Leeds United: 49ers must take one caution with big Elland Road plans - View | OneFootball

49ers Enterprises must ensure Leeds United are a stable Premier League side to get the most out of Elland Road.

Leeds United have announced plans to expand Elland Road, but some fans have raised concerns regarding the atmosphere and selling out the ground whilst they are a Championship club.

Despite relegation from the Premier League last year, Leeds fans have not been deterred from supporting the side, as they have over 20,000 supporters on a season ticket waiting list and have had to reverse a planned increase in price following that recent demotion.

They sold out in almost every league fixture last season, and demand has been such that the Leeds hierarchy believe they can sustain crowds of over 50,000 regularly in English football's top-flight. They have recently revealed their plans to move the stadium's capacity up from 37,645 to near to 53,000.

Leeds' 53,000 expansion plans for Elland Road

It’s no secret that the Whites have been hoping to develop their stadium, with talk of expanding the ground having been on the agenda for the past few years. However, relegation from the Premier League was always going to impact any decision.

Despite that, Angus Kinnear recently told The Square Ball podcast that they still intend to make improvements to Elland Road, which includes increasing capacity by around 15,000.

“The good news about the stadium is, for the first time in the six and a half years or seven years that I’ve been involved in the club, I think we’ve got some real traction behind the stadium. So the 49ers have committed a multimillion-pound sum on putting together a project team which has environmentalists, transport planners, the design team, the structural engineers, the mechanical engineers.

“That team is now meeting two or three times a week with a view to submitting the planning application. There’s going to be an announcement very shortly about that. And within that, you’ll get a degree of granularity in the plans around stadium capacity. I think at the moment it looks like it’s going to be 53,000. That’s the most economic number.

“Within that, you’ll also get a sense of the broad split, which hasn’t been decided yet, between GA (general admission) and hospitality seats. But there’ll be a significant GA increase, but there will also be an increase in premium seats on that side as well, because the West Stand doesn’t really have any workable hospitality as it stands.”

At that stage nothing concrete had been revealed, but this week their chairman Paarag Marathe has confirmed that the project will head underway. Maarathe said: "We recognise how important Elland Road is to the Leeds United fans and the wider community.

"The opportunity to refresh a century-old stadium, coupled with the legacy of Leeds United, is unprecedented.

"Our plans reinforce our commitment to the long-term success of the club and I am excited that we are going to be able to welcome thousands more supporters to every game, in a stadium that retains the unique atmosphere of Elland Road.

"We look forward to sharing our plans with supporters and the local community for their input."

The importance of increasing revenues is very clear in the modern game, as it is relevant to PSR and what clubs can spend each season as well. Some will argue that the immediate focus should be on improving the team, and if Leeds win promotion, more financial backing will be required to enhance the squad to ensure they can establish themselves back among the elite.

Concerns raised regarding Elland Road's expansion

Elland Road will host Championship football next season.

In terms of atmosphere and authenticity, many supporters would already contest that Elland Road is up there among the best stadiums to visit in the country. And, should the expansion be completed, a revamped Elland Road would be the seventh-largest stadium across England.

It would be larger than grounds such as St James' Park, Villa Park, and Stamford Bridge, which gives context to the magnitude and ambition of Leeds' expansion plans. Meanwhile, the stadium would be the sixth-largest in terms of club grounds, as Wembley Stadium is also on the list and ranks comfortably as the biggest in England with a capacity of 90,000.

Old Trafford, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London Stadium, Anfield, the Emirates Stadium, and the Etihad are all larger than 53,000 in size, but Leeds would be the next largest. The long-term future of the club in terms of its potential cannot be underestimated with regular crowds of that size able to fill the stadium in a one-club city.

However, there is a concern as well. Per Transfermarkt, Leeds' attendances between 2005/06 and 2016/17 ranged from between 21,600 and 27,700 on average. Of course, prior to that and in recent years there has been more of a spike and well above 30,000 attendances for most seasons, but it highlights what can happen when the team is lacking quality players or the football is poor in terms of entertainment.

There are other factors, such as the poor ownership of the club. The 2010s, in particular, saw boycotts for some games, among other reasons not to support the various regimes that had ownership of the club as well. However, without consistent Premier League football, it's difficult to envisage a world where there will be the same amount of sustained demand as there is now.

Should Leeds, with or without the 49ers, be stuck in mid-table in the EFL again, there will be difficulty selling out and there will likely be a half-empty stadium. That will impact the atmosphere more than it would with a 22,000 average in a 37,000 seater stadium, and is something they must consider. It will look even more empty than it did during the difficult years of 2012-2017 in particular.

It therefore requires the club to kick on and become a regular of the top-flight of English football. Greater commercial growth and matchday spending through the expansion of the ground could help to sustain that, but there are very few Premier League sides who enter a season without any threat of relegation whatsoever outside the elite.

Leeds want to be in that bracket again, and perhaps have the potential to be, but a 53,000 seater stadium in the second tier would be incredibly difficult to sell out and to generate a consistently intimidating atmosphere in.