Manchester United Takes Step Towards $2B+ Stadium Project

The soccer world is focused on North America as the World Cup rages on, but one of the top clubs on the globe is getting closer to a historic moment of its own.

Manchester United announced the acquisition of a majority of the land it needs to build a stadium close to its longtime Old Trafford base, ESPN reported. A purchase price for the 25 acres wasn’t disclosed, but considering the $2.64 billion price tag on the proposed development, likely no expense was spared.

The seller of the land was Indurent, an industrial real estate subsidiary of Blackstone.

The United Kingdom club is planning a 100,000-seat stadium, 25,000 seats larger than the stadium at Old Trafford, which is already the largest soccer stadium in the country. It has served as the home to Manchester United for more than a century, but plans for an updated stadium have been mooted for decades.

Last year, the club announced its intention to pursue a new stadium as part of a larger redevelopment designed by Foster + Partners. Part of the larger redevelopment includes the possible building of approximately 15,000 homes as roughly 370 acres are repositioned.

“Securing the right land for our new home has been absolutely critical, and the land we’ve acquired gives us the stage to deliver a truly world-class stadium that honours our past and is ready for our future,” Collette Roche, chief executive officer of the stadium redevelopment, said in a statement.

One complication could be the shifting political tides in Manchester. The stadium project had the support of the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham. But he’s giving up his post as he appears to be the first choice to replace Keir Starmer as the U.K.’s Prime Minister.

More details of the stadium plan are expected to come next month when the Old Trafford Regeneration Mayoral Development Corporation publishes a vision for the redevelopment.

— Holden Walter-Warner