Man Utd’s new stadium plan explained: What will it cost, who is paying for it and how long will it take?

At 10am on Tuesday morning, in an architects’ office in London, Manchester United peeled back the curtain and invited the world to look upon their future.

The decision has finally been reached to build a new 100,000 capacity stadium, replacing their 115-year Old Trafford home at costs forecast to reach £2billion ($2.59bn).

Part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe predicted it can “become the world’s greatest football stadium” and the first designs have shown the vast scale of United’s ambition.

United believe they can build a new place to call home in just five years, helping to drive regeneration of the wider Trafford area and stimulate economic growth. The plans, concluding 12 months of consultations, could hardly be grander.

The Athletic examines the key issues as United target a fresh start away from Old Trafford.

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Why have they chosen a new stadium over redeveloping Old Trafford?

United have made it clear in the last 12 months that two remedial options were under consideration to restore pride in their home; redeveloping Old Trafford incrementally to bring capacity up to 87,000 or opting for a new build nearby that could house as many as 100,000.

The latter has eventually offered greater promise and the least complicated, quicker path. Building on the 100 acres of land that United already own next to Old Trafford will allow for home games to be played without reducing the 74,310 capacity and dismiss the need to temporarily relocate.

A new, modern build close by was able to be anything United wished it to be, unbound by the train line that currently runs behind the Sir Bobby Charlton South Stand of Old Trafford. It can also follow the lead of others and be a stage for major outdoor concerts and sporting events beyond rugby league’s Grand Final that is currently staged each October.

The blank canvas promises to lead United towards a stadium like no other. Three towers, inspired by the Red Devil’s trident on the club badge, will hold up a giant canopy that keeps supporters dry inside and outside the stadium.

And, more importantly, a new stadium will drive up revenues. Increasing corporate capacities and adding 13,000 more seats than a redeveloped Old Trafford could ever do, United will see millions added to their bottom line each season once they move home. United brought in £137m through matchday revenue in 2023-24, more than any other Premier League club, yet can expect that number to jump north in shiny new surroundings.

Who made the decision?

This is very much the pet project of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of chemical firm INEOS. Although masterplans for a redevelopment were set in motion as far back as 2022, Ratcliffe’s arrival as United’s single biggest shareholder in February 2024 — he has since increased that stake to 28.9 per cent — accelerated the stadium conversations and led to the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, chaired by Lord Seb Coe, being established last March.

Key stakeholders, including Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, spent 12 months exploring options that would include a wider regeneration of the area surrounding United’s historic home. Ratcliffe called it a “once-in-a-century opportunity” to be seized and the big decision to press ahead with a newly-built stadium is ultimately his.

The majority of supporters, too, will back the plans. As part of a feasibility study held by the task force, a survey of 50,000 fans suggested that 52 per cent were in favour of a new-build stadium, with only 31 per cent leaning towards a redeveloped Old Trafford and the remainder undecided.

It was telling that the Glazer family, who together still own 71 per cent of United, were not referenced once in a lengthy statement announcing plans.

How much is it likely to cost and who is paying for it?

An enormous sum of money, inevitably eclipsing any stadium project in the UK. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, opened in 2019, cost in the region of £1billion and the scale of United’s plans will inevitably demand greater investment following the rising cost of raw materials, such as concrete and steel, in the last five years. The early estimate, long before a spade is planted in the ground, is for costs to reach £2bn.

Real Madrid’s Bernabeu home, with its capacity now up to 84,000, offers useful guidance. The renovation was said to have cost £1.51bn according to information released in the club’s accounts last March but the reigning Champions League holders can now point towards matchday revenues of £208m a season for validation.

United will view their new stadium as a worthy long-term investment but precisely how it will be funded remains unclear. Ratcliffe previously dipped his toe into the water to suggest that central funding might be sought from government around his vision for a “Wembley of the North” but he has since confirmed that United will fund the stadium build alone.

The details, though, remain lacking. “It’s still quite early and as a PLC we can’t speculate too much about the funding,” the club’s chief executive Omar Berrada said at the club’s presentation in London on Tuesday morning.

“What I will say is, as a centrepiece, it is a very attractive investment opportunity. We are very confident we will find a way to finance the stadium.”

Naming rights, of course, could go some way to paying the builder’s bills. United would likely earn in the region of £15m a year if they were to hand over the name of their new stadium to a commercial partner, something they had not previously entertained at Old Trafford.

External loans would be unavoidable without huge equity funding from Ratcliffe and the Glazers, who have consistently resisted that approach in their 20 years as owners. United do not have the funds to even begin to think about funding it alone. Ratcliffe again offered up an alarming assessment of the club’s finances on Monday night, with £300m currently owed in outstanding transfer fees and existing debts incurring annual interest payments of £35m.

Borrowing money is not as cheap as it used to be, either. Interest rates on the funding of Spurs’ stadium stand at 2.75 per cent after long-term loans were arranged before Covid-19 altered the financial landscape but the Bank of England base rate is currently 4.5 per cent. Borrowing money, in short, now costs significantly more.

The one benefit for United is that they already own the site on which a new stadium will be built. Small mercies.

What will the new stadium be like?

Unique, if nothing else. The first conceptual images and scale models of United’s proposed new home were revealed on Tuesday morning at the London offices of masterplanners Foster + Partners, the architects founded by Mancunian Sir Norman Foster.

A vast “umbrella” design will cover the entire stadium, held up by three supporting towers. A tree-lined approach will stretch from the site of the existing Old Trafford, replicating Olympic Way at Wembley, while there will also be a public plaza twice the size of Trafalgar Square.

And it will be big. Among the biggest in the world, in fact. English football has not known a 100,000-capacity stadium since Wembley’s capacity was trimmed in 1985 and United will be able to house a third more supporters than the 74,310 they are currently able to at Old Trafford.

Barcelona’s Camp Nou, currently undergoing its own costly rebuild, would be the only bigger stadium in Europe at 105,000.

How long will it take?

A project of this size typically takes between six and 10 years from feasibility studies to completion, but United’s bold prediction is for the build to be done in five years from now.

The basis for that optimism is the use of a modular design. Foster suggested there could be 160 components built off site and pieced together when transported up the Manchester Ship Canal, which will run alongside one edge of the new stadium.

Ratcliffe drew a comparison with the vast Project ONE site under construction by INEOS, the petrochemical firm he owns, in Antwerp. That has seen parts built in Abu Dhabi, Indonesia and Thailand and transported to the site.

“If we get going, I think it is a five-year project rather than a 10-year,” Ratcliffe said about United’s new stadium on Tuesday.

That, in theory, could see United moving home in time for the 2030-31 season but there were caveats added about the need for legislative and planning support.

It will be a long road to that point. In-depth planning proposals will have to be submitted and funding secured long before ground is broken on the site. Everton, for example, will play their first Premier League game at their new home almost exactly four years after they planted a first ceremonial spade in the ground at the Bramley-Moore Dock site in August 2020.

Will it host the women’s team?

That is currently unclear. United Women currently play the majority of their home games at Leigh Sports Village, with occasional WSL games in the 2024-25 season being staged at Old Trafford.

The next of those is due to be the Manchester derby against City on May 4 but much will depend on the levels of demand.

What are the next steps?

The laborious phase of planning will soon begin, with United having to provide in-depth plans to Trafford Council on how they will manage an increased capacity and how a new structure would look beyond the conceptual designs.

That will require a wider consultation period, with the chance for local residents to make their objections, but the support already shown by local stakeholders, including Trafford Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Burnham, would suggest there will be ample support for United’s plans to move forward.

What does it mean for the wider area?

The framing of United’s statement on Tuesday morning was pointed. Rather than merely announcing their ambitious plans for a new 100,000 stadium, the opening line spoke of a club “throwing its support behind the (UK) Government’s growth agenda.”

This has always been about more than just a stadium for Ratcliffe and the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force he established last year. United’s new home would be the centrepiece but this has always been earmarked to become a wider, transformative project.

Comparisons have been drawn with the regeneration of Stratford in East London for the 2012 Olympic Games, with new life breathed into an area of Greater Manchester that has been left to decay.

The clear aim is revitalise the area between Trafford Park and Salford Quays, with a new stadium acting as the catalyst for the wider community. Outline proposals would include space for 17,000 new homes, as well as opportunities for business, retail and entertainment to cater for an estimated 1.8m visitors each year.

Findings from the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force suggested that “an extra £7.3bn gross value could be added to the UK economy and more than 90,000 employment opportunities” when accounting for all aspects of the project beyond a rebuilt home for United. Coe has called it “one of the biggest regeneration projects ever undertaken in the UK.”

And that is where Ratcliffe wants the UK government to step forward. In January, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves gave her public backing to the redevelopment of Old Trafford, “which promises to create new housing and commercial development around a new stadium to drive regeneration and growth in the area.”

Reeves also pledged to expand Heathrow airport and create “Europe’s Silicon Valley” between Oxford and Cambridge but United will now expect government backing to their wider project. “I think they want to get going quite quickly, they want to see progress this term,” said Ratcliffe on Tuesday.

It was no coincidence that the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force saw it necessary to display their vision at both the Labour and Conservative party conferences in the autumn. The political games began long ago.

What have supporters groups said?

United might have been looking for unanimous support to their plans but there was some scepticism in the hours that followed the grand plans being announced. The Manchester Untied Supporters Trust (MUST) called the designs “both stunning and exciting” but curbed their enthusiasm.

“Against the backdrop of uncertainty around next year’s ticket prices, continuing poor performance on the field, speculation around sales of key young players, and the recent financial results, the news probably does beg more questions than it gives clear answers,” said a MUST statement.

It added: “Until the questions are answered, our optimism about plans to make Old Trafford the biggest and the best again will be restrained by caution about what the consequences for fans might be.”

Aren’t fans already unhappy about ticket prices and isn’t that affecting attendances?

The build-up to United’s Premier League game with Arsenal on Sunday, a fixture that ended 1-1, underlined the rising anger towards the club’s owners. The grievances are abundant but among them is the rising cost of tickets at Old Trafford.

One fans group, The 1958, organised a protest in December after it was announced that some matchday tickets would rise to £66 mid-season, with no concessions for children or elderly fans. That was called a “clear exploitation of our loyal fan base,” by the group in a letter to United’s chief executive Berrada.

The cost of season tickets for the 2023-24 season had already been increased by five per cent after 11 years of freezes and Ratcliffe admitted on Monday that another small rise was coming for next season.

Premier League games at Old Trafford have not been impacted, largely owing to the 51,000 season ticket holders, but the recent FA Cup tie at home to Fulham did see a marked fall in attendance. Just 67,614 were there to see a meek exit from the competition United won at Wembley last May, pointing towards growing dissatisfaction among the fan base.

What will happen to Old Trafford?

United’s home since 1910 will be no more. All the history and romance of Old Trafford will make way for modernity, with the old structures demolished once the new stadium is ready for United to move.

The 100,000-capacity replacement will be close enough for Old Trafford to remain United’s spiritual home but there can be no place for the old stands to remain now that the biggest decision of all has been made. A decision will also have to be made on what happens to the statues of Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby and the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best which stand outside the ground.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the most decorated manager in United’s history said: “Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.”

(Top images: Manchester United)