Newcastle United gearing up for stadium expansion decision

Newcastle United will make a decision on expansion of the club’s St James’ Park home in early 2025, members of the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) have been told.

The FAB is a nine-person supporter board that was officially unveiled in November 2023 as part of the club’s wider Fan Engagement Plan.

During Monday’s online meeting, a number of representatives from FAB were joined by Chief Operating Officer, Brad Miller, Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Silverstone and senior representatives from the club’s supporter services, communications and commercial venue teams.

Miller delivered an in-depth update on the Premier League club’s stadium feasibility work to FAB members.

As part of a comprehensive presentation, the club outlined that the study has now entered a crucial second phase, with more detailed analysis currently taking place to investigate project-related risks and opportunities before a decision stage in early 2025.

Miller said:

This is an exciting but extremely complex project, and I’d like to thank supporters for their patience as we conduct this key phase of the feasibility process. We aren’t quite at a decision-making stage yet, but we are targeting the early part of 2025 to complete the next essential tasks.

We know what a transformed St. James’ Park would give us and we now have a significant amount of data and feedback on our stadium footprint and surrounding area, so we are several steps forward.

But it is also clear that this option has several risks associated with it, so we need to fully analyse those risks against the opportunities to reach truly informed and intelligent outcomes.

Newcastle United has taken on CAA ICON to conduct a feasibility study of future options for St. James’ Park.

Reports suggest that The Magpies are facing costs of up to £1 billion if the club opts in favour of redeveloping St James’ Park.

The plan would see the East Stand and Gallowgate End expanded, taking the capacity to over 60,000, while the Milburn Stand and Leazes End could be modernised.

Miller added:

We are challenging our appointed design team, and ourselves, to make sure our eventual chosen route delivers a fantastic fan experience – one that represents the fans, city, region and club, and aligns with the long-term ambitions of our ownership group.

But it must provide an investable return, and not least deliver strong revenue growth to increase our PSR headroom, which, as everyone knows, means we can invest more in football.

Part of the process is also to understand alternative options so that we see the bigger picture and, again, find the right balance between risk and opportunity. This is a once-in-a-generation investment, so we don’t want to look back in years to come, as a club or as a city, and regret an opportunity missed.

Our objective is to select a scheme that is deliverable, affordable, and sustainable, so we are investing this time to make sure we are only going to spend money on the project where it will make the biggest difference – to fan experience, revenue, competitiveness, investment in football and operational efficiency. All this requires a robust process that leaves no stone unturned.

Representatives of the FAB asked a number of critical questions throughout the presentation relating to the feasibility study, which the club will consider as the decision-making process continues.

Meanwhile, Silverstone provided FAB members with an insight into the club’s growing commercial department, which has added 12 new club partners since last summer, introduced a new website and app, and recently launched the new St. James’ STACK, presented by Sela.

NUFC’s Commercial Venue Director, Yvette Thompson, is a member of the SVB LIVE Expert Council, which helps shape content for the SVB LIVE series of events.

Image and source courtesy of Newcastle United

Sports Venue Business (SVB) now boasts a raft of new offerings under the SVB LIVE banner, including Networking Events & Webinars, the pinnacle of which being the SVB LIVE Conference & Exhibition. The 2024 edition was held at Croke Park on October 9th and 10th, with an Opening Night Icebreaker at Aviva Stadium on October 8th, and welcomed some 240 high-level execs from across the global sports and live entertainment sector.