Arsenal are quietly progressing with their plans to revamp the Emirates Stadium.
It has been over a year since Josh Kroenke first revealed that Arsenal were looking at plans to expand their home for the first time since the move away from Highbury in 2006.
The Emirates Stadium has been overtaken by the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and London Stadium as the biggest in the capital, while Liverpool and soon Manchester City will boast bigger capacities too.
Leeds United are forging ahead with plans to expand Elland Road, Newcastle United are edging closer to doing the same, and Everton recently moved into the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
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Chelsea, Birmingham City, Aston Villa and dozens more throughout the pyramid are taking concrete steps to satisfy demand for tickets as well. And Arsenal recognise they need to get with the times.
Plans to expand the Emirates will likely take capacity beyond 70,000, though 80,000 has been mooted too.
The Gunners are looking at a bill of £500m. In order to justify that cost, Stan Kroenke and his team – which, after September’s reshuffle, includes several board members who are experts in real estate – need to maximise the yield per fan.
Hopefully, that will not come at the expense of bedrock fans who are already paying some of the highest general admission ticket prices in the Premier League.
Stan Kroenke’s chance to apply property vision to the Emirates Stadium
Arsenal’s owner is most famous for his ownership of sports teams, which include the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and NBA’s Denver Nuggets alongside his investment in North London.
But Kroenke Sr’s wealth is as concentrated in property as it is in sports. Recently, industry publication the Land Report named Kroenke as the biggest land owner in the United States by total acres.
There is an increasing overlap between the two industries where the 78-year-old has piled his chips.
At the Rams’ SoFi Stadium, which is widely considered among the most lucrative in the world, an entire mixed-use development has sprung up. It’s the same at Ball Arena in Denver.
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It is only at the Emirates, where he arrived shortly after the stadium move, that he has been unable to tailor his team’s approach to land and property.
So, the upcoming development will be his first chance to stamp his sports-property vision on the club.
“The idea of a campus with a football club as the focal point is what you have at Manchester City,” says University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Arsenal Insider.
“It is a model which City have, to a certain extent, adopted after observing what we see in the United States. So it would make a lot of sense for Arsenal to follow a similar path.
“It can be used to assist the transition from the stadium as a 25-30 days per year earner to something far more constant. Even if you’re not hosting football matches, you’ve got far steadier revenue streams. You might have the hotel, private clinic, housing units, cinemas and so on that can be added to your portfolio, with financial benefits.
“My only concern with the Emirates is that there is not a lot of land around which they can use. The cost of doing what we have seen at Liverpool, which is buying up local housing, you have London prices factored in, which are significantly higher than in L4.
“Arsenal are very diligent. It won’t be a pie-in-the-sky announcement like we have seen with Man United’s plans for Old Trafford.”
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