Inside Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium expansion plans that could see pitch torn up as owner admits renovation ‘not easy’

EVEN the famous marble halls of Highbury had to be torn down to make way for improvements.

Now Arsenal may have to rip up their pristine Emirates Stadium pitch to catch up to their rivals with their stadium falling behind the growing standards in the Premier League.

Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke has revealed that there are already “internal conversations” about renovating Emirates Stadium – just 18 years after the ground was first opened.

Speaking in July of this year, Kroenke told ESPN: “It would be premature to talk about any plans in depth, but the internal conversations are starting to occur about [the stadium].

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

What’s there is a 60,000 seat stadium that is already beginning to look outdated and perhaps too small for the Gunners’ growing fanbase.

Why now?

When the Emirates was first constructed back in 2006, its 60,704-seat capacity made it the second largest ground in the Premier League – lagging only behind Old Trafford’s mammoth 76,000 capacity.

Now it sits as the FIFTH largest in the league after Tottenham constructed their new 62,850-seat home, Liverpool expanded their Anfield capacity and West Ham moved into the London Stadium.

While the Gunners will slip even further down that list in the near future as Man City continue work to expand the North Stand at the Etihad and Aston Villa plan to increase the capacity of Villa Park.

Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium will only host a relatively small 52,888 capactity.

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But with Newcastle, Chelsea and Man Utd all looking to secure new homes or expand their current grounds in the coming years, Arsenal could fall even further behind.

Arsenal won’t just want to keep up with the pack but will also want to cram as many of their fans into the ground as they can.

The north London club sell out the Emirates every week and have well in excess of 100,000 fans patiently waiting on the season ticket waiting list.

While there’s already been significant signs of wear and tear with a leaking roof soaking supporters on multiple occasions.

How could it be expanded?

There has long been speculation that the Emirates can’t be built upon and that Arsenal would be stuck with their current capacity for the foreseeable.

However, it is now claimed by some that there are two possible ways that chiefs at the club could fit in some more seats.

One route would be to remove the roof – which isn’t significantly attached to the stadium’s main bowl – and either add additional rows to the existing fourth tier or a build a brand new fifth tier on top.

While a different option that has been suggested is to DIG DOWN on the pitch and add additional seating in the space between the current front row and the edge of the playing area.

This idea was already used by Arsenal’s owners when they built the incredible 70,000-seat SoFi stadium in the USA, home of NFL team the LA Rams and Chargers.

It’s not known exactly what size the Emirates could be expanded to but rumours have suggested that the expansion could extend the capacity to somewhere between 75,000 and 80,000.

What else could be improved?

Arsenal have already made some improvement to the stadium in recent times.

Just last season they redesigned the entire facade with new artwork, as well as bringing in new giant 360-degree screens for fans to watch replays and working on the leaky roof.

But fans will be hoping there can be improvements to the concourses with a lack of efficiency in the bathrooms and bars leaving supporters missing goals when they’re grabbing their half-time pint.

The club have introduced new self-service bars, but there is certainly more that could be done to enhance the fan experience.

Supporters will also be hoping for a new statue on the outside of the ground to join Arsene Wenger, Herbert Chapman, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams in being immortalised in bronze in N5.

Perhaps an Ian Wright or David Rocastle statue may soon follow.

Challenges of revamping stadium?

Josh Kroenke has already said that any renovation wouldn’t be “easy”, and other clubs have shown the downside of what could happen.

Both Liverpool and Fulham had to play in front of reduced crowds while upgrading their stands, meaning decreased matchday revenue.

Arsenal may also have to foot the bill for increasing the capacity of local transport links if they upped the capacity of the Emirates.

Their 2006 construction saw they pay for improvements to Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park stations.

But an expansion could mean changes were needed at Arsenal, Holloway Road and Drayton Park – with the last two currently closed on matchdays.

How much would it cost?

Other expansions in the Premier League have not come cheap.

Liverpool spent £80m to extend the Anfield Road Stand, Fulham splashed around £120m to revamp the Riverside Stand and Man City are in the midst of a £300m change to the Eithad.

The Emirates only cost £390m to build in the early 2000’s and an expansion could run them somewhere close to that figure again.

Is is worth it?

With increasingly strict FFP and PSR regulations being put in place clubs are having to try and boost their revenue as much as possible.

Selling tickets is one of the biggest ways to rack up some more cash with north London neighbours Spurs raking in a whopping £4.8MILLION per home game since they moved into their new stadium.

During the 2022/23 season Arsenal made a total of £102.6m across 24 home fixtures, that’s £4.28m per game.

Should they increase their capacity to 75,000 – a 23.5 per cent increase – then the same increase in revenue could see them make £5.28MILLION per game in the future.

Obviously it wouldn’t be quite as simple as that but it gives an idea of the increase Arsenal could see should they go ahead with the renovation.

Stadium timeline?

It’s impossible to know exactly how long an expansion would take without knowing which option Arsenal would choose to carry out.

However, Liverpool’s Anfield Road Stand expansion is an example of just one stand taking over three years to complete.

While Barcelona are adding a new third tier which wraps around the entire stadium as part of a project that is expected to take the best part of four years.

Arsenal could see themselves playing under a reduced capacity for the duration of the construction.