Thousands of season ticket holders to miss out during expansion

Good Morning. It's Wednesday 25th September, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...


Thousands of season ticket holders to miss out during expansion

Thousands of Leeds Utd season ticket holders could miss out on live action during the proposed seating expansion at Elland Road, once building works start. Plans are afoot to expand the capacity from 37,645 to around 53,000 by "adding upper tiers on top of previous structures before updating lower tiers" to the West and North Stands at ER, similar to the works completed on Anfield's North stand. Research shows these works took almost two years (September 30, 2021 to 11th August 2023) with 11,000 season ticket holders missing out on live action during this time period!

The construction of iconic sports stadiums involves a meticulous blend of global expertise and local insight. The 49ers are no strangers to this. In 2014, they successfully managed the $1.3bn construction of Levi’s Stadium. To ensure Elland Road's atmosphere remains intact, specialist consultants are on board, as well as local transport consultants to aid the management of construction traffic and matchday travel for supporters. The project boasts an impressive line-up of companies, including KSS, known for their work at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park, Buro Happold as structural engineers, and RISE, with a track record in high-profile projects like the London Olympics in 2012.

According to Nancy Froston of the 'The Athletic'...

The 49ers group oversaw the construction of Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, in 2014 at a cost of $1.3billlion. Leeds have put together a consultation group comprised of companies with global knowledge of stadia construction as well as those with local expertise to help produce the plans for the redevelopment.

Those include specialist acoustic consultants tasked with ensuring Elland Road will maintain its atmosphere during construction and after completion. A local transport consultant has also been brought on board to help with construction traffic and matchday travel for supporters as construction will run alongside Leeds fulfilling fixtures.

A local transport consultant has also been brought on board to help with construction traffic and matchday travel for supporters as construction will run alongside Leeds fulfilling fixtures. Named companies involved at this stage include KSS (the company entrusted with the North Stand at Anfield), an award-winning stadia architecture studio who have also worked on designs for work at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park. Buro Happold are the appointed structural engineers while RISE are the project management team and were previously involved in delivering projects for the London Olympics in 2012.

Plans are yet to be confirmed, but Leeds could look to complete the project in similar fashion to the way Liverpool renovated their Main Stand and Anfield Road Stand. That involved constructing new elements of the stands around existing seating by adding upper tiers on top of the previous structure before updating lower tiers.

This type of stand upgrade usually requires either a part or full closure. Each home game, construction teams hand control of the stadium back to the club for the day before resuming work. Again, as an example, 11,000 seats were unavailable to Liverpool while they improved the Anfield Road Stand. This affected match-going fans and also revenue for the club."

Coventry game labelled 'must win'

Leeds Utd's home game against Coventry City has been labelled 'a must win' by large sections of the Elland Road faithful. The Sky Blues have had a miserable start to their 24/25 campaign, they sit 19th in the table with five points from a possible eighteen, and have already lost against Stoke, Norwich and Swansea. Their only win this season came at the Coventry Building Society Arena against newly promoted Oxford Utd during a narrow 3-2 win.

Expectations are always high in West Yorkshire, and so far performances have been erratic. Eleven points from six games isn't disastrous, but the play-off's are not an option this season! Leeds are the only club in the entire football league to lose all six play-off attempts, and as such, a top two finish is a must!

Leeds' victories thus far have come against the bottom three in the division, traditionally banana skins in the past. They are however making heavy work of breaking down better organised defences from teams content to get ten men behind the ball!