Evangelos Marinakis has made ‘very impressive’ Nottingham Forest announcement that’ll net extra £20m-a-year
Nottingham Forest could generate an extra £20million in revenue when they go ahead with their stadium plans.
That is according to football finance expert Dr Dan Plumley, who has exclusively told Football Insider that he is impressed by the proposals Nottingham Forest have announced.
Nottingham Forest want to expand the City Ground to become a 52,000-seater stadium, which is another sign of ambition from owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Marinakis has been praised for pushing through Nottingham Forest’s project, with their home stadium currently holding just over 30,000.
‘Financial upside’ to Nottingham Forest plans
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Plumley believes the plans are “sensible” and can be pushed through to generate extra matchday revenue.
“Very impressive. Very ambitious. Everything comes with risk attached when you’re doing this kind of stuff,” Plumley said.
“It appears that the plan is for phased growth, I think. So I think it initially rises to something around 45,000 and then 52,000 later on. I like that as an option. I think that’s sensible.
“And that kind of build and grow and build and grow. Staying in the Premier League is going to be really key to this, especially from a demand perspective. But, you know, again, on the financial upside, it’s easy to see why they’re driving that.
“Even if you look at rough estimates and take the high number, you’re going to add on around 21,500 seats, something like that. Even if we assume all those seats are for general sale general seats, and we know they won’t be.
“But even if you take the baseline margin, for example, each add-on ticket price is about £50 at the top end, run those numbers and that’s going to generate them an extra million pounds per match day when you get to that highest level of capacity, and that’s an additional £19m to £20m in the long run.
“And for context, their overall match day revenue in 2024 was £14.4m. So you can see why these clubs are looking at doing it, the financial upside is there. The state of the Premier League is going to be vital to those plans.”
Chelsea eyeing up Nottingham Forest star
Nottingham Forest will also receive a financial uplift if they decide to sell Brazilian defender Murillo, amid interest from Chelsea.
Chelsea may have to pay £50m to sign Murillo, who has been a key figure in the Nottingham Forest defence since he joined the club in 2023.
The 23-year-old does have a long-term contract at the City Ground until 2029, and Sean Dyche will not want to lose a key player in the middle of a relegation fight.