October 4 – Since 1892, St James’ Park has been the home of Newcastle United, and long regarded as one of the most atmospheric stadiums in all of world football.
With the rise of state-of-the-art stadia throughout Europe, this grand old venue is being left behind in the race to capture the high-end match day experience and satisfy the ever-increasing demand for tickets.
The club have met with fans this week to discuss future plans for the stadium.
The club is looking at two options. One is an expansion plan for St James’ Park to include both the East Stand and the Gallowgate End, which would increase the stadium’s capacity to more than 60,000 supporters. Other strategies involve modernizing the Millburn stand and the Leazes End. Both those areas of the stadium were built more than 20 years ago and have become outdated.
An alternative to modernizing the ‘Cathedral on the Hill’ is to build an entirely new facility on the land currently occupied by Leazes Park.
While this move would keep Newcastle United in the heart of the city it would be considerably more expensive with a projected tab of anywhere between £2-3 billion.
Adding yet more pressure to the process of making a timely decision, is that Newcastle has been named one of the host cities for Euro 2028. Any redevelopment or new construction of the stadium would need to begin almost immediately as failure to satisfy UEFA’s exacting demands for stadiums could find Newcastle removed as a host venue.
Brad Miller, the Magpies chief operating officer, met supporters at a fan Advisory Board meeting where he was joined by Peter Silverstone, the chief commercial officer. “This is an exciting but extremely complex project, and I’d like to thank supporters for their patience as we conduct this key phase of the feasibility process,” Miller said.
The Magpies who are currently owned by the investment group led by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia and the RB Sports and Media Group…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/10/04/will-magpies-fly-st-james-park-make-nest-bigger-better/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-10-04 02:13:03
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