Amid an ever-changing world of football stadia with Manchester United, Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Nottingham Forest all looking to improve what they have on offer for match-going supporters, there is another Premier League club who have reportedly been given a loan of £125 million to increase their capacity by 8,000 as they look to battle with others in England's top flight.
A lot of talk recently has surrounded United's potential exit from Old Trafford, with their owners looking to enter a new era with 'The Wembley of the North', while Liverpool and Manchester City have also carried out significant work at their respective stomping grounds over recent years.
Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge. Related
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Tottenham Hotspur and Everton are also among those currently plying their trade in the Premier League who have relocated to new stadiums as clubs continue to move away from the old school terrace culture to building state-of-the-art stadia. It represents a changing of the guard, perhaps, and there's another top flight side set to join the trend with an impending cash injection.
Premier League Set to Receive Cash Injection to Fund Stadium Upgrade
An inside view of Selhurst Park.
As they look to improve Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace are reportedly set to be loaned £125 million from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. with the London club looking to expand their capacity from around the 26,000 mark to 34,000. The long-term aim for the Eagles is to raise their ability to compete with their Premier League counterparts, who largely operate with much larger financial freedom.
And with the rising cost of materials, Bloomberg have claimed the new loan replaces a previous arrangement of a loan from another backer. The offer from Goldman Sachs is, according to the report, much more favourable, and people familiar with the matter have revealed they have issued a longer repayment period for the London outfit.
Said repayment period is aligned with the stadium project rather than tied to broadcast income. Taking out a loan to finance the construction/refurbishment of stadiums has become commonplace in the beautiful game, with the aforementioned Spurs and Everton plus Spanish giants Barcelona doing so in recent memory to fund their respective projects.
Initially, the redevelopment of Selhurst Park – which opened in August 1924 and has been Palace's home since then – was expected to cost just north of £100 million, but rising inflation and the complexity of building onto their existing site could see them cough up beyond £150 million.
Steve Parish, chairman of Palace, has said that work on upgrading Selhurst Park's main stand is set to begin in January 2026 but representatives from both parties – Palace and Goldman Sachs – yet to comment on a prospective deal. Speaking to talkSPORT in October, Parish said: "Fingers crossed they'll [the fans] see some real physical progress in January.
"We've been a little bit delayed with things around buying the houses we've got to buy, and just some changes. We've actually changed a lot of the construction from all concrete, mainly concrete, to mainly steel.
Selhurst Park Factfile
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"That's been a bit of a sea change, but it saved us a significant sum of money, so it was worth doing that work," Palace chief Parish continued, before adding the fact that a change in construction company could speed up the lengthy stadium-refurbishing process. "We've got a new company that are running the construction project. So it's all systems go."
crystal palace stadium
Palace Need A Stadium Befitting Their Status
oliver glasner
After years of wallowing in 12th place, there are plenty of signs that Palace – currently managed by the impressive, Liverpool-linked Oliver Glasner – could become regular challengers for European football in the coming years. And increasing their stadium's capacity, albeit by around the 8,000 mark, could be the perfect step to take amid them hitting new heights on the pitch.
That is encapsulated by the fact they beat Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the FA Cup last season as they bagged their first-ever major piece of silverware. Despite their success on the Wembley turf, the capital club were demoted from the Europa League to the lesser Europa Conference League after breaching multi-club ownership rules.
Another venture in Europe is on the cards after a terrific start to the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, having reigned supreme in seven of their opening 16 matches, and Palace would – at face value – look less out of place if their stadium was up to scratch. Especially given Selhurst Park has not undergone any major renovations since 1994. Other renovation years include 1969, 1983, 1995 2013 and 2014.