Skip to main content

United could offer VVIP experience to global fans

 The key debate around either refurbishing Old Trafford or building a state-of-the-art, 100,000-seat arena on a site adjacent to Manchester United's 114-year-old home continues.

Some insiders believe Ratcliffe and his Ineos operation are leaning towards a brand new home, undaunted by the challenge it represents at a time when Ineos is also building the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe for 30 years. Ineos has had to raise close to £3billion to finance Project One in Antwerp, which is roughly a billion more than it will need to fund Old Trafford, even if it does go for the more expensive option.

The plan, as things stand, is for the task force chaired by Lord Coe to return in the new year with a feasibility study. Their focus is on “the art of the possible”, with the task force exploring both options within the broader regeneration project.

Assisting them at this stage are Foster & Partners, the British firm of architects already working on the £50million regeneration of United’s Carrington training base and also now tasked with looking at the broader footprint around Old Trafford.

A new stadium would cost more, even if renovation on the scale of what has been completed at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu would be likely to cost United more than a billion pounds. But what United will examine in detail are the long-term revenue benefits of a new stadium designed with a greater capacity for hospitality.

Dan Meis, who designed Everton’s new home at Bramley Dock told The Times: “At Everton they didn’t come to that decision easily because, again, they were giving up a pretty historic ground, ” But at United, while I haven’t been involved in their more recent efforts, I think there really is a belief that there’s an opportunity to significantly improve the revenue generation in a new building that you might not be able to do in a renovated building.”

As Meis points out, United has a global fan base with some extremely wealthy supporters.  ‘There is an opportunity to create a VVIP tier, a very high-level experience.’

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...
Post a Comment
Read more