Arsenal are mulling over which way to expand the Emirates Stadium after being recently presented with a variety of options by an architectural design firm in a major step forward.
It comes as rivals around them are moving quickly to expand their venues or build new ones to supercharge financial revenue.
Earlier this week, Manchester United announced plans to build a new £2billion 100,000-capacity ground, which will be the biggest stadium in the UK.
At 60,704 seats, Arsenal currently have the fifth-biggest stadium in the league – they were second when the Emirates opened.
Tottenham (62,850), West Ham (62,500) and Liverpool (61,276) have all since shot past them. Manchester City could soon also be usurping the Gunners — they are expanding their North Stand which could push the Etihad past 60,000.
The cost and project time length are major factors for the north London club when it comes to the available options, as well as how the chosen route would impact the surrounding area.
Arsenal have taken a big step forward in their plans to expand the Emirates Stadium
Co-chair Josh Kroenke (pictured) revealed last year that talks over an expansion had started
The news of an expansion comes in the same week Man United announced plans to build a new £2bn stadium
It’s understood that Arsenal were approached about hosting Euro 2028 games, but declined. The Emirates has instead chosen to free up the summer 2028 calendar for events and concerts.
This potentially presents an opportunity to get any stadium expansion completed by. Tottenham’s state-of-the-art stadium took three years to build and was completed in April 2019.
And Man City’s north stand, which started construction in July 2023, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
An increased capacity would likely require approval by the Islington Council as well as Transport for London (TfL).
As previously reported by Mail Sport, it’s understood that money will be needed for work on at least Holloway Road underground station to increase its capacity.
The topic of expansion first arose in an ESPN interview with Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke in July.
He said: ‘The internal conversations are starting to occur about (the stadium).
‘It is not an easy renovation, but we see the possibilities of what’s there.’
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