"No qualms" - Birmingham City praised for emulating Real Madrid, Tottenham in key 62,000-seater stadium detail | OneFootball

Plans for Blues' new Sports Quarter are gathering serious pace

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Birmingham City fans are currently pinching themselves due to the on and off-pitch excitement surrounding the club.

Blues' solitary season in League One will be forever etched into the history books after Chris Davies' side hit an EFL and world-record total of 111 points, with many tipping the West Midlands outfit to be among the front-runners in next season's Championship.

Owner, Tom Wagner, is expected to, once again, back the 40-year-old significantly in the transfer market, whilst in the background, plans regarding the upcoming Sports Quarter in East Birmingham are starting to gather serious traction.

Last week, plans for the complex, which centres around the building of a new 62,000-seater stadium, were boosted significantly after the Government approved funding of a new tramline and improved existing links between the City Centre and its location on the currently derelict Birmingham Wheels site, and is set to exceed 125 acres of land.

With leading stadium architects set to battle it out for the contract, it is expected that the new stadium will include a retractable pitch, allowing for further sporting and non-sporting events to be held with a minimum of fuss regarding potential damage.

Some of Europe's top sides already have such features in place, and as a result, one of FLW's resident Bluenoses, Aaron Bastable, is excited by such a proposition.

Wagner has previously spoken about Birmingham's ever-growing revenue streams which, according to his projections, are set to be in-line with Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton, all of whom will benefit from the Premier League's parachute payment scheme.

As well as striking an abundance of high-profile deals with brands such as Nike, UNDEFEATED and Delta Air Lines at present, such streams are only set to grow when the Sports Quarter is complete, and Bastable has praised Knighthead for, once again, thinking outside the box.

"A retractable pitch is exactly what you need to demand more revenue," he began. "As far as I'm aware, I believe that goes into the club's coffers.

"That's why, PSR-wise, Tottenham are absolutely incredible with it," Bastable continued.

"It's also great as a fan. Living locally, if I want to go to certain events, I don't have to go to London where everything else seems to be. With it being so 'middle of the country', everyone else can go to it. It just makes a lot of sense.

"Real Madrid have got retractable pitches. I know loads of other clubs do too.

"In this day and age, it's a necessity to keep the pitch in good condition if you want to host these big events," our fan pundit explained. "Let's say, hypothetically, when the stadium's done that we are still in the Championship, you're playing Tuesday-Saturday.

"That wouldn't make the greatest amount of difference as our pitch (at St Andrew's) was unbelievable last season.

"We've got some really smart people involved, like Nick Smith, who is the main man behind the new and current stadium infrastructure.

"In terms of the revenue-driven side, more ways to drive revenue equals better players, which normally equals better success," Bastable stated.

"Not everything is about money, but anything that's going to help the club grow in stature, no qualms from me."

Not only will matchdays increase revenue associated with the club, which will increase tenfold if Blues are to make swift progress towards the Premier League, but so will the adjacent training and community-based facilities.

Blues' women's and academy sides will also be using the Sports Quarter as a catalyst for further growth, as they are currently based at the Knighthead Performance Centre at Wast Hills, which previously housed the men's first team before a move to the Elite Performance and Innovation Centre in Henley-In-Arden due to a fire two years ago.

Wagner stated in April 2024 that he hopes to bring NFL games to the Second City, with arguably the sport's greatest ever player, Tom Brady, currently a minority stakeholder on the Blues board, and that would be made easier by the use of a retractable surface.

The American also highlighted last week that the stadium "will be a venue that is used 365 days a year," and that the complex could boost the local economy by £450m in the next decade, with it currently predicted to open in 2030.