A new Elland Road is on the horizon.
Leeds United and owners 49ers Enterprises want to give their home stadium a facelift and increase capacity. On Monday, they formally announced the expansion plans in the first step towards a new future for the grand old ground.
But what does it mean for Leeds the club and Leeds the city? The Athletic answers the key questions.
Why do Leeds need to expand Elland Road?
The club have outgrown their famous stadium. Memories of 20,000 fans suffering through the dark years are long in the past — Leeds have sold out every home match for the past six years and getting your hands on a ticket is a tough ask. The now infamous waiting list for season tickets is at a whopping 26,000 people with very few supporters making it off that list each season.
Chief executive officer Angus Kinnear confirmed to the Square Ball podcast that, on average, the number of season tickets that become available each year is about 30, which will not make huge inroads into that waiting list.
The transformation of Leeds’ on-field fortunes, with better football culminating in promotion in 2020 and a stint in the Premier League, means engagement from fans is up. Owners 49ers Enterprises have also brought steady ownership to the club after periods of turmoil. They aim to take the club back to the top flight at a minimum.
Leeds want to make sure they are Premier League-ready and capable of getting more fans into the ground that they have called home since 1919. As a one-club city, United have dominance in the local area and, despite growing attendances, Elland Road has not seen any major development since changes were made to the East Stand in 2011. That development also led to a minor reduction in capacity.
This upgrade would change that by increasing the capacity and the quality of the facilities.
What do Leeds plan to change about Elland Road?
They want to make it much bigger, with a planned capacity of around 53,000. That is up from their current capacity of 37,645 and the aim is for the extra seats to come in the West Stand and North Stand. There would be significant increases in the amount of general admission seating.
“There’s no hiding from the fact that increasing the number of premium seats will be part of the plan,” Kinnear told the Square Ball. “That’s why all of the planning applications that are currently under way are for the West Stand and the North Stand.
“The vision at the moment is the North Stand wouldn’t have any hospitality at all, and the West Stand would have an increase in hospitality. You cannot fund a stadium build just on general admission seats. You need premium seats in there. And I think there will also be a bigger spread of premium seats.
“One of the things that Leeds United doesn’t have very many of — it’s got the Bremner [suite], I think — is a base level of, in industry terms, premium general admission, but it’s effectively a general admission seat which has an element of hospitality on it, but actually is a huge step up for supporters.
“And at both West Ham and Arsenal, we found lots and lots of existing season ticket holders were prepared to step up into premium general admission to get a better-located seat and access to a bar.”
Talk of increasing the size and modernising Elland Road has taken place for years but the 49ers have moved quickly to get the project started, having only completed their takeover in July 2023. In July 2024 they oversaw the return of the stadium to the club’s ownership for the first time since 2004. While that change was largely administrative it was significant in ensuring the club and stadium were reunited after years spent apart under the ownership of private individuals and other entities associated with Leeds.
Elland Road was first sold amid the club’s financial difficulties in the mid-2000s to British Virgin Islands-based Teak Trading Corporation before being sold to Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd — a company controlled by former Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani — for £20million ($25.6m) in 2017.
In December 2020, ownership of the stadium was transferred to a new parent company, Elland Road Limited. Both that business and Leeds United Football Club Limited passed into the ownership of 49ers Enterprises.
Increasing the capacity will take the stadium from the 20th to the 12th biggest sports stadium in the UK. Wembley Stadium’s 90,000 capacity remains the biggest sports arena, while Manchester United’s Old Trafford (74,310) is the largest football club stadium.
What will the process involve and how will they minimise seating loss?
Plans are yet to be confirmed, but Leeds could look to complete the project in similar fashion to the way Liverpool renovated their Main Stand and Anfield Road Stand. That involved constructing new elements of the stands around existing seating by adding upper tiers on top of the previous structure before updating lower tiers. This type of stand upgrade usually requires either a part or full closure. Each home game, construction teams hand control of the stadium back to the club for the day before resuming work.
Again, as an example, 11,000 seats were unavailable to Liverpool while they improved the Anfield Road Stand. This affected match-going fans and also revenue for the club.
Who is involved in the process?
The experience of key members of the 49ers group will be crucial in the project. In recent months, two new faces with a background in real estate development in the U.S. joined Leeds’ board in Eugene Schneur and Andrew Schwartzberg. Other investors in the 49ers also come from the development world but, as expected, chairman Paraag Marathe and CEO Kinnear will be the key faces involved.
“We recognise how important Elland Road is to the Leeds United fans and the wider community,” Marathe said as part of the announcement. “The opportunity to refresh a century-old stadium, coupled with the legacy of Leeds United, is unprecedented.
“Our plans reinforce our commitment to the long-term success of the club and I am excited that we are going to be able to welcome thousands more supporters to every game, in a stadium that retains the unique atmosphere of Elland Road. We look forward to sharing our plans with supporters and the local community for their input.”
The 49ers group oversaw the construction of Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, in 2014 at a cost of $1.3billlion.
Leeds have put together a consultation group comprised of companies with global knowledge of stadia construction as well as those with local expertise to help produce the plans for the redevelopment. Those include specialist acoustic consultants tasked with ensuring Elland Road will maintain its atmosphere during construction and after completion. A local transport consultant has also been brought on board to help with construction traffic and matchday travel for supporters as construction will run alongside Leeds fulfilling fixtures.
Named companies involved at this stage include KSS, an award-winning stadia architecture studio who have also worked on designs for work at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park. Buro Happold are the appointed structural engineers while RISE are the project management team and were previously involved in delivering projects for the London Olympics in 2012.
How long until work starts?
Leeds remain at consultation stage and images of the proposed plans are yet to be released. Those, plus planning approval, are expected to follow before construction begins.
Liverpool’s Main Stand rebuild took just over two years once work started.
How much have they spent and what will it cost?
The 49ers are committing £10million to cover the consultation and plan up to the point of planning permission being approved. Though the final cost for the project is unknown, it is likely to be a significant investment by the owners in securing the future of Elland Road as Leeds’ home.
For comparison, upgrading Liverpool’s Anfield Road stand to add 7,000 seats (taking total capacity to 61,000) cost £80million. There were complications with the project that saw its completion delayed and the firm building the stand entered administration during construction. Meanwhile, their rebuild of the Main Stand completed in 2016 cost £114million.
Any stadium alteration of the size Leeds are proposing comes at a significant cost, usually in the tens of millions.
When are they likely to have an expanded Elland Road?
Stadium renovations and building can take a long time and Leeds fans have been promised improvements to Elland Road many times over the years. Building an entirely new stadium can take decades from start to finish, with Championship rivals Luton submitting detailed planning permission for their proposed stadium at Power Court this month after originally identifying the site in 2008, buying it in 2016 and aiming for a now-expired move in date of 2020.
However, the good news for Leeds is that this is an upgrade to the existing structure rather than an entirely new build. It is promising that the announcement came with the backing of the city council.
“Expanding and enhancing the existing ground will allow many more fans access to games while protecting the unique Elland Road atmosphere,” said councillor James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, as part of the announcement. “This investment can also be a catalyst for wider regeneration plans of south Leeds, which represents an opportunity of national significance. Getting there will be easier with work to improve Leeds Station and the introduction of a White Rose rail station, along with the potential of a proposed mass transit route from the city centre close to the ground.
“We’ve had some very positive initial meetings with their team and look forward to working with them on this important vision, to ensure this project moves forward and unlocks significant benefits to the city and its communities.”
The hope is that with the 49ers’ vast collective experience in the construction and real estate industries and their commitment to engaging with consultants in a range of areas, they will be able to deliver the project in a reasonable period.
An ideal scenario for Leeds would be for them to be playing in an expanded Elland Road as a Premier League club. That change in league status should be faster to achieve than the stadium upgrades, but the 49ers do not want to wait around on either front.
(Top image — design: Eamonn Dalton, photos: Getty Images)
