Leeds told to avoid Everton blow after plan revealed – Stefan Borson
Leeds United need to keep their stadium redevelopment costs in check to ensure it makes economic sense to complete the project.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the Championship side must look at how stadiums are built in Europe rather than follow in the footsteps of someone like Everton.
Leeds announced on 23 September the next steps in the plans to redevelop Elland Road, which has been the club’s home since 1919.
The headline was the commitment to “modernise and improve stadium capacity from 37,645 to around 53,000 seats”, but the club also pledged to improve hospitality facilities lower down in the statement.
It was also announced a “core architectural design objective is to maintain and enhance the unique atmosphere” at Elland Road.
Leeds United must keep Elland Road rebuild costs in check
“The only question as always with these types of things is what do they spend to get that stadium to the size and scale that they want it,” Borson told Football Insider.
“As soon as it starts to cost in these very high hundreds of millions of pounds, it becomes uneconomic.
“The key for them is to rebuild the stadium as a big stadium at the sorts of prices that they spend around Europe as opposed to the sort of price that Everton have spent.
“It’s not economical to build a 50,000-seater stadium for £1billion.
“If you look around Europe, I looked the other day at the Poznan Stadium in Poland.
“It’s a beautiful stadium, with a 50,000 capacity. It was built in 2010, so I accept that was quite a while ago, but they spent £200million on it.
“That’s the sort of level that these clubs need to be targeting if these stadiums are going to make economic sense.
“Building a stadium for £1billion for a club like a Leeds or an Everton is problematic in terms of getting a return and funding the build costs.”
In other news, Leeds tipped to land ‘major’ deal after confirmed news – Expert.
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