'Multi-million-pound sum' behind Leeds United's 53,000-seat Elland Road redevelopment update
Fifty-three thousand is currently set to be Elland Road’s new capacity as Leeds United push on with ‘real traction’ behind their long-running plan for stadium redevelopment. Since the club’s centenary in 2019, there have been various plans and statements made on how the club’s home will be transformed, with promotion long expected to be the key to pushing the green button.
However, United’s recent three years in the Premier League did not prove to be the trigger Andrea Radrizzani or 49ers Enterprises needed to submit formal planning applications. In a new interview with The Square Ball, chief executive Angus Kinnear has provided the latest outlook on where the project is at.
The Whites supremo feels the plans are gathering more traction now than any point in his employment. Meetings are growing more frequent and there will be announcements in the near future on the next steps, including a 53,000-seat capacity.
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“The good news about the stadium is, for the first time in the six-and-a-half years or seven years I've been involved in the club, we've got some real traction behind the stadium,” he said. “The 49ers committed a multi-million-pound sum on putting together a project team which has environmentalists, transport planners, a design team, structural engineers and mechanical engineers.
“That team now is meeting two or three times a week with a view to submitting the planning application. There's going to be an announcement very shortly about that and within that, you'll get a degree of granularity in the plans around the stadium capacity.
“At the moment it’s looking like it's going to be 53,000, that's the most economic number. Within that, you'll also get a sense of the broad split between, which hasn't been decided yet, GA (general admission) and hospitality seats, but there'll be a significant GA increase as well as an increase in premium seats on that side as well, because the West Stand doesn't really have any workable hospitality as it stands.”
Those hospitality seats, which cost more to buy and come with food or bar access at various levels, will be critical in paying for the redevelopment over the long term at United. Kinnear does, though, insist general admission berths will also form a sizeable proportion of the new seats being installed.
“There's no hiding from the fact increasing the number of premium seats will be part of the plan and that's why all of the planning applications currently underway are for the West Stand and the North Stand,” he said. “The vision, at the moment, is the North Stand wouldn't have any hospitality at all and the West Stand would have an increase in hospitality to fund.
“Ultimately, you cannot fund the stadium build just on GA seats. You need premium seats in there and there will also be a bigger spread of premium seats.
“One of the things Leeds United doesn't have very many of, Bremner is the only, in industry terms, it's known as premium GA. There's effectively a GA seat which has an element of hospitality on it.
“Actually, that isn't a huge step up for supporters. At both West Ham [United] and Arsenal, we found lots and lots of existing season ticket holders were prepared to step up into premium general admission to get a better-located seat and access to a bar.”