Tuesday saw a massive development at Manchester United as the club unveiled their plans for a new stadium project. The club’s honorary patriarch and metaphorical figurehead, former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, has signed off on it.
The new, hypothetical 100,000-seater venue would surpass Wembley Stadium as the biggest in the entire UK.
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Aggregate: tied 1-1
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It would also be the only home ground in the Premier League with an attendance north of five figures. Although it would be far from the biggest capacity stadium in the world.
It wouldn’t even crack the top ten.
United decided to go this route, instead of redeveloping Old Trafford, and the total cost is expected to top 2 billion GBP.
“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford,” co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said on Tuesday.
“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.