By Quinn Hathaway

On Mar. 11, the Manchester United leadership team unveiled plans to build a new stadium and released photos detailing the possible structure. Old Trafford, the current stadium, has been home to the British soccer team for over a century, and is showing signs of its age. 

One major problem with the 115-year-old stadium are interior quality issues. The roof has been known to leak, the seats are cramped, and although management installed WiFi at the beginning of the fall season, it is spotty and unreliable. The management also increased the number of seats in 2008, with 8,000 additional seats being added to the northern sections, but no more seating-related renovations have happened since. This expansion resulted in problems, as only the seats were renovated and not other important stadium edifices. For example, the scoreboard remained the same size, leading to spectators struggling to view it. Other issues with the aging stadium include the beverages, or lack thereof. Old Trafford only has one drink provider, and while there are more food options, United’s food hygiene rating dropped from a five to a one several years ago, resulting from staff serving raw chicken.

The new stadium’s proposal includes seating up to 100,000 people, a mass increase from Old Trafford approximate 74,000 seats. This seating plan would surpass other Premier League stadiums, specifically Wembley Stadium, which currently holds 90,000 spectators. In addition to snagging the largest capacity record, the proposal outlines other new implementations, such as solar power, a rainwater harvesting roof, and a vast trident structure visible for over 25 miles. 

Foster and Partners, who are enlisted to design the stadium, stated that the tentative plan will include a new plaza “twice the size of Trafalgar Square.” The proposed plan will cost the British club 2.5 billion pounds and will take approximately five years to complete. Manchester United is currently 1 billion pounds in debt, but club Chief Executive Omar Berrada stated that they are “quite confident [the club] find a way to finance the stadium”. 

Manchester United is confident that the stadium will boost both their economy and the surrounding area. United stated that the stadium’s construction will create 92,000 new jobs, involve construction of 17,000 homes, and will be worth about 7.2 billion pounds annually to the UK economy with 1.8 million additional visitors coming to the area per year. 

Jim Ratcliffe, who invested in a large portion of Manchester United last year, has made it a large goal of his to see this stadium succeed. Ratcliffe stated, “Manchester United is the world’s most favorite football club and, in my view, is the biggest and deserves a stadium fitting of its stature”, adding, I think we may well finish up with the most iconic football stadium in the world.”

(Sources: AP News, BBC, ESPN, NPR)