Arsenal are planning a major Emirates Stadium expansion that would take capacity beyond 70,000 and may involve the team temporarily playing home games at Wembley Stadium, according to a report.
Jeremy Wilson and Sam Wallace report for The Telegraph that Arsenal are planning a major expansion of the Emirates Stadium, with detailed work going into a potential overhaul that would increase capacity to beyond 70,000.
The report adds that Arsenal have options to change the gradient of the stadiums and adapt the seating plan, though the outer bowl is expected to remain similar in appearance.
The stadium project has been worked on for more than a year, and it’s gathered pace in the last 12 months, though it remains a complex operation. But talks with architects have reportedly been positive about expanding within the stadium’s current footprint.
The Telegraph add that additional capacity would include both adding corporate seats and also standard-pricing seats.
There’s still clearly a long way to go, with the report stressing that Arsenal haven’t yet seeked planning permissions, and they’re well aware of both the legal and planning hurdles to overcome.
With that in mind, the club are also putting in place plans for more minor alterations to the stadium’s design, presumably still with the intention to increase capacity. Minor or major, this is certainly something Arsenal are working on behind the scenes.
Isaan Khan recently reported for the Daily Mail that new Arsenal board member Otto Maly has a clear remit to expand the Emirates Stadium.
Maly played a key role in building the SoFi stadium in Los Angeles, a 100,000-capacity ground home to the LA Rams. Though Khan added that a modest increase of a few thousand seats is more probable than anything more significant.
Perhaps The Telegraph’s report suggests otherwise, but either way, it’s not something likely to happen imminently.