Manchester United Final Decision Makes New Stadium Determined By The End Of The Year

Old Trafford Stadium is in the projected renovation (Instagram/@old.trafford.official).

JAKARTA - Manchester United owners hope to make a final decision by the end of 2024 on whether to spend more than 2 billion pounds on new stadiums with a capacity of 100,000 spectators or not.

Manchester United's minority shareholder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, wants to build a 'Wembley in the north' for the club.

This could not be separated from Ratcliffe's deal when he bought The Red Devils shares. The deal worth 1.25 billion pounds for the club's 27.7 percent stake covers 237 million pounds for future investments in stadiums.

Ratcliffe's Ineos Group has taken over football operations from the majority owner of the Glazer family.

Therefore, he and the Club Council have formed a task force to assess the feasibility of the new stadium and the rebuilding of Old Trafford.

The task force is chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe and includes Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and former Red Devils captain Gary Neville.

The club's sources confirmed that the task force had met four times. Discussions mostly centered on new construction rather than renovating existing stadiums.

If you renovate Old Trafford, it is estimated that Manchester United will cost less, which is around 1.2 billion pounds, but it will take longer to complete it.

You see, renovating Old Trafford with a capacity of 74,310 and has been at home to Manchester United since 1910 is somewhat more complicated.

Renovation will include the railroad line behind Sir Bobby Charlton Stand. In addition, Manchester United still have to use Old Trafford in home games.

That is, they must significantly reduce capacity during development work which causes inconvenience to fans and huge losses to revenue.

Things are different from Tottenham. They can play at Wembley when their 1.2 billion stadium is being completed.

The problem is, Manchester United doesn't have a clear alternative place to use when Old Trafford is renovated.

Financing From The Government

Ratcliffe wants local and national governments to play a role in funding the entire project though, realistically, it's likely to involve transportation networks.

How exactly the stadium will be financed is one of the subjects who is still under discussion.

At the current exchange rate, Manchester United's current debt is 647.5 million pounds, excluding unpaid payment of transfer fees.

The transfer fee in question consists of a historic debt of USD 650 million (504.5 million) as a legacy of the takeover of the Glazer family in 2005 and USD 143 million from the revolving credit facility.

Sources told BBC Sport, Head of Operations Manchester United, Collette Roche, had assessed the rebuilding of stadiums around the world, including the Optus Stadium in Perth which opened in 2018 and Real Madrid's renovated Bernabeu Stadium.

There were also discussions with officials at the SoFi Stadium with a capacity of 70,000, where Manchester United were defeated by Arsenal in a United States tour match on Saturday, July 27, 2024.

The Mayor of Inglewood, James T. Butts, confirmed that Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke paid an entire USD 5 billion ($ 3.88 billion) to build the SoFi Stadium.

The stadium is used as home to NFL teams, LA Rams and LA Chargers and calls it "the best stadium in the world".

"Usually, when a team builds a new stadium, (the city's) city pays 300-500 million US dollars (232.86 million-388.1 million) for construction costs or equivalent amounts of land."

"We didn't do either of those things. What we have is a location. We made a suitable deal, but it doesn't involve funding or land purchases. Stan Kroenke paid $5 billion (3.88 billion)," Butts told BBC Sport.