Manchester United announced plans to build a new 100,000-capacity stadium and it is raising questions about how it will be paid for -- whether if it is by “acquiring more debt, via sponsorship, or through cash injected by INEOS,” according to Critchley & Whitwell of THE ATHLETIC. Raising ticket prices “would seem inevitable in this scenario, but extreme care has to be taken not to price out fans.” The actual design of the stadium is “crucial also.” Critchley & Whitwell: “Old Trafford, for all its faults, has character and history. Many clubs have struggled when moving to new stadiums. Can some of the architecture be retained?” The renders released by United are a “dramatic shift from the current stadium and will be hugely divisive.” The tent on top of the ground “strikes as an odd juxtaposition amid the landscape and what came before.” There is “certainly appeal among the fanbase for a ‘New Trafford’ -- especially with the urban regeneration plan alongside” -- but the view is “not unanimous and many people will be sad that a ground holding so many memories is being left behind.” Former manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s support of the project, “having been cut as an ambassador, is notable given he created so many of those moments etched in the club’s consciousness” (THE ATHLETIC, 3/11).
TIMELINE: SKYSPORTS.com writes the new stadium will be “built next to the current ground, although it is unclear what will happen to Old Trafford.” Financing has been “one of the key considerations of the task force and a wide variety of potential private funding sources will be explored.” There could be “opportunities for a public-private partnership to power the regeneration of the area.” In a promotional video for the new stadium, architect Lord Norman Foster said that the stadium “will take five years to build.” However, “no start date for any regeneration or building works has been given.” That timeframe is also “not accounting for any possible building delays.” United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said, “On the timeline for this, it starts with a discussion. It depends how quickly the government get going with their regeneration programme” (SKYSPORTS.com, 3/11).
CATCHING EYES: In Manchester, Tyrone Marshall notes the new 100,000-seater Old Trafford stadium “will be the tallest landmark in Manchester and will be visible from the outskirts of Liverpool on a clear day.” The canopy would be 104,000 square meters, “making it slightly bigger than the Millennium Dome and bigger than the canopy of Munich’s Olympiapark canopy,” which is 75,000 square meters. The masts holding the canopy up “will bring attention to the new Old Trafford.” Two of them will be 150 metres tall but the third will be 200 metres high, “making it the tallest building in Manchester,” a title currently held by the 169m Beetham Tower. The arch over Wembley is 135m high, while the stadium will also be taller than the 158m high Blackpool Tower. The Eiffel Tower is 330m tall. With the masts making the stadium “visible for miles around it is expected Old Trafford could be seen from more 37kms away, making it visible from the Peak District and parts of Cheshire” (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 3/11).
ART IMITATING LIFE: In London, Greg Evans writes the design for the stadium has been “roasted on social media.” Responses online to the initial illustrations have “left many mystified, with memes comparing it to numerous moments from The Simpsons going viral.” A popular reference has been the “hilariously bad car that Homer designed for his half-brother, in the season two episode ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?’” A Simpsons football meme account “shared a clip of Homer molding a circus tent out of mashed potato in the season six episode ‘Homie the Clown’” (London INDEPENDENT, 3/11).
