Arsenal set sights on ambitious 80,000-seat Emirates Stadium upgrade

Arsenal are exploring the possibility of expanding the Emirates Stadium to a capacity of up to 80,000, LondonWorld understands.

The Gunners moved to the Emirates in 2006 from their historic Highbury Stadium, marking a significant step forward for the club at the time. Now, nearly two decades later, exploration discussions are underway about further enhancing their iconic home.

“It would be premature to talk about any plans in depth, but the internal conversations are starting to occur about [the stadium],” Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke told ESPN last summer.

“It is not an easy renovation, but we see the possibilities of what’s there.”

An Arsenal spokesperson echoed a cautious tone, as first reported in Bloomberg, stating that talk of a stadium expansion is “premature,” with the club understood to be in the very early stages of discussions.

The north London giants generated €532.6 million (£444 million) in revenue during the 2022/23 season, according to analysis from Deloitte. While this placed the club sixth in the Premier League in terms of revenue, they lagged behind rivals such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Emirates Stadium, with its 60,704 seats, was once the largest Premier League ground in London. However, Tottenham’s £1 billion stadium, which boasts a capacity of 62,850 and state-of-the-art features such as a retractable pitch for NFL games, has since overtaken it.

Increasing the Emirates’ capacity by nearly a third would not only restore bragging rights with regards to capacity, but also position the Gunners among Europe’s elite stadiums in terms of scale.

The Kroenke family, are no strangers to ambitious stadium projects, with owner Stan privately financing the $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, now the most expensive sports arena ever built.

Meanwhile, Arsenal contributed over half a billion pounds to the UK economy during the 2022/23 season, according to a report from accounting firm Ernst & Young.

The findings also showed that the Gunners supported 4,400 UK jobs and reached more than 14,000 people through the club's community projects in the same season.