Brand new Newcastle United stadium video and two sites for new training ground identified – Report | OneFootball

The club have produced a video of a planned state of the art brand new Newcastle United stadium.

In a new media exclusive, The Guardian reporting that the video showing a proposed 65,000 capacity stadium on land that is currently part of Leazes Park, was shown to Newcastle United Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the other Directors and key club figures last month.

The Saudi Arabia PIF Governor and others flying in to watch the 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest, before holding a series of key meetings at a Northumberland hotel with senior club staff, plotting future plans on and off the pitch.

As well as the likes of budgets for this summer’s transfer window and beyond, the Newcastle United hierarchy having the brand new Newcastle United stadium at the top of their agenda.

The Newcastle United owners commissioning this video of the proposed brand new Newcastle United stadium, which yet again strongly suggests that rather than a redeveloped St James’ Park, the plan is to build on a new site, albeit only a free-kick away from SJP.

The Guardian report that the video has also been shown on a confidential basis to the Newcastle United FAB (Fan Advisory Board), a group of fans chosen by the club to liaise with on a regular basis.

This new report appears to very much back up a previous exclusive two weeks ago from The Mail, who stated that rather than a claimed brand new Newcastle United stadium which would have partially overlapped on the footprint of the current St James’ Park, instead the club are looking at a 65,000 capacity stadium that would be entirely on land that is currently part of Leazes Park

That overlapping proposal would have been on part of where the current Leazes End is and then heading north-west and across land that is currently a club multi-storey car park, then taking up only a small part of current Leazes Park land.

If a new Newcastle United stadium has no overlap at all on St James’ Park, that would allow United to continue playing at SJP until the new stadium was ready, as well as hosting the likes of the summer 2028 Euros matches.

The Guardian state that Newcastle United are working with the London based architecture firm KSS, whose recent sporting projects include the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Qatar and Leicester City’s new training ground.

Obviously wherever any brand new Newcastle United stadium would be built, all the necessary planning approvals would be needed. A constant theme in these reports of a new stadium taking up some Leazes Park land, is that the club would then balance that off by giving over land that is currently part of the St James’ Park site.

Chief operating officer, Brad Miller, is said to have told the NUFC Fan Advisory Board that the proposed new 65,000 capacity stadium would have far more corporate hospitality areas and this would help allow them to double matchday revenues.

Miller has told the club’s nine-person fan advisory body that a new stadium, which will also have more corporate hospitality and more leisure facilities, could double Newcastle’s match-day revenue.

As a brand new Newcastle United stadium is an infrastructure project, the stadium costs would be exempt from PSR/FFP calculations, so the club’s owners could fund the stadium themselves, financing the growing of the value of their asset for long-term gain.

The Guardian add that their information is that Newcastle United have also identified two sites on which to build a new state of the art training ground and that the American architect Populous has been appointed to lead on that.

Common theme

As I said earlier, the main common theme of these media reports, appears to be that the Newcastle United owners have almost certainly decided that a brand new Newcastle United stadium is the way to go, rather than redeveloping the current St James’ Park. The dual intention is obviously to get a lot more fans into matches and seriously boost revenues, a completely new state of the art design will certainly help the latter far more, with a new stadium specially designed so that it is perfectly set up to host music events and other sports. The other very common theme to the reports is that Newcastle United will retain their city centre location.

The Government has made clear that it is prepared to back major developments that bring investment and jobs, so as long as Newcastle City Council, The Freemen, other local partners and of course the vast majority of people in the region are backing a brand new Newcastle United stadium, it would be a massive shock if the Government didn’t give their support and ensure the plans were approved.

My personal preference would be a far more ambitious 80,000 capacity new Newcastle United stadium. The demand is now outrageous for tickets and that is without even being full on successful on the pitch. The 52,000+ St James’ Park was full every week in the Championship only eight years ago and that was with the hated Mike Ashley still in control. Fans filling the stadium only due to Rafa Benitez giving a little hope by signing a new contract after relegation.

However, surely the Newcastle United owners should be aiming for at least around a 70,000 capacity.

Newcastle United fans and media might look at 65,000 and think 13,000 more fans will get into matches. However, for the rank and file supporters, it would be far less new seats available than an extra 13,000. I reckon it would be probably more like only 8,000 extra seats for ‘normal’ NUFC fans, with probably around 5,000 more hospitality seats to help drive the revenues as much as possible, as The Guardian indicate in this latest report.