Be interesting to see what upgrades they are thinking of.

I remember around the time the stadium was being built there was talk that we could fill the corners and get to 75k I think.

Need to improve transport links though?

I’d be ok with moving away from a symmetrical look. May make a renovation more feasible

Yup remember that at the time TFL wanted us to pay a fair bit to upgrade the tube station. Our stadium was basically capped at 60k due to this.

    Always blamed Islington council etc. for being difficult, but I wonder how much was down to us not adequately greasing the wheels or selling/building the project to benefit the area.

    We did a huge amount to benefit the area from memory. All sorts of community projects if I remember rightly. Or was that all PR spin from us?

    I think when you look at the other clubs they are building much more than that for the local community. Like Hotel and Malls etc. We could do that as well and garner extra revenue. The concourse is actually pretty big and our musuem is extremely dated and small, not fitting for a big club.

    We should really be looking at a 75k to 80k seater given the size of the club.

    JazzG Yup remember that at the time TFL wanted us to pay a fair bit to upgrade the tube station. Our stadium was basically capped at 60k due to this.

    if that's the reason I'd say the council is pretty much entitled to their position.

      3 months later

      Arsenal explore Emirates expansion to match rivals’ income

      Arsenal have started to explore how they could upgrade and expand the Emirates Stadium to try to catch up with their rivals’ match-day income.

      The ground’s capacity of about 60,000 was the biggest in London when they moved from Highbury in 2006, but its size, catering and corporate facilities have since been surpassed by those of Tottenham Hotspur, who earn close to £6million from every match at their 62,850-capacity venue.

      Manchester United have also been looking into whether to build a new 100,000-seat stadium or revamp Old Trafford, while West Ham United have plans to increase the capacity of the London Stadium to 68,000, which would make it the second-largest ground in the Premier League. Liverpool recently expanded Anfield, which now holds 61,276 supporters.

      Without a renovation, Arsenal cannot significantly increase their match-day income. They earned £102.6million from games in 2022-23, which is estimated by the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust to increase to more than £120million in the next accounts because of the team reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League last season.

      Arsenal’s matches regularly sell out and they realise that they need to keep pace with the huge demand for tickets, as well as adapt to supporters’ changing catering and corporate needs, for example by improving internet access.

      Arsenal’s owner, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, has experience of constructing stadiums, having built the state-of-the-art SoFi Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams NFL franchises. The ground has a capacity of 70,240 and was first used in 2020.

      It is not clear how Arsenal could increase the capacity beyond 60,704 in a cost-effective way, having added 780 seats in 2018. Experts have suggested that they could consider changing the gently sloping elliptical roof, which was shaped to help airflow and sunlight reach the grass, but have also pointed out that lowering the pitch will almost certainly not be possible, not least because it would affect sightlines.

      Arsenal are among a number of clubs to charge more than £1,000 for a season ticket

      Arsenal have 146 executive boxes, which is twice as many as Tottenham, who recognised that corporate fans increasingly prefer using hospitality lounges.

      In the shorter term, Arsenal have appointed Populous, the firm that designed the Emirates Stadium, to improve the catering potential. “The demand for food and drink has grown so much more,” Chris Maddison, the head of food and beverage at Populous said last week at Leaders Week London, a conference for sports professionals.

      “We are doing a redesign of the main production kitchen to triple it in size. That space is necessary to deliver the extra revenue that is being demanded, but it comes down to space. That links itself to cost.”

      Tottenham earn more than £105million a season in match-day income from their stadium, in addition to their earnings from hosting NFL and rugby union matches, as well as music concerts. The stadium is equipped with the best bars in the league and the club earn nearly £1million at every home game in food and drink revenue.

      Could convert one section to have small seats, and therefore more of them. Just sell tickets to dwarfs and midgets.

      Only issue is we’d lose a bit of revenue on the kit selling side as they’d only need child’s sizes and not adults. Probably eat and drink less too.

      Great thinking.

      Let's take this up a notch though, we sell Arsenal-branded trenchcoats and just stack the child fans three high. If viewing is an issue, just mount periscope cameras on the epaulettes.

      As a non-matchgoing fan living thousands of miles away, I'd accept a huge reduction in the reading age of the club's public announcements to achieve this objective and fund our future domination of England and Europe.

      Like that line of thinking.

      For the children who are at the bottom of the trench coat stack with obscured view we could perhaps supply them with a viewing device and charge them a discounted rate to watch the match through Arsenal Direct

      Pets corner too - bring your pet along to experience that unique match day experience. Size and weight terms and conditions apply

      If we were to allow our sizeable worldwide fruitbat fan base a limited form of membership, we could then allow these vital members of the Arsenal community to view matches hanging upside down from the shelter of the terraces.

      Actually that's an option we could also open up to our fit and able fans of other species, at least after a medical is completed through one of a list of approved providers, and an appropriate legal waiver signed.

      The top of the stands are wave shaped so there are gaps to the roof, wonder if filling these up are an option? or perhaps they serve a purpose, such as allowing light in or disrupt the wind patterns.

        IBL more boxes. Build 5 levels of boxes like Americans. That’s where the money is. And what you lose in organic atmosphere you can replace with jumbotrons

          IBL In modern stadium wind and sunlight can be solved with man made solutions. Most stadiums are even fully covered these days.

          I think Kroenke needs to expand the stadium, the demand is just going through the roof at the moment and we are letting 20-40m slip out of the window due to outdated facilities and lack of seats. But the local council is an issue.

          I think Arsenal could easily afford to replace the roof completely, build a 4th tier and go 80k seats. Have another row of corporate boxes as well.

              Clrnc In modern stadium wind and sunlight can be solved with man made solutions. Most stadiums are even fully covered these days.

              I think Kroenke needs to expand the stadium, the demand is just going through the roof at the moment

              Fuck it, why don't we build a roof and stick seats on the underside of it so fans can watch matches upside down, strapped to a harness. Easy and relatively cheap way to expand capacity. Could even market it as an all new viewing experience, an industry first etc.