Arsenal have confirmed they are not pursuing a “huge scale masterplan” for Emirates Stadium, despite exploring whether a significant increase in capacity would be feasible.
Instead, the club intend to continue upgrading their home in stages, with hospitality, retail, catering and the wider visitor experience identified as areas of focus.
The update was delivered at a recent meeting of the Arsenal Advisory Board, attended by co-chair Josh Kroenke, chief executive Richard Garlick and representatives from various supporter groups.
In a summary of the meeting, the club said:
“We shared a commitment to continued evolution of Emirates Stadium, rather than a huge scale masterplan, building on improvements we’ve made to date in partnership with our catering partner, Legends, the introduction of safe standing (this season in the Clock End, and next season in the North Bank), improving hospitality and retail experiences, and upgrading visitor experiences.”
The statement effectively puts an end, for now at least, to suggestions that Arsenal could undertake a dramatic expansion of the stadium.
A working group led by Garlick had been examining the options available to the club, with reports suggesting an increase towards 80,000 seats had been discussed. Such an ambitious redevelopment would almost certainly have required Arsenal to play home matches elsewhere, most likely Wembley, while construction took place.
According to The Times, Mikel Arteta was among those wary of the disruption that would cause. Having worked so hard to strengthen the connection between the team and its supporters, temporarily surrendering home advantage would have been a significant sporting gamble.
The Guardian reports that Arsenal will instead proceed with a programme of smaller improvements to the existing ground.
The club have not said the Emirates will never gain another seat, only that there is no appetite for a transformational rebuild or substantial increase in capacity at present. Presumably, once every imaginable figure had been fed into a spreadsheet, the maths simply did not add up.
In an email to members, the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust offered a more direct interpretation after the meeting:
“There will be no significant capacity changes at the Emirates. Focus will be on upgrading facilities behind the scenes. Expect more hospitality offerings. Once again we secured a commitment from the Club that they have no current plans to move or reduce any general admission places. But all supporters must be vigilant to this and repeat the importance of custodianship.”
That commitment will be welcomed by supporters, particularly with premium hospitality expected to feature heavily in the next phase of work.
Major expansion was always going to be difficult
Demand for tickets has rarely been higher, so the appeal of increasing the Emirates’ 60,704 capacity is obvious. The practical case has always been much harder to make.
Unlike many Premier League stadiums built on large out-of-town sites, the Emirates is hemmed in by railway lines, roads and residential development. Any substantial expansion would have to satisfy strict planning requirements relating to height, light and noise, while also addressing transport capacity, crowd movement, emergency access and evacuation procedures.
Even if those obstacles could be overcome, major changes to the seating bowl would risk interfering with the roof and the Club Level and executive-box areas between the upper and lower tiers. Those spaces are among the most valuable parts of the stadium and therefore not the sort of thing anyone will be knocking down with a sledgehammer unless absolutely necessary.
There would also be the small matter of carrying out the work without making the ground unusable for an extended period.
Arseblog News has previously looked at Benfica’s renovation of the Estadio da Luz, a venue designed by the same architects and built around a very similar bowl.
Benfica found space for around 3,000 additional seats by installing two extra rows at pitch level. It was a relatively quick and cost-effective solution compared with rebuilding an entire stand, although it still required extensive planning.
Something similar might eventually be possible at the Emirates. Arsenal could also explore reconfiguring particular sections or reclaiming small pockets of space around the bowl.
That is very different from adding another 15,000 or 20,000 seats. At a certain point, the cost and disruption begin to outweigh the likely return, even when tens of thousands of people are waiting impatiently in a ticket ballot.
A stadium that has never stood still
The decision not to undertake a masterplan does not mean the Emirates will stagnate.
Although the stadium is now 20 years old, it still feels new compared with some arenas used by big-name rivals. What’s more, it has been constantly altered and updated since 2006.
Digital ticket gates and LED floodlights have been installed, while the big screens and digital advertising hoardings have been upgraded. Behind the scenes, Arsenal have improved the changing rooms, staff facilities and player tunnel.
When accessibility work briefly reduced the overall capacity below 60,000, the club responded by adding two extra rows at Club Level to recover some of the seats that had been lost. Around 780 new places were created as part of that project.
There has also been a long-running effort to make the stadium feel more like Arsenal’s home.
Launched in 2009, the “Arsenalisation” programme saw statues of famous figures added outside the stadium, restored the Clock End clock, added a cannon motif to the East Stand seats and included decoration of the general admission concourses. Armoury Square was developed outside the ground, while the stadium artwork wraps were introduced to cover blank concrete facades that had previously carried little more than club and sponsor branding.
Those wraps were replaced in 2023 following extensive supporter consultation, with a fan mural added later that year to complete the project.
While such changes have been cosmetic, rather than operational, they’ve played an important part in the stadium’s “continued evolution” and made an impressive architectural project feel more like a home.
More hospitality
Hospitality is likely to sit at the heart of Arsenal’s plans.
The club already offers Club Level memberships, seasonal dining, executive boxes and an increasingly varied range of match-by-match packages. Newer offerings include the Touchline experience, Foundry Legends, the Dial Square Gallery and access to the Directors’ Box.
At the top end of the market, individual packages can cost around £3,000 per person for a Premier League match. Meanwhile private boxes can bring in five-figure sums in a single afternoon, which is rather more than me and my folks, who stopped buying programmes and refuse to buy the stadium grub.
Those prices will be eye-watering to most supporters, but they underline why clubs are so keen to invest in premium facilities. A relatively small number of high-value seats can generate considerably more money than a much larger general admission section.
Potential improvements could include refurbished executive boxes and lounges, new dining spaces, more flexible premium areas and further behind-the-scenes experiences.
There may also be internal areas that can be adapted without changing the seating bowl. Using those spaces more effectively would allow Arsenal to grow hospitality income while honouring their commitment not to remove or relocate general admission supporters.
That balance will have to be watched carefully. Hospitality upgrades will be an easier sell if ordinary supporters can see improvements elsewhere.
Catering and concourses
Arsenal’s new relationship with Legends Global provides one of the clearest indications of what may happen next.
Legends took over as the official caterer at the beginning of the 2026/27 season, assuming responsibility for matchday and non-matchday food and drink operations, as well as hospitality catering.
The company has already introduced “1886 by Arsenal”, a new food and beverage identity intended to bring fresher menus, more local suppliers and a wider range of options to the stadium. That work is likely to extend beyond changing what is served.
Redesigned kiosks and bars could improve service times, while better layouts would reduce queues and congestion on the concourses. Mobile ordering, additional collection points and more efficient payment systems should also be on the agenda.
The current concourses are functional, but parts of them still feel much as they did when the ground opened. There is limited space to sit and many of the television screens, often broadcasting Premier League action from around the country, are showing their age.
For most supporters, changes in these areas would be more noticeable than a new executive lounge. Make it easier to buy a pint, and perhaps we won’t see swathes of people leaving their seats five minutes before half-time. On the flip side, make it too easy, while also allowing ticket holders to drink their liquor in view of the pitch, and you open a new can of worms!
Technology and the matchday experience
Technology is another area in which the Emirates could do with some attention.
The big screens have been upgraded in recent years, but the stadium still trails newer venues in other respects. The PA system has been under review for several years and remains inconsistent around the ground, with announcements booming in some sections and disappearing into the ether in others.
Connectivity is another obvious target. Reliable 5G and stadium-wide internet access would improve mobile ticketing, payments and communication, while also making it easier for supporters to use the Arsenal app (insert your own jokes here) and access live information. The club says it is “expected to be improved for supporters within this season”. Hmm, we’ve heard that before!
Digital signage could be used for much more than advertising. Better wayfinding, transport updates, team information and live messages would make navigating the stadium easier, particularly for first-time visitors.
At Sp*rs and Manchester City, digital hoardings around the pitch and upper tiers create a more immersive 360-degree environment for supporters and commercial partners. You might not want to be bombarded by additional messages and offers, but every strip of LED inside a modern football stadium represents inventory that can be sold for top dollar. Somewhere, a sponsorship executive has already made a PowerPoint about it. And if they haven’t, they should be fired.
Retail, tours and the museum
Retail was specifically mentioned in the club’s statement and is therefore likely to receive serious attention.
The Armoury remains the main destination for supporters buying merchandise at the stadium, but it can become extremely crowded on matchdays. A refurbishment or reconfiguration could create more selling space, improve circulation and provide better click-and-collect facilities.
There may also be scope for additional retail points around the stadium and more effective use of Armoury Square.
The museum, reopened in 2016, and stadium tour are another part of the visitor experience that could be modernised.
The existing tour provides access to the Directors’ Box, changing rooms, players’ tunnel, dugouts and media facilities, with entry to the museum included. It remains popular, but there is room for more interactive displays and a stronger connection between the tour, museum, shop and catering offer.
Arsenal have an enormous amount of history to work with. A refreshed museum could better represent the men’s and women’s teams, the academy, Highbury and the development of the club’s place in north London.
It could also give supporters and tourists more reason to spend time around the stadium outside matchdays. Come for Herbert Chapman, stay for a £10 sandwich and the latest merch drop.
Safe standing and extra seats
The most visible confirmed change is the introduction of licensed standing.
Safe standing has been installed in the Clock End for this season, with the North Bank due to follow in 2027/28. Arsenal hope the move further improves the matchday atmosphere, although the main driver appears to have been safety-related given many supporters were already standing throughout matches.
Ahead of its introduction, the club made clear that safe standing would not lead to an increase in capacity.
For that to happen, Arsenal would need to explore narrower seats, additional rows – as per Benfica – or the reconfiguration of existing sections. Any such project would have to account for sightlines, advertising boards, photographers, disabled access, player safety and the space required around the playing surface.
Could the club add the 2,147 seats that would see the Emirates eclipse the capacity of Shite Hart Lane? It feels within reach, even if the leap towards 80,000 has been parked.
Maintenance and appearance
Some of the next phase could well involve less glamorous work.
Seat discolouration has become increasingly noticeable, particularly when the stadium is empty, and parts of the external artwork will require cleaning or replacing (again) as they age.
The roof, concrete, cladding and exposed steelwork all require regular care. Toilets, signage and other heavily used facilities will also have to be refreshed.
These are not the sort of projects that produce those viral and, frankly, ridiculous AI video renderings, but maintaining a 60,000-seat stadium is an endless job. Leaving minor issues unresolved is how an impressive modern ground starts to feel tired surprisingly quickly.
As former chief executive Vinai Venkatesham will attest, it also leads to boring gits like me emailing the club to have a moan.
The wider KSE picture
Given their experience of large infrastructure projects, we suspect KSE may be disappointed that they cannot sink their teeth into a major overhaul of the Emirates. Their appetite for that kind of investment may instead be directed towards the proposed redevelopment of London Colney.
For better or worse, London is not Los Angeles and Islington Council is not famous for adopting a relaxed approach to major construction projects. A phased upgrade may lack the glamour of a vast masterplan, but it carries considerably less risk and still offers Arsenal the chance to generate more money from the stadium.
That matters while the club remain committed to operating on a self-sustaining basis. Infrastructure spending is treated differently from squad expenditure under domestic and UEFA financial regulations, giving Arsenal greater freedom to invest in their stadium and training ground. The money still has to come from somewhere, but it does not directly reduce the amount available under squad-cost rules.
Recent figures demonstrate the value of making the Emirates work harder. After the financial damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and a season without European football in 2021/22, Arsenal’s matchday income has soared. Reaching the semi-finals of the expanded Champions League, a five per cent rise in general admission ticket prices, growing hospitality income and increased revenue from women’s fixtures helped the club surpass £154 million in matchday revenue in 2024/25.
Against that backdrop, the decision not to pursue a vast redevelopment looks less like a retreat and more like a calculation. Arsenal appear to have concluded that the additional income would not justify the cost, complexity and disruption involved.
The alternative is less spectacular but probably more practical. Rather than decamping to Wembley for several seasons, and honestly, thank the Lord we’re not doing that, Arsenal will try to get more from the stadium they already have.
For supporters, the question is how widely the benefits will be felt. The vast majority will judge the project on the basics: better atmosphere, mobile reception, faster service, clearer announcements and a stadium that not only feels cared for, but competes with that lot up the road.
Let’s see what they decide to do…