Manchester United have unveiled plans for a new £2 billion stadium that will help transform its home city in northern England.
The "iconic" 100,000-seater stadium, designed by Norman Foster, will be built on a car park next to the football team's current Old Trafford stadium. It will be to Manchester what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the club claims, and will pump £7.3 billion a year into the local economy, creating 92,000 jobs and more than 17,000 new homes.
"New Trafford" is the brainchild of Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United's new minority shareholder, and one of England's richest men. His Ineos organisation took control of the club's sporting operations just over a year ago and "have wasted little time in making their presence felt", said The Athletic.
Among rival clubs, United are in a league of their own, "irrespective of a decade of decay and their current playing malaise", said the Daily Mail. Past success has given them "unsurpassed recognition" worldwide, so, a "new all-singing HQ to reflect their aura" can be seen as a necessity if they're to stay as one of football's "market leaders". Ratcliffe claimed, at the press conference to launch the initiative, that Manchester United has a huge global reach and estimates that, worldwide, the club has around one billion fans.
It is expected that public money will be provided to address infrastructure improvements and other developments in or around the area, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has confirmed that she will be "championing" the project. But raising the funding for the stadium itself will fall squarely on the club.
When completed, the stadium will be the second largest in Europe. Camp Nou, Barcelona’s ground, is the biggest club football stadium on the planet, says TNT Sports. The stadium is currently undergoing major redevelopment, however, with Barcelona having been temporarily forced out since the 2023/24 campaign to allow for building to continue. Once the work is completed in 2026, the stadium will boast 105,000 seats.