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Newcastle United are facing a decision on whether to upgrade and expand St James’ Park or build a new stadium entirely.
The next step of the club’s plans is set to be officially announced in early 2025 but in the meantime, various details regarding the future of St James’ Park have emerged. According to The Telegraph, Newcastle officials are assessing plans to expand the Gallowgate End to become one of the largest stands in Europe.
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An expansion of the Gallowgate and modernisation of the East Stand would boost the capacity of St James’ Park to around 65,000 and make Newcastle’s home the second largest in the Premier League behind Manchester United’s Old Trafford. Architects will use Borussia Dortmund’s 25,000-capacity ‘Yellow Wall’ stand at the Signal Iduna Park as inspiration
Newcastle’s preference is to remain at St James’ Park and upgrade the stadium that has been the club’s home since it was established as Newcastle United in 1892. But Newcastle’s chief operations officer Brad Miller has stressed the importance of keeping an open mind regarding the matter.
Speaking at a fan event at St James’ STACK last month, Miller said: “It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Do we invest and transform St James’ as we see it today on the site where we are? Or do we take that bold move and think about moving?
“We want to make sure it is a very robust process. So regardless of the outcome, I want to stand up in front of everybody throughout the process and say, ‘This is why it is a logical decision, with long-term competitiveness in mind.’ Because as you have heard a lot, it is all about revenue and PSR. We have to work hard to make sure we give as much money as possible to Paul [Mitchell] and the football side in order to remain competitive on the field.
“In terms of next steps, we are coming towards the end of the next stage, the briefing stage. There are a lot of risks and opportunities at St James’.
“We have to take time to dig into those and make sure we’ve got the devil in the detail — in terms of the programme, how long it will take and what it will do for us in terms of revenue.”
Newcastle’s purchase of the land at Strawberry Place from developers makes an expansion of the Gallowgate End in the future a possibility though there are logistical challenges posed by the location of the St James’ Metro Station underneath the stand.
The estimated costs to expand St James’ Park are between £800million and £1billion, while a new stadium is estimated to cost £2 billion to £3billion.
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