Inside the world of ego-driven super-stadiums: As Tottenham lead ‘Disneyfication’ of fans, Man United are desperate to cash in… and Chelsea risk being left in the wake of Wrexham!

Chelsea thought they were on a straight road towards rebuilding Stamford Bridge when they cleared a fiendishly sensitive obstacle, last year. 

They needed to buy neighbouring buildings first set up to house disabled veterans returning from World War I, which had been home to Armed Forces heroes for over 100 years, the latest of whom didn’t want to leave.

The purchase of the Stoll Mansions was achieved at the right price, without the public embarrassment of courageous veterans feeling turfed out, and the club moved on to other fiendish difficulties. 

A development site including a listed building, a cemetery, railway lines on two sides and even statutory restrictions put in place by Henry VIII, protecting the view he enjoyed from a nearby mound, all the way to St Paul’s Cathedral.

Though Chelsea’s chief operating officer Jason Gannon, hired last September, has weighed every obstacle to a redeveloped Stamford Bridge, notions of a rebuild are suddenly out of touch with a new world of ego-driven statement super-stadiums, where football is one of multiple money-making motivations. A world in which Chelsea – whose ground is already only the ninth biggest in England – are fast being left behind. 

Proof that football is now only part of the calculation came when Boehly told Bloomberg on Monday: ‘We have a lot of constituencies to make sure we care about. Certainly, the Chelsea fan base is one.’

Tottenham’s £1bn stadium that opened in 2019 has set the trend for super-stadiums

Man United announced plans earlier this month to build their own super-stadium while regenerating the local area

It’s all about the money. Broadcast rights deals which have driven the Premier League machine for years are flattening out. More games have had to be added to those deals to maintain the same level of income. 

Clubs have no control over where the tailwinds of the broadcasting industry will blow their TV cash. So there’s an obsessive quest to maximise those areas of commercial revenue over which they do have control.

Tottenham’s £1billion stadium is the example everyone looks to. It drove a £46million increase in commercial revenues for the club in its first two seasons, by enabling the club to host NFL matches and stage Beyonce and Guns N’ Roses concerts.

It drove up matchday revenues, too, as initial figures showed people were spending 40 minutes more on the concourses than they had at White Hart Lane, and were contributing £800,000 to the club’s coffers in food and drink purchases alone. That’s more than some clubs’ entire annual revenues. 

‘It’s the Disneyfication of fans,’ Liverpool University football finance specialist Kieran Maguire told Mail Sport last year.

Many will scoff at the fact that Spurs boast the fourth biggest revenues in the Premier League, yet sit 14th in the table. But that doesn’t bother the bean counters. Winning is less important than it used to be, because the biggest clubs endure as brands even when they’re failing on the field. 

Manchester United are still among world football’s top five earners in the Deloitte Money League, despite their troubles on the pitch. A retractable roof, allowing clubs to host boxing, NFL or superstar musicians, matters infinitely more than a right back. Taylor Swift toured stadiums from Anfield to the Bernabeu last year.

‘Clubs are looking at, OK, how do I design a venue that is multi-purpose, whether that’s multi-sport or concerts or conferencing or other types of events, so that I can get maximum value from that venue every day of the year, not just on match days?’ Charlie Brooks, head of communications and marketing at the architectural firm Populous told The New European this week. 

Wrexham have produced plans to expand their own stadium as they look to continue their incredible rise

Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney won their planning battle to build a new stand

Everton are excited by the extra revenue they could get once they move into their new £800m stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock this summer

Populous designed Tottenham’s stadium, have been appointed by Chelsea and have also produced plans for an expanded stadium at Wrexham which, with a 55,000 capacity, would also leave the 40,173-capacity Stamford Bridge in the shade.

Almost everywhere you look, football seems a subsidiary part of the new equation. Architect Norman Foster described the new 100,000-seater Manchester United stadium, which he has designed, as a ‘global destination’ and a ‘mixed-use mini-city.’

The architect of Everton’s new stadium, Dan Meis, cautioned United against ignoring their past by building ‘some giant, over-the-top thing that could be anywhere in the world.’ 

But Everton, just like everyone else, are riveted by how their new stadium can drive up revenues to keep them competitive in a world of Gulf-state owned clubs. The most expensive hospitality boxes at the new Everton Stadium for next season, providing the best ‘experience’, have sold for around £150,000 – and were rapidly snapped up.

When Everton’s chief executive designate Angus Kinnear arrives from Leeds United, interim CEO Colin Chong, a construction industry specialist, will work with owners The Friedkin Group on how to use dockland around the new stadium to best effect. The club might purchase the next-door Nelson Dock, which it currently leases.

The prime arguments cited so far for England’s RFU leaving Twickenham are based on logistics and accessibility. But expect nothing less than another super stadium if that moves happens. 

It will be the same in Brisbane, Australia, which has broken the mould by announcing plans for a new signature stadium for its 2032 Olympics. There were no new stadia built for the Paris Olympics. Neither will there be for LA’s 2028 Games.

Newcastle’s plans a new stadium on the city’s Leazes Park, revealed by Mail Sport, are inevitable, says Meis. ‘[St James’ Park] is a difficult building to renovate and to really make state of the art,’ he declared this week.

Newcastle are planning to leave St James’ Park to build a new 65,000-seater stadium

Chelsea could leave behind Stamford Bridge to keep pace with their rivals

Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, best in class when opened in 2006, needs an upgrade. Manchester City are expanding their stadium. Nottingham Forest and Leeds United are looking to do the same. 

Everything points to the writing being on the wall for Stamford Bridge, with a site in Earl’s Court, around a mile away, likely to be the preferred new location.

Many fans see that move as inevitable. But Simon King, a shareholder of the Chelsea Pitch Owners plc, which owns the freehold, spoke for many when he told Mail Sport on Wednesday that he had fears for the future in which Chelsea’s fanbase is only one of the ‘constituencies’ Boehly says he will consider. ‘Those were the words that frightened me,’ Mr King reflected. ‘They said it all.’