Image Credits: Getty Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plans to either remodel Old Trafford or build a new stadium is possibly the biggest changes he’s instigating since becoming a minority owner at Manchester United.
The INEOS owner is keen to develop the infrastructure at United where it’s been relatively unaltered for two decades under the complete Glazer ownership.
Since 2010, United have spent £98 million on their infrastructure with all the Big Six, and Brentford, Brighton and Leicester spending a considerable amount more.
A good marker of how little has changed over time is the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo left United for Real Madrid in 2010 and returned in 2021, noticing very little change with the facilities.
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Already, Ratcliffe has stepped up and authorised a £50 million refurbishment of the Carrington training groups which has seen the men’s first team move into the women’s section of the training complex.
However, this is nothing compared to the next instalment in the upgrades to United’s infrastructure.
Manchester United’s new Old Trafford
Whilst there have been a few plans in mind with United’s home ground, including developing Old Trafford further or demolishing it to rebuild a new stadium, the new most likely way forward will be keeping the iconic ground.
The INEOS owner is now looking at scaling down Old Trafford to become a 30,000 seater venue hosting matches for the Women’s team and the academy squads, whilst building a completely new stadium next door.
Doing this will preserve the history of Old Trafford, such as the iconic player and coaching statues of Matt Busby, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, Denis Law and Jimmy Murphy, as well as the tributes of the tragic Munich disaster in 1958, such as the Munich clock and the Munich tunnel.
However, the stadium next door is due to be a state of the are, 100,000 seated venue, being billed as the “Wembley of the North”.
It’s expected that the development of the ground will cost around £2 billion, however, that’s nothing compared to the gold mine their going to be tapping into in a revolutionary way.
Revolutionary Technology at the new Old Trafford
Whilst designing the new stadium, it’s understood that Ratcliffe’s team have visited a number of stadia and architecture firms to help with their plans.
One stadium they visited was the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which just so happened to host one of the pre-season tour fixtures. The LA stadium saw United’s opening tour game against Arsenal, with the Red Devils suffering a 2-1 loss.
The 70,000 seater home of the LA Rams NFL team is considered one of the best multi-purpose venue in the world, regarded this way from their ground breaking facilities.
One of their unique features which United want to replicate is the use of Augmented Reality, or AR.
Augmented Reality allows for technology to enhance the reality your seeing, with a screen or camera adding extra objects or information to what’s in front of you.
A great example of this is Snapchat or Instagram filters which add things to the image before a photo is taken, or games like Pokemon Go which augment Pokemon into the real world through screen.
But how is this going to be used in the new stadium?
Well, the SoFi Stadium has an on-site screening venue which allows fans to watch all manner of sports fixture as though they were actually in the stadium.
Much like with the camera filters on your phone of Pokemon Go, the technology makes other features appear to be right in front of you and in the world around. In this case, it’s a whole football game, with you pitch side.
This means that fans from around the world can watch the United games as if they were sat pitch side at Old Trafford themselves.
Recently footage has emerged of this in action, with the SoFi stadium broadcasting the United game against Fulham in to United’s LA-based fans which you can see below.
The footage shows the venue at the SoFi stadium with everyone appearing to be sat right behind Andre Onana’s goal for a corner, with screens in the rafters to show the televised angle of the match.
This impressive piece of technology is incredibly profitable, with the current augmented reality market being worth £17 billion, however with developments in reality technology such as the metaverse, augmented and virtual reality, the market is expected to rocket to £77 billion by 2030.
Several stadiums across America now use AR by allowing fans to view player stats, and game information through their phone cameras, appearing to be overlaying the information over the game.
It’s expected that this technology is going to be the future of fans matchday experience, and clubs like United are keen to get in on the action first, allowing to capitalise on their oversees fanbase.
It’s expected that with the new stadium, through the use of AR, naming rights, hospitality and other commercial ventures, the Red Devil are predicted to earn up to £230 million per season. This is a huge jump up from their current £136 million, which is already the highest in the Premier League, with Spurs in second place with £118 million thanks to the facilities of their new stadium.
Thankfully as well, the cost of the stadium is PSR-deductible, meaning the development won’t count against the club PSR expectations.
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