Liverpool’s Anfield plans: Can it expand again and do new stadiums pose a threat?

In mid-February, we invited requests from our readers for articles they might like to see on The Athletic as part of our latest Inspired By You series.

Several Liverpool subscribers, including Drew F, asked for a piece on Anfield and whether Everton’s new stadium across the city will affect the club’s plans. This is what our Gregg Evans came up with.

Keith Wyness, the former Everton chief executive, used to say that he hated the autumn “because when the leaves started to fall off the trees, I could start to see Anfield from my office window at Goodison Park.”

That would have been about 20 years ago, when Merseyside’s big two clubs were both competing in the higher echelons of the Premier League. For those now in charge at Everton, taking in that view of Anfield would no doubt spark a similar feeling — albeit for different reasons.

Outside matchdays, it’s eerily quiet in the area around Goodison but five minutes across the park, the streets of Anfield are a hive of activity, with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of visitors arriving to take the stadium tour and visit Liverpool’s on-site megastore.

Yet times are changing. Everton are about to leave their historic home for a new 52,888-seat arena two miles away on Liverpool’s waterfront. Down the M62 motorway, Manchester United — Liverpool’s historic arch-rivals — recently announced plans to build the biggest stadium in the UK, an “iconic” new £2billion 100,000-seater close to their current Old Trafford home.

So where do these projects leave Anfield, which is still the largest stadium in the city at 61,000 and the most iconic venue in the Premier League, but for how long? The Athletic breaks down the key questions.

How much has Anfield changed under club owners Fenway Sports Group?

Anfield has been transformed since Fenway Sports Group (FSG) bought Liverpool in 2010.

Where houses were once tucked tightly up to all sections of the ground, now there are wide walkways on either side of the newly-built Anfield Road Stand (which opened in 2023) and Main Stand (expanded in 2016), with those largely derelict and run-down properties outside, some of which were previously owned by the club, no longer standing.

It still looks and feels like the older version of Anfield, and many of the surrounding features remain, but there are 15,000 more seats and a modern, regenerated look to the place now — something underlined by how the Kop, the stadium’s most famous stand, is these days dwarfed by other sections of the ground.

FSG spent more than £210million ($272m at the current exchange rate) enlarging the Main Stand and Anfield Road Stand and improving facilities throughout the stadium. Debate rumbles on about the reasons for Anfield’s occasionally flat atmosphere during games but that’s a wider issue in football not exclusive to Liverpool.

Are there any thoughts on increasing capacity again?

In July last year, Liverpool’s CEO Billy Hogan told The Athletic there were “no plans for further expansion of the stadium”, and that remains the case.

When FSG took control of the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett and set out plans to rebuild Anfield rather than pursue previous plans to build (in Hicks’ words) a new “futuristic, imaginative and very exciting” stadium on Stanley Park, the aim was clear.

Liverpool had to find a way to compete with Manchester United, who had increased revenue through their own Old Trafford expansion and were still considered the team to beat. FSG felt the best way forward was to modernise the ground where it could rather than start afresh — a decision underpinned by the fact the club revealed losses of almost £50million in 2012, including a “huge amount” written off on the new stadium project.

Rebuilding the Main Stand (taking its capacity from 12,000 to 20,500) and expanding the Anfield Road Stand (from 9,000 to 16,000) enabled the stadium to welcome 60,000-plus crowds for the first time since the terracing days of the early 1950s, but further expansion on the other two sides of the ground — the Kop and the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand — are not seen as viable at this stage.

The principal reason is a lack of room behind them, as they both back onto housing. The community on Skerries Road, which runs behind the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, often become nervous when talk of further expansion around Anfield is mentioned, so Hogan’s comments last year were welcome. Expanding Anfield again could not happen without knocking down houses and relocating those residents and Liverpool have already been through that previously with the other rebuilds.

The road behind the Kop (foreground) and homes behind the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand are impediments to redevelopment (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images)

Extending the Kop is even more difficult as Walton Breck Road, which is a major A-road within the city, runs behind it. Even building over the road would require knocking down other buildings. It is simply too complicated.

What else can be done to ensure Anfield keeps pace with other grounds?

Liverpool already finds themselves in a position of strength regarding their home ground.

According to Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, Anfield ranks top among all UK stadiums with 59 per cent of home country supporters rating it as a “great” venue. Fans can even abseil down it if they wish.

Hugo Hensley, head of sports services at Brand Finance, tells The Athletic: “That Anfield is ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal, who have reasonably new stadiums, and Tottenham, who’ve got their billion-dollar stadium, shows that is still has amazing respect and reputation.

“For Anfield to drive greater value for the business, Liverpool need to consider what else can be owned by the club around the venue. That’s something that’s slightly weaker than others (stadiums) because it wasn’t part of the thinking when it was built.”

The best stadiums now are 365-day-a-year operations hosting concerts, conferences and other non-football events. Tapping into that remains essential, even with the limit of staging up to six non-football events at Anfield per season that’s been agreed with the local council.

Music acts consider location, cost and accessibility as key factors when deciding which venues to hire for gigs.

Overseas artists will typically split the UK up with a north-south divide, so Liverpool and Manchester are often competing against each other for hosting such shows, given they are separated by only 30 miles, with both being well-established music-loving cities.

Anfield is relatively inaccessible by train — the nearest mainline station, Liverpool Lime Street, is over two miles away — but only half an hour’s drive from the city’s airport.

The club have huge artists contacting them to discuss concert opportunities at Anfield, and after hosting Taylor Swift and Pink last year, Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa and Bruce Springsteen are scheduled to play gigs there this summer.

Taylor Swift played Anfield last year (Gareth Cattermole / TAS24 / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Everton’s new stadium, which is almost fully operational and has already been named a venue for the 2028 European Championship, ahead of Anfield, may become another rival in this sector in due course.

Everton’s new American owners at The Friedkin Group (TFG) are keen to explore the potential of transforming the surrounding dockside area into an entertainment district, even if there are still significant issues with local transport infrastructure.

Manchester United’s proposed new ground next to Old Trafford is still a long way from being realised, with many questions unanswered around how it will be funded, but if it were to be built, that may also pose questions over whether Liverpool’s home is big and lucrative enough to keep pace.

FSG, however, believes Anfield — a modern stadium in a historic setting — will maintain its appeal. The way it reshaped Fenway Park, the home of its Boston Red Sox baseball team, and the surrounding area of the U.S. city into something of a heritage site, is probably the template Liverpool will adopt.

Everton’s new stadium has been built on the city’s docks (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images)

How does Liverpool’s matchday revenue compare to their rivals?

Liverpool made £101million from matchday revenue last season, fourth-best in the Premier League. Manchester United generated the highest figure (£137m) with Arsenal (£131m) and Tottenham (£105m), two London clubs clearly reaping the benefits of having a new(ish) multi-purpose stadium, not far behind.

As the graph below shows, Liverpool are well off the top two but will be encouraged to know revenue is likely to increase when their next set of accounts are released early next year, following the return of Champions League football, as well as having a full season of home matches at the expanded Anfield.

Tottenham have more than tripled their matchday revenues from a decade ago to £103million, with further boosts to their commercial income thanks to all the other events they can host at their new stadium (including NFL games) and increased daily footfall, but Liverpool have not fallen too far behind.

Liverpool made £308million in commercial revenue during the 2023-24 season, with strong growth in partnerships and retail. This was a period where there were no concerts at the stadium, because of the continuing work on the Anfield Road Stand. It means that the millions earned from hosting three dates on the Taylor Swift tour last in June will be added to the next set of accounts and give a further boost to the commercial income.

How much Liverpool’s matchday revenue continues to grow in the years ahead will be an important component of their ability to compete with their Premier League rivals, although not the most vital.

The long-term plans that FSG set out when it bought the club are now keeping Liverpool ahead of Chelsea, who generated £80million in matchday revenue last season and are now faced with a stadium conundrum of their own as they weigh up whether to rebuild Stamford Bridge (where the 41,000 capacity now looks small) or relocate.

How do Liverpool’s ticket prices compare to other Premier League clubs?

In isolation, they are reasonably competitive, albeit there is an ongoing campaign across the division for fans to push for lower ticket costs.

Liverpool still set a number of £9 adult tickets aside each season for local residents to encourage support from within the community but, in general, admission costs for an adult are between £39 and £61 a game. The price of adult season tickets ranges from £713 to £904.

Compare that to Arsenal, who are the second-most expensive behind fellow Londoners Fulham with matchday tickets at between £30 and £161, and the difference is clear. The cheapest ticket on the Kop is £39 and the most expensive is £45 – the same as when FSG took over. FSG has frozen ticket prices eight times in the past 10 seasons, most recently in February, in contrast to many other Premier League clubs.

Liverpool fans have campaigned to keep prices low (Julian Finney / Getty Images)

The bigger problem for a lot of Liverpool supporters in terms of tickets is getting hold of one, even with the stadium now holding over 60,000.

Although Liverpool have just over 27,000 season-ticket holders — a relatively low percentage of the ground’s overall capacity, in comparison to many clubs — there are over 250,000 members and more than 30,000 names on a waiting list for tickets.

It’s too early to predict but the work of the supporters’ union Spirit of Shankly continues to apply pressure on the club about prices.

Liverpool, however, have pointed to an 80 per cent increase in Anfield matchday operating costs since the 2016-17 season, so that may eventually force their hand if price rises follow at some stage.

(Top photo: Andrew Powell / Liverpool FC via Getty Images)