The leaky roof is a sure sign that Manchester United’s Theatre of Dreams has seen better days.
Old Trafford, United’s home since 1910, was once the envy of the footballing world. With a capacity of about 74,000, the stadium remains the largest club football venue in the UK. It generated match-day revenue of €126mn last year, the highest in English football and the second highest in Europe, according to Deloitte.
But others are fast catching up and overtaking. Despite a lower capacity of just under 63,000, Tottenham Hotspur’s new ground generated match-day revenue of €125mn, according to Deloitte, while earnings from non-football activities, such as hosting NFL games and concerts, helped boost commercial revenue by 21 per cent.
United’s European rivals are also moving forward. Real Madrid is due to complete a €900mn overhaul of its 80,000-capacity Santiago Bernabéu later this year, including the addition of a retractable roof and pitch. It has secured €360mn from US investment firm Sixth Street to partner on non-football-related events once the work is finished. Barcelona recently lined up €1.45bn of financing for its own stadium revamp to create an ultra-modern 105,000-seater venue.
With television income typically negotiated by the leagues, physical infrastructure is one area where football club owners can differentiate themselves. Stadiums — many of which get used for just a few hours a month — have become a particular focus in recent years, as a wave of new US owners with a record in redevelopment aim to boost the value of their assets. The real estate opportunities around Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge stadium helped drive last year’s record-breaking £2.5bn auction for the club, now owned by US investors.
Old Trafford’s need for investment was one of the main triggers for United’s current sale process. Its fate is closely tied to the outcome.
But the challenges will remain whatever happens. Any new owner would face pressure to invest quickly and heavily in the stadium and the training centre at Carrington. If the Glazer family, who own United, opt to stay and raise new capital, much of it will go on infrastructure upgrades. Supporters groups have called for urgent action, with problems highlighted by recent videos of fans tiptoeing through flooded toilets.
The two bidders for United — British chemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani — have both promised to spend on the facilities should they win control of United, the 13-time Premier League winner.
Critics of the Glazers see the club’s ageing stadium as symbolic of a tenure in which the advantages long enjoyed by United have been squandered in the name of returns. Since the family’s leveraged buyout in 2005, the club has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on interest payments and shareholder dividends.
No big works have been carried out since 2008, when additional seats were added around the corners of the pitch. Some of the lucrative hospitality areas have seen little improvement since the takeover, while fans in some areas complain of cramped concourses and basic facilities that hamper the match-day experience.
Gary Neville, a former United captain, said the club’s US owners had originally bought the “best club in the country, the best ground in the country and the best team” but since then had simply “extracted” from it.
“The ground looks great cosmetically on TV, but in terms of comparing it to other grounds in Europe and this country, it’s second rate.”
The training ground has drawn similar reviews. Shortly before leaving the club late last year, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo lamented that the facilities had been left unchanged in many years. “I saw no evolution in the club; the progress was zero,” he told television personality Piers Morgan.
Old Trafford’s slipping reputation was evident when the list of host venues for the joint UK-Irish bid for Euro 28 was announced last month. Manchester City’s Etihad made the cut, while Old Trafford, which hosted one of two semi-finals during Euro 96, did not.
The Glazer family have acknowledged the need to invest in Old Trafford, and listed it as one of the central reasons for exploring “strategic alternatives” when announcing the sale process in November. Architects and engineers had already been commissioned to present stadium development options, a process now on hold.
The family’s advisers have held talks with a number of US investment firms on various potential financing arrangements that would leave the Glazers in control of the club while raising funds for stadium upgrades.
Old Trafford’s south stand, also known as the Sir Bobby Charlton stand, is the most in need of attention. Rebuilding or expanding it would enable the club to add thousands of seats, a new media zone and luxury lounges for VIPs.
Such a project, similar to the upgrades at Liverpool’s Anfield, would temporarily reduce capacity but would address some of the most pressing shortcomings. Oakwell Sports Advisory, a boutique investment company, believes the club could add as many as 20,000 seats for about £200mn, although other estimates are higher.
A new owner with deep pockets could pursue the alternative of bulldozing Old Trafford and building an entirely new stadium on adjacent land, similar to what happened with Tottenham Hotspur’s new £1bn multipurpose venue, but with an even bigger price tag.
United’s stadium dilemma also presents an opportunity for development into residential, commercial or retail property. The club owns more than 40 acres of land around the site — a mix of car parking space, old warehouses and sections of a freight terminal — all less than a mile away from the BBC’s northern base and the Lowry theatre and museum at Salford Quays.
“I would assume that whoever buys Manchester United would look to use Old Trafford and the new infrastructure to spearhead a major redevelopment of the area,” said Paul Michael Brannagan, senior lecturer in sport management and policy at Manchester Metropolitan University.
The experience of crosstown rival Manchester City shows what is possible. In 2003, the club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium, built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
After being bought by the Abu Dhabi royal family in 2008, it was renamed the Etihad after the club’s main sponsor. Despite not owning the 53,500-seat venue, it has become the centrepiece of a regeneration project in east Manchester, including the club’s training ground and youth academy.
City’s owners plan to add a further 6,000 seats, plus a hotel and additional leisure facilities, into an area that has already seen billions of pounds of investment, much of it from the United Arab Emirates. That flow of capital has been welcomed by the city council. Any effort to repeat the process in neighbouring Trafford borough is likely to win a similarly positive reception.
Andrew Western, Labour MP for Stretford and Urmston — Old Trafford’s constituency — said any redevelopment of the stadium had “the potential to be a game-changer” for the surrounding area. Western, who until last autumn was leader of the local authority, added: “I know that Trafford council has huge aspirations for the area.”
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