Manchester United have announced revolutionary plans to build a brand-new stadium to replace Old Trafford – with designs for a new 100,000-seater stadium revealed.
Rather than redevelop the existing stadium, the Premier League giants have instead decided to embark on a monumental regeneration programme for the venue and the local community – and it will almost certainly impact Super League, too.
The Grand Final has been synonymous with Old Trafford ever since it was first launched in 1998 and while there have always been suggestions and discussions about a possible move elsewhere, they have never gone any further than pure speculation.
And late last year, RL Commercial confirmed that a deal had been agreed to keep the Grand Final at Old Trafford until 2027 at least, taking the event through to a 30th edition at the stadium.
But United’s newly-announced plans lean heavily towards 2027 being the final instalment of the Super League Grand Final being played at Old Trafford.
National media reports have suggested that the new stadium will be built on a nearby site and there will be no direct impact to Manchester United’s games: in short, they won’t have to move away from Old Trafford while the development occurs.
Which is good news for Super League – given how United are aiming to start work on the ground as early as this year, with a view to it being concluded in the next five years.
But beyond 2027, the early suggestions are the Grand Final could possibly have a new home.
There have been flirtations with other venues such as the Etihad Stadium before: which would make sense on numerous fronts by the time we get to 2028. First and foremost, it is over the road from the RFL and RL Commercial’s headquarters.
But crucially, there is a major redevelopment happening at the Etihad at present too which would lead to it being under consideration as a potential Grand Final venue – with work ongoing to expand the capacity to over 62,000.
That instantly puts it in the conversation to be a Grand Final venue and with major regeneration work happening around the site too, it becomes an ideal place to host a season-ending crescendo.
That work, incidentally, will be completed by.. 2026. Which makes the timings almost perfect.
There also has to be consideration given to the fact that the current Old Trafford will likely not exist once the new ground opens. There had been plans for United’s women’s and youth teams to play in a scaled-down version, but they look to have been shelved.
And as ambitious as rugby league wishes to be, the fact United’s new ground will hold 100,000 people makes it practically certain to be too big for Super League’s finale.
So all the signs point to the next three iterations of the Grand Final going ahead as planned at Old Trafford: but beyond that, it seems the game is heading for a new home.
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