Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit reveals if he thinks Birmingham City would fill new 62,000-seater stadium | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie has offered his thoughts on whether Birmingham City can fill their proposed new 62,000-seater stadium.

Sky Sports pundit and former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie believes that Birmingham City will only be able to fill their newly-proposed 62,000-seater stadium if they reach the Premier League.

The runaway League One leaders are already dreaming about the potential of back-to-back promotions, and rightly so. Blues were expected to blow the third tier away this season, which they certainly have done. Chris Davies and his squad deserve plenty of credit for their excellence this season, as they haven't shown any form of complacency.

With their big spending expected to continue under the ambitious ownership group, it's no surprise that a new stadium is on the horizon for Birmingham, as the club purchased a vacant 48-acre area in the city last year. This new home is reportedly set to cost around £3bn and hold 62,000 supporters.

With their current home, St Andrews @ Knighthead Park, holding just under 30,000, it begs the question whether the Midlands club will be able to fill their brand-new home when it opens.

Lee Hendrie believes success could see Birmingham City sell out new stadium

Football League World exclusively spoke to former Villa midfield maestro and Sky Sports pundit Hendrie, and asked him whether he thought Birmingham would be able to sell out their new 62,000-seater stadium on a regular basis.

Hendrie responded: "Will they fill it? That's a massive question.

"They're still in League One at this moment in time, and yes, they've been getting the gates you'd certainly think they would do, particularly when the board is injecting money to bring players in to make them have the understanding that they're going to have a platform going forward.

"There's no doubt they'll get promoted to the Championship, and I'm pretty sure they'll invest again because they'll want to get back-to-back promotions.

"If they do get to the Premier League, that's when you're talking about if they'll fill a 62,000-seater stadium. It's difficult, the only way that you'll fill a stadium with that capacity is by being successful.

"They've got energetic, successful people behind the scenes that will want to take the club forward. I'm pretty sure if they get into the Premier League, they'll invest to stay there, and that's the only way they'll fill a stadium of that capacity."

Birmingham have plenty of time to bring success before stadium move

After buying the land for their exciting new project in 2024, nothing is set to happen in the immediate future. Birmingham owner Tom Wagner has set 2029 as a target year for the opening of their new 62,000-seater stadium. With the way things are going, it would be a fair assumption that Blues won't be in League One them.

Of course, this gives the former Premier League side plenty of time to get to where they want to be on the pitch, before the new home is ready for use. As Hendrie alluded to, Birmingham will be much more likely to fill the stadium if they're an established Premier League side, which doesn't seem all too farfetched by 2029.

The Midlands isn't short of football clubs to support, with the likes of Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City, and West Bromwich Albion all within a stone's throw of the Blues. This means they have plenty of competition when it comes to gaining new supporters.

If the owners are able to be on a similar or better level to all the teams in the vicinity of them, they stand a much better chance of attracting higher crowds to their new home. With an estimated population of 2.7m, the city of Birmingham certainly has the potential to fill this new ground week-in-week-out.