nelbo009 visited Kassam Stadium on 01/01/2013

Game watched: Oxford Uni1ted 1-0 Cheltenham Town

The Kassam is a new stadium, only a few years old, and it would be a lovely little stadium - if it was finished. It only has 3 stands, with one end behind the goal completely open, giving a delighful view over the car park. This means that there is little to no atmosphere, as any noise just drifts out of the ground. There were over 6,000 people there on my visit, but I barely heard anything from the Oxford fans, even when they scored.

Location-wise, it is situated on a retail park on the outside of Oxford itself, meaning there's not a lot of facilities nearby (a Frankie & Benny's, a chip shop, a cinema, and a bingo hall!), and forcing you to use one of the car parks on-site. This means that it's hard to get to by public transport, and if you do drive, you face a long wait to get out of the car park (I waited almost an hour).

Once inside the ground, the food selection is your typical fare of burgers/hot dogs/pies, but at over £8 for a burger, a Bovril, and a packet of crisps, it was expensive. To add insult to injury, the burger was rubbery, and the Bovril lukewarm at best - a poor show all round.

Ticket prices were frankly ridiculous for League 2, at £21.50 for adults - they were £19 in advance, but even that is still a bit steep.

All told, the Kassam has the makings of being a really nice stadium for this level of football, but lets itself down in a number of areas.

Overall
2.5
Atmosphere
2
Location
2
Value for money
1
Pint rating
Not rated
Pie rating
2
Programme
Not rated
Character
Not rated
Stewarding
Not rated
Added 02/01/2013