Manchester United may struggle to fund their proposed new stadium, according to football finance expert Stefan Borson.
The Red Devils unveiled plans for a 100,000-seater arena costing £2billion earlier this month.
United have been told they may struggle to fund their new 100,000-seater stadium[/caption]
talkSPORTThe project could prove ‘very difficult’, says finance expert Borson[/caption]
United’s plans would see the club leave Old Trafford for the new stadium as well as regenerating the new area.
The project has even been dubbed the ‘Wembley of the North’ following a launch event in London.
However, Borson has serious doubts over how the stadium will be funded.
He told talkSPORT’s How Football Works: “I think this is a difficult project. There are almost no stadia in the world with 100,000 seats.
“There is a reason why their tends to be a limit to the number of seats that people put in and it tends to be because it’s not economic to do so.”
He then went on to add: “That is a project that, on the face of it, looks very, very difficult to fund for Manchester United as we sit here today.”
Although Sir Jim Ratcliffe has received government backing for the project, it is unclear how much funding they will provide.
Meanwhile, the club hope to boost the UK economy by up to £7.3bn thanks to the additional redevelopment of the Trafford Park area.
Discussing Ineos and Ratcliffe’s plans, Borson explained: “They’re not magicians.
“At the end of the day you’ve still got to have financial sense to building a project of £2billion to £3billion that makes a return.
“And that makes an incremental return on what they’ve got because they do have a big stadium already that’s full every week with 75,000 fans.
“When we go to the £7.3billion proclamation as to what this can add to the economy, the reality is it’s virtually all ‘who can we bring in from abroad? What tourists can we bring in to sell those 25,000 extra seats?’
“That those people are going to come in, they’re going to stay overnight in Manchester and the rest of the UK and they’re going to spend three, four, five times what a local fan spends.
“‘Can we get 25,000 of those tourists every single week and then we can generate billions of pounds of additional revenue for the UK.’ That’s what the model is.
“Whether it will work or not we don’t know but even then I still can’t see how you can fund a £2billion stadium.”
United also hope to half the length of the construction process to five years as part of their initial plans.
However, it would see the Red Devils move away from Old Trafford after over 115 years.
The club have played their home matches at the 74,197-capacity ground since it was opened in 1910.
It has since undergone several phases of redevelopment work, with the most recent one taking place 19 years ago.
