Stefan Borson shares Crystal Palace ‘worry’ after stadium expansion update
Crystal Palace have been exploring plans to expand Selhurst Park for several years in a bid to boost their revenue.
It was confirmed in August 2024 Palace had been granted planning permission to build a new Main Stand as they look to increase their stadium’s capacity.
The Selhurst Park redevelopment will take the number of seats in the stand from 5,200 to 13,500, ensuring the stadium’s capacity will rise to around 34,000.
In a new development, Bloomberg reported on 12 December Goldman Sachs is leading a £125million loan deal to Palace to help finance their stadium project.
Chairman Steve Parish has revealed the work on expanding the Main Stand will begin in the new year.
Crystal Palace plan to generate ‘substantial additional revenue’
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider the only “worry” for clubs like Palace is whether there is enough demand to sell out their stadiums after completing expansions.
Selhurst Park is currently the fourth-smallest stadium in the Premier League with a capacity of 25,486.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “I would only worry about whether we are reaching a point where there’s too much capacity in a lot of these stadiums.
“If you look at what happened at Brighton versus West Ham, there were so many empty seats. You had Tottenham in the Champions League again with something like 10,000 empty seats.
“And look, it’s before Christmas, right? That will be part of the reason people are just not going to go to these games. They’re on TV, they’re not that exciting, and we’ll just save the money for that one, put it towards Christmas. So, there is that, but definitely we are seeing some oversupply, shall we say.
“That will be the question for Crystal Palace. But assuming they can sell a lot of those seats and assuming that there’s some good corporate in there, then it will generate substantial additional revenue that will help Crystal Palace grow going forward.”
Former Everton CEO Keith Wyness told Football Insider Palace could fall behind their Premier League rivals even after completing their stadium expansion.
Crystal Palace face ‘difficult’ stadium challenge
Borson insisted Palace have to increase Selhurst Park’s capacity due to the lack of other opportunities to boost their revenue.
“They almost have to do it because what are the levers they can play with?” said Borson.
“They’re not in a position to bring in very high-value sponsorship deals. There’s a limit to where they can finish in the league table given their wage bill, so the only way that they can really operate in this sort of environment is to outperform on the pitch, which they’ve done historically, and get themselves into the European competitions. That is one way.
“Then the other way is actually having more seats there for more people to turn up and watch the games. That will then help them build the wage bill to get better on the pitch.
“Then, of course, they can finish higher up in the league and it becomes a virtuous circle. So, it’s important, but it’s very difficult to execute.”
Palace’s revenue reached £189.2m in their latest published accounts for 2023-24, with their matchday income making up £13.8m of that figure.
For more Crystal Palace and exclusive news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.