Newcastle United owners now deciding on expanded St James’ Park or brand new stadium – Cost comparison


 
 
 
 
 
 

Fans have become increasingly frustrated, waiting for news on whether the Newcastle United owners will be expanding the capacity of St James’ Park, or will they decide to build a brand new stadium on a different site?

Ahead of the new season, some seven weeks ago, Brad Miller gave an update, of sorts.

He is the Newcastle United COO (Chief Operating Officer) who is responsible for overseeing big infrastructure projects at the club.

The NUFC COO said (see below) that we were approaching the end game in terms of what will happen.

The club’s CEO Darren Eales had previously said that the announcement was ‘imminent’, with Brad Miller then adding back in mid-August 2024, that the Newcastle United owners and senior staff were ‘working through the last couple of questions.’

As thing stand though, still no official announcement, as yet.

However, Tuesday afternoon has seen a media ‘exclusive’ on the ‘St James’ Park redevelopment or brand new stadium on a different site’ question.

This ‘exclusive comes today from The Telegraph and they say their information is that detailed architectural plans for a potential expansion of St James’ Park have been drawn up and studied by the Newcastle United owners and senior staff.

The newspaper report saying that these plans detail the expansion and redevelopment of the East Stand and Gallowgate End, plus also the possibility of modernising both the Milburn Stand and the Leazes End, which were the main focus when St James’ Park expanded to over 52,000 from 36,000 some 25 years ago.

The Telegraph saying that this would see the St James’ Park capacity to rise above 60,000, if the Newcastle United owners went ahead with that plan.

The alternative option would be to build an entirely new stadium, with the report saying that the Newcastle United owners have earmarked the land currently occupied by Leazes Park as the preferential site, if that was decided as the option.

However, still no final decision made according to The Telegraph, with the Newcastle United owners still not having signed off on either option, with even other sites potentially to be considered, if a brand new stadium was the option decided on.

The newspaper report says that the Newcastle United owners have denied that any decision has already been made in private, with a club spokesman having said: “It would be wrong to say a decision has been made. All options remain on the table.”

However, The Telegraph say that their sources have stressed that the delay in announcing the decision on the future of Newcastle’s stadium plan is due to the fact that they want to make sure they get the decision right, with a stadium plan that would set in place the future and location of the club for decades to come.

The Telegraph have put costings on the two alternatives, putting forward estimates of between £800m and £1billion, with a St James’ Park redevelopment, whilst they give an estimate of between £2billion and £3billion for a brand new stadium on a new site.

Personally, I think these sound excessive, especially the brand new stadium option.

The state of the art Tottenham stadium cost £1.2billion to build, whilst the new Wembley cost £80om, which equates to around £1.5billion in today’s money. Any major project on a brand new site in Newcastle Upon Tyne, such as where Leazes Park and/or Castle Leazes is, would surely cost less than an equivalent getting built in London. So even allowing for inflation, I wouldn’t have thought a new Newcastle United stadium would cost more than £1.5billion.

As for the suggested £800m to £1billion costs of redeveloping St James’ Park, I just don’t see this as an option. We all know the space constraints and all that money needed to provide only around 10,000 extra seats, would surely just be something the Newcastle United owners wouldn’t choose. Especially when for at least a couple of seasons it would mean St James’ Park having a much reduced capacity.

Nothing has changed for me, as surely an 80,000+ brand new stadium on Leazes Park and/or Castle Leazes has to be seen as by far the best option to tick all the boxes. The stadium remaining in the city centre, tens of thousands of more Newcastle fans able to get in, plus the club far better able to compete then on and off the pitch with all the extra revenue generated.

The Mag report – 14 August 2024:

Along with which players the club are going to be signing, the other big question dominating the thoughts of the fans is: will the Newcastle United owners be expanding the capacity of St James’ Park, or will they decide to build a brand new stadium on a different site?

The other intrinsically linked question is: when can we expect an update, the big announcement?

Brad Miller is the Newcastle United COO (Chief Operating Officer) and he is responsible for overseeing big infrastructure projects at the club.

The NUFC COO says that we are now approaching the end game in terms of what will happen.

The club’s CEO Darren Eales previously said that the announcement was ‘imminent’, with Brad Miller now saying the Newcastle United owners and senior staff are ‘working through the last couple of questions.’

Brad Miller explaining where things are at, in coming to a decision on whether the Newcastle United owners will expand St James’ Park, or build a brand new stadium on a different site, as quoted by The Athletic:

“We are working through the last couple of questions.

“[NUFC CEO] Darren Eales has gone on record previously to say it’s imminent and it really, truly is, in terms of next steps and what direction we’re going to be taking.

“It would be remiss of me to go early and cut across that.

“The stadium investment is genuinely a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we want to make sure we get that right.

“In the UK, we haven’t got a great track record of delivering really big projects on time and successfully and making sure they work right from the absolute outset. So there’s a lot for us to think about and that’s why — maybe frustratingly for people — we’re taking our time to make sure our next steps are the right ones. Because while we’ve got the ability and ambition and commitment to invest from the ownership, we only want to write that cheque once.

“You’re trying to wrestle with: What exactly are we trying to achieve? What is the art of the possible? Where do we want to invest? What are the big risks that are going to stop us from doing that or maybe get in the way and slow us down? You’re trying to understand all those things.

“We also want to continue to support the footballing side of the club and so we have to look at the revenue and the commercial aspects. So it’s all those things coming together. While it might feel like it’s taken a long time, it’s not that out-of-the-ordinary for a big project from my experience.

“The biggest difference here is that everybody — quite rightly — is so emotionally invested in the club. So we understand why it is so important and that adds another dimension, another reason, why we want to get it right.

“So it’s: How do we make sure we’re doing the right thing, for the short term and the long term? That’s why it’s taken a bit of time.

“But when we get on with it, it’s going to be a really big cheque that’s written; we want to make sure it’s done correctly, whether that be supporting the football or doing the right thing by fans. Have we got the ability to uplift the capacity? Is it going to make a return so we can continue to invest in the club?”

I think all fans can appreciate that the decision of expanding St James’ Park or a brand new stadium, isn’t one that you make a snap decision on.

Neither option will be cheap and as fans, we ideally need the best outcome for both ourselves as match going supporters AND in terms of helping to make the club as competitive as possible on and off the pitch.

What I find difficult/impossible to believe, is that according to the club, only recently they started doing feasibility studies on what the best option would be, in terms of a brand new stadium or an expanded St James’ Park.

The last 34 months have seen every single St James’ Park match sold out and indeed massively oversubscribed, with so many supporters left frustrated at how difficult/near impossible it can be to get tickets.

Only a few months after Rafa Benitez had managed instant promotion as champions in front of a sold out 52,000+ St James’ Park week after week in the SECOND TIER (despite Mike Ashley still owner), Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi attended the 1-1 draw with Liverpool on 1 October 2017, the match at St James’ Park which is said to be the one when Amanda Staveley left the stadium thinking about how she could get rich backers to buy the club.

Before October 2021 when the takeover finally happened, there had been at least two to three years of time to be doing feasibility studies on what could and wouldn’t be possible where the club’s stadium is concerned. I find it impossible to believe that before putting in any bid to buy the club off Mike Ashley, that the Reubens and the Saudi Arabia PIF didn’t find out exactly what their broad options where, in terms of for the stadium long-term, if/when the takeover went through.

My hope and indeed expectation to a large extent, is that when this announcement from the Newcastle United owners is indeed made, that it will not just be an announcement of what they now intend to try and do. Instead, an announcement that they have done massive amounts of work on the quiet to progress their planned option, with many boxes ticked off, including a lot of what would be needed to overcome any objections on what I see as by far the best option.

I think taking Newcastle United away from the city, to somewhere that you need transport from Newcastle to get through, such as up around Gosforth racecourse which has been mentioned, or any other sites on the outskirts of Newcastle that you would need to travel from the city centre to get to.

I honestly don’t think that St James’ Park can either deliver what the fans want in terms of increased capacity, or what the Newcastle United owners want in terms of delivering the kind of facilities that they want to inside a stadium, particularly with regard to the lucrative corporate market.

So to me, an 80,000 minimum capacity just above where St James’ Park currently is, on the site of Leazes Park and/or Castle Leazes, is the one that ticks all the boxes.

Here’s hoping.