Two summers ago, Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke revealed that the club was exploring the possibility of expanding the Emirates Stadium.
“It wouldn’t be an easy renovation,” he admitted, explaining that preliminary internal talks had taken place about increasing capacity, nearly 20 years on from the move from Highbury.
This season, Arsenal’s matchday income will be the highest in the Premier League for the first time in a decade. Last term, the £154m they earned through the turnstiles was just shy of Manchester United’s £160m. But with the Gunners going all the way in the Champions League, as well as further than United in both domestic cup competitions, they will comfortably surpass the Red Devils this time around.
And with Mikel Arteta’s side on the cusp of sealing the Premier League title, some tickets in the swankier areas of the Emirates Stadium are fetching north of £100,000, as revealed by Arsenal Insider.
Arsenal are charging £100k-plus for boxes at the Emirates
Is this a necessary commercial move? Or is it pure greed?
Only a few years ago, matchday income was considered an irrelevance by some people within football business. It was utterly dwarfed by TV money, sponsorship and merchandise sales, especially for the global brands like Arsenal.
However, with domestic media income plateauing and the commercial becoming increasingly competitive, matchday income is back in vogue as a revenue stream where clubs with bigger, more loyal fanbases can seal a competitive financial advantage over their rivals.
Everywhere you look in English football, from National League to Champions League teams, clubs are planning expansions or new stadiums entirely. In Arsenal’s peer group, the so-called ‘Big Six’, Liverpool recently reached 60,000, Man City will hit that mark when their North Stand revamp is complete, Tottenham moved into their new digs in 2019, and Chelsea and United are planning new stadiums altogether.
Today, City AM reported that Arsenal are now in talks with the architecture firm Populous, who designed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Wembley Stadium, the London Stadium and, back in the early 2000s, the Emirates, with a view to either expanding the ground or orchestrating a wholesale revamp of the facilities.
Arsenal’s commercial/matchday income is BOOMING
Apart from expanding the Emirates, what else can the Kroenkes do to increase revenue?
Arsenal Insider has been across this story for some time and sources say that an expansion to at least 70,000 is likely at this stage, including a revamp of the hospitality that would involve a major seating reconfiguration. However, as high as 80,000 has been mooted too, as have the options to either A) play at the Emirates while a phased construction takes place or B) move temporarily to a different stadium while the Emirates is rebuilt.
But how much might Arsenal earn at a shiny, new-and-improved stadium?
Using the figures from 2024-25 as a benchmark, Arsenal earn about £5m per matchday at the Emirates, taking into account average attendances and the women’s teams games at the stadium too.
Increasing the capacity to 70,000 therefore would get the club somewhere in the region to £109m from Premier League matches alone and, assuming the club is in Europe, at least another £23m there. That would scale up with progress in the UEFA and domestic cup competitions, of course. This season, Arsenal’s men’s first team will have played 30 times at the Emirates, which would equate to matchday income of £173m, based on the current average yield.
What capacity should Arsenal expand the Emirates Stadium to?
70k is on the cards, but should we be aiming BIGGER?
However, that likely oversimplifies things. Any upgrades to the stadium would almost certainly include an increase in the number of hospitality suites, premium ‘experiences’ and a more sophisticated approach to catering and merchandise, which is increasingly where the real money is made. Everton, for example, only have capacity for about 12,000 more fans at their new stadium than they did at Goodison Park, but they expect to more than double their matchday income.
For Arsenal, it seems reasonable to assume that would push the club to at least £200m. And on top of that, there are commercial opportunities. The Emirates naming rights deal is up for renewal, to name the most prominent example.
In order for the cost of adding 10,000 seats to the Emirates to outweigh the costs of the debt that the Kroenkes will use to fund it, these are the things that will be considered. All told, it’s not unreasonable to expect the Gunners to hit £250m in total income from a 70,000-seat stadium, adjusted for inflation as and when the Emirates 2.0 opens its doors.
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