Commercial Projects

Arsenal Eyes Major Upgrade of Emirates Stadium

The club has started talks on upgrading the 60,000-seat stadium.

Updated on

August 18, 2024

The Emirates Stadium, Holloway, North London. PHOTO | COURTESY

The US-based billionaire owners of the iconic British football club Arsenal are considering a major expansion or upgrade to the club’s current Emirates Stadium.

The Kroenke family, which took full control of Arsenal in 2018, is weighing plans for the development of the 60,000-seat stadium that has been home since 2006.

Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke told ESPN in an interview that internal discussions on the future of the stadium are already underway.

“It would be premature to talk about any plans in depth, but the internal conversations are starting to occur about [the stadium],” Kroenke said.

He acknowledged the complexity of such a renovation but expressed optimism about the potential improvements.

“It is not an easy renovation, but we see the possibilities of what’s there.”

Since the move from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006, a host of renovation works have been carried out around the headquarters, part of which includes roof repairs and changing giant screens inside the ground.

With the ever-growing fan base of Arsenal, there is pressure to expand the capacity of the Emirates Stadium beyond the current 60,000-seater limit.

This is nevertheless not an easy move to make, and according to reports, a change in the Emirates Stadium seating plan is very difficult to consider.

The stadium design may not accommodate an extra tier, and financially, raising funds and recovering the investment with interest could be complicated.

However, the Kronke family, which owns large sports teams in the USA is looking at finding out what is the best course of action to fulfill the club’s needs.

Renovation of the Arsenal Stadium will no doubt provide a much-needed boost to the team in terms of capacity but also the level of satisfaction for their fans.

The move to increase Emirates Stadium’s capacity or even conduct renovation works will continue to face scrutiny from fans and analysts alike with the club continuing to command an ever-growing supporter base.