Arsenal are currently “putting together a plan” to renovate the Emirates Stadium, with chief executive Richard Garlick leading talks, according to co-chair Josh Kroenke.
The new English champions have been considering some kind of evolution for a few years, especially since the recent rebirth of the club has meant they could easily sell tens of thousands more tickets than the current 60,704 capacity.
The stadium is already 20 years old and now operates in a different financial world to when it opened.
“Rich Garlick is leading those conversations on our end right now,” Kroenke said in a sit-down with media. “We have several new members of the board that are plugged into that, that do those operations for us in the States. They’re putting together a plan right now to renovate the Emirates
“We’re starting these exercises with some of our advisers but the Emirates has been an amazing stadium for us. I think we took it to a different level this year. I think that’s credit to Mikel [Arteta] and those players.
“But there’s some character that I want to make sure we’re preserving and bringing back to the ground as well. I think we can do that in a very elegant manner that’s really to the benefit of Arsenal. We do this stuff in the States in our facilities and our teams. We take great pride in it so I think we have a chance to come over and really give the Arsenal supporters an elevated matchday experience from where they are right now.”
Asked whether there may be some lessons from the high-tech SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which the Kroenkes had built for their NFL franchise, the LA Rams, Kroenke said “that’s still to be determined”.
“I had different comments from people over the years about the walls of Highbury, the character of what that building was,” he added. “The Emirates is obviously a totally different animal but I’ve made that comment to a few people and they’ve asked me that same question.
“I say I want to leave it up to our supporters and people that have experienced that to really tell me what that means. So we’re still sifting through that but I do want Arsenal fans to know this is a very modern facility but also has a character. Try to figure out a way to bring and preserve some of the character of old English style football as well.”
One plan that has been discussed over the past few years is to raise the four corners, but the club have been conscious of temporarily sacrificing home advantage by playing games in an alternative like Wembley.
Kroenke meanwhile stated that the title win hasn’t changed transfer plans – but that it may open up new opportunities.
As reported previously by The Independent, Arsenal want to bring in a left-sided player and at least two other signings, with Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers and Bournemouth’s Junior Kroupi among the main targets.
“No, I don’t think so,” Kroenke said, when asked if Arsenal would go even bigger after winning the league. “We’ve had some conversations about different things and how they’re starting to take shape. But I think it’s a good boost and a great question, and maybe there is some opportunity that we’re not aware of that comes out of this success.
“But I think win or lose, our plans were our plans. And we were going to continue to do that even if the results hadn’t been we wanted.”
