Leeds United Elland Road expansion: ‘Millions’ claim, changed plans, Phil Hay hint, 49ers’ view - YEP 12/9/23
Latest reports on the Leeds United Elland Road expansion plans in our round-up on the topic
By Jamie Kemble , Georgia Goulding
Leeds United have begun a new life under 49ers' majority
ownership and whilst the success on the field has not appeared yet, fans will
hope the club begin to turn a corner and attempt a push back to the Premier
League.
Relegation from the Premier League didn't stop the 49ers
making their move this summer, and now one of the biggest questions is what
will happen to Elland Road?
There have been several decisions and claims made in recent
years regarding Elland Road and what will happen next. Even Paraag Marathe has
his views and The Athletic's Phil Hay has provided a hint at how things could
play out.
Leeds looking at ‘tens of millions’ to expand
The proposed Elland Road redevelopment could cost Leeds
United ‘tens of millions’ of pounds. That’s according to football finance
expert Daniel Plumley, who spoke with MOT Leeds News about the club’s stadium
expansion plans.
“Look at the amount of money it is taking Everton to do a
full new stadium, obviously the Spurs one was the most expensive in history.
So, you’re talking hundreds of millions to do a full stadium, then you work off
from there, so if it’s full stand reconstruction, you come down from those
numbers but it is still significant amounts of money, certainly in the tens of
millions for sure.”
Phil Hay hint
Amid reports of the Elland Road expansion, a report emerged
from The Athletic claiming the uncertainty over the previously held up takeover
was to blame, suggesting now more ground will be made.
The Athletic’s Phil Hay wrote: “It’s been apparent for a
while now that Leeds could fill a much bigger ground. You only have to look at
the waiting list. It’s a frustration on two fronts. First, because a lot of
would-be match-going fans cannot get tickets. And second, because the
commercial advantages of a larger, more modern stadium would make a big
difference to the club’s accounts.
“To answer this succinctly, stadium development will not
start or move any further forward until a takeover goes through. It would be an
expensive project. But a major upgrade is very much at the centre of 49ers
Enterprises’ plans. It wants an improved ground and it wants to gradually push
annual revenue much closer to the £400m mark.”
The plans that changed
It was agreed in 2021 that Leeds would build a new training
ground, as well as expanding Elland Road. But those plans were later withdrawn,
with Leeds instead opting to expand the stadium to 55,000 seats, up from the
current capacity of 37,608.
It was said at the time that further investment from the
49ers would be needed. Angus Kinnear said at the time: “If we stay up this
year, then construction wouldn’t start next year, but the process would.”
49ers' previous promise
Paraag Marathe is keen to preserve the personality and
history of the Elland Road culture.
In an interview with the BBC, Marathe said: “I’ll be honest
with you, the main thing is to protect the magic and electricity that is in
Elland Road. The answer then is [it] probably means that it’s more of a stadium
expansion than a new stadium because I don’t want to take away from that.
“Players from the other 19 [Premier League] clubs, if they
are going to list the three worst places that they want to play on the road for
an away match, Elland Road is probably one, two or three for them. I don’t want
to take that away.”