MANCHESTER, England - Manchester United plan to build a new £2-billion ($2.6 billion), 100,000-seat stadium that will be the biggest in Britain, next to the existing Old Trafford, the club announced on Tuesday.
“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford,” co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said in a statement.
The British billionaire had been open about his desire for a new, state-of-the-art “Wembley of the north” since he became a minority owner in February of last year, and the Premier League club have been studying whether to redevelop the existing stadium, which has been its home since 1910, or build a new one.
The announcement comes at a time when the once-mighty side is having its worst season in years, languishing in 14th place in the league. A frustrated Ratcliffe this week blasted some of his troubled club’s stars as “not good enough” and “probably overpaid”.
United appointed Foster + Partners in September to develop a master plan for the area around Old Trafford as part of a regeneration project.
The club unveiled architectural designs for the new stadium, which will feature an umbrella design, at an event on Tuesday morning in London. A slideshow can be seen on its website.
“This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the world today,” Norman Foster, the executive chairman of Foster + Partners, said in a statement. “It all starts with the fans’ experience, bringing them closer than ever to the pitch and acoustically cultivating a huge roar.
“The stadium is contained by a vast umbrella, harvesting energy and rainwater, and sheltering a new public plaza that is twice the size of Trafalgar Square.”
The stadium will be part of a wider regeneration of the Old Trafford area, with British finance minister Rachel Reeves recently giving government backing for the plans.
United say the project could create as many as 92,000 new jobs and will lead to the construction of 17,000 homes, and will be worth an additional £7.3 billion per year to the British economy.
Old Trafford has not had any major redevelopment since 2006 and criticism of the 74,140-seat stadium, England’s biggest club ground, has grown in recent years, with issues around its leaking roof and recent rodent sightings.
