Newcastle United will soon decide on expanding St James’ Park or building a new stadium entirely.
The stadium has been a focal point for the Newcastle United owners ever since their takeover in 2021.
Expanding St James’ Park is the preferred choice of the club’s owners but they are assessing all options before moving forward with an official plan.
Newcastle chiefs are set to hold crunch talks with the fan advisory board on Monday before moving forward with the stadium plans.
The club carried out a feasibility study to assess the logistics of expanding St James’ Park to a capacity of 60,000 or more. The results of that study have been collected but not publicly announced.
How much it will cost Newcastle to expand St James’ Park
Whether PiF choose to expand or build a new stadium elsewhere, it will be huge sign of their faith in the club’s long-term project and also a very costly project.
According to The Telegraph, Newcastle face a fee of between £800m and £1bn if they decide to expand St James’ Park to over 60,000.
The report adds that detailed architectural plans for the expansion have already been drawn up and studied ahead of an official decision being made.
The plans to expand are focused on redeveloping the East Stand and the Gallowgate End to reach the 60,000 capacity target.
There is also scope to “modernise” the Milburn Stand and the Leazes End.
However, the club repeatedly insist that no decision has yet been made ahead of the meeting with the fan board on Monday.
An expanded St James’ Park would be a massive lift
When St James’ Park was last expanded to a capacity of 52,000 in 1998, it ranked as the second-biggest club stadium in England behind only Old Trafford.
However, it has tumbled down to seventh in the list in recent years, and Leeds United’s plan to expand Elland Road would push it down again.
READ MORE: Alan Shearer says there’s one thing PIF must do if they are going to build Newcastle a new stadium
Newcastle will have no problem filling a 60,000-plus seater stadium week in, week out. It already provides the best atmosphere in the Premier League and increasing the capacity and modernising the stadium will only add to that.
On top of that, it will provide a big boost to the club’s finances and revenue streams. Newcastle have been shackled by the Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules in recent seasons and improving the club’s income is the best way to relax the financial limitations.
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