Liverpool on Thursday revealed that work "is to begin on an expansion of Anfield" which it believes will increase annual matchday revenues by £20M ($31.4M) per season and help it "begin competing financially with the world's top clubs," according to Ian Herbert of the London INDEPENDENT. Hopes of expanding the 130-year-old stadium have "seen off two owners since they were first tabled" in '99, but work on the £114M ($179M) project will "finally begin in January," be completed in the summer of '16 and funded through "interest-free loans from the club's owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) which will be paid off over five and a half years." The Main Stand expansion will add 8,500 to the capacity -- "taking the overall Anfield capacity to around 54,000." But the club is "still wrestling with the way of exploiting the outline planning permission it has secured to expand the Anfield Road end by a further 6,000." Only when that second phase "is complete will Liverpool be able to compete with Arsenal on matchday income" (INDEPENDENT, 12/4). In London, Chris Bascombe reported stadium work is being overseen by Tom Doyle -- "a project director who worked for
the London Olympic bid" in '12 and the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The "final hurdle was a potential legal challenge to city planners for giving
the go-ahead," but that never materialized, "enabling the Merseyside club to
press ahead on schedule" (TELEGRAPH, 12/4). Also in London, Dominic King reported there are "no plans to sell naming rights for Anfield but the new stand could be sponsored, with Liverpool having held initial talks with interested parties" about a potential £10M ($15.7M) agreement, "which would work out roughly" at £1M ($1.57M) per season (DAILY MAIL, 12/4).
ADDITIONAL FACILITIES: The BBC reported the project will "also include additional conference and banqueting facilities, a new club shop and more car parking." The expansion is part of a wider £260M ($407.5M) regeneration of the Anfield area of the city. Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre said that while the expansion
project had posed "big challenges," it was preferable to building a
"completely new stadium in nearby Stanley Park." Ayre: "It's great news for the football club. We've been trying to find a solution to stay at Anfield." Football industry magazine FC Business's Alex Miller said that the expansion could generate an extra £25M ($39M) per year for the club. Miller: "It's seriously big money and it will allow them to close the gap on the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal" (BBC, 12/4). In London, Andy Hunter reported corporate hospitality will "feature heavily in the new main stand with
the number of hospitality seats rising" from the current 3,500 to 7,000. Corporate boxes will "mirror similar facilities in the Centenary Stand on
the opposite side of Anfield and the top tier will be the reserve of
hospitality lounges." Liverpool earned £45M from matchday revenue during the '12-13 season,
"the last for which full Premier League accounts have been disclosed,"
compared to ManU's £109M, Arsenal's £93M and £71M at
Chelsea (GUARDIAN, 12/4).
