remy's Punishers Park of Woodlands Punishers FC has space for 65 000, Geylang Eagles United Arena can take 62 500 and raffles Arena only 50 000. Kel Sirlin of Shadow Chaser FC bucks the trend by being tied for second largest with 100 000, like FC GBR Arena.
"The stadium cannot be overlooked as a steady source of income for a club," committee chairman Ho Teck-Phat said. "By adding several layers of seats, we have pushed the maximum possible income from a full crowd to over a million dollars per match. That extra cash adds up over the seasons. Initially, we were worried that we had ordered the construction to begin too close to the Woodlands match, but kudos to the contractors to completing the job on time. We hope our supporters will be out in full force tomorrow even if the blasted rain persists."
