The Biggest Stumbling Block For NESV’s Stadium Plans

The decision over whether Liverpool build a new stadium or redevelop Anfield will be one of the defining moments of NESV’s time as owners of the Merseyside Club. I for one have always been in favour of a move to Stanley Park. There are of course many historical and sentimental reasons for staying at Anfield but I feel that the best course financially for the club is to move away from our home. To compete with the best teams in the Premier League, a big stadium, with not only larger gate receipts but other match day revenues, is required. A great deal of money can be raised from naming rights for the new stadium, significantly larger corporate facilities, other match day revenues such as many advertising spots around the stadium as well as greater retail facilities to increase the amount each fan pays on each visit to the ground. These all seem like cold, calculating facts rather than the spirit and pride that a stadium should enthuse in a fan but I feel it is only right to be realistic.

Many journalists have gone on about the fact that NESV have re-developed the Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park but in actuality, they have only added a total of 6,000 seats from 33,000 to 39,000. The greatest progress in profit from the redevelopment has been in corporate areas and in increasing ticket prices. This is all well and good in Boston, but I don’t think such an approach will be welcome in Liverpool in regards to ticket proce. This is only my opinion and there will be many who will disagree with it but I believe that redeveloping Anfield is not the way to go. Certainly there can be scope to increase Anfield’s capacity as well improving corporate revenue, but I fear any such improvements will not see an increase in turnover like there would be by moving to a new stadium. An increase to 55,000 with no scope for expansion after, compared to a 60,000 seater all new purpose built stadium with expansion to 70,000 an option is a choice that made solely with numbers is a no brainer.

Of course, no such a decision for a Reds fan can be solely made on numbers; after all the history of Anfield speaks for itself and NESV understand that. They will want to take as long as possible to make the right decision for the club and its fans. There is a stumbling block to this long deliberation process though: Liverpool City Council. Councillor Anderson stated bluntly back in October:

“My responsibility is to the people of Anfield. If we get to April without a decision, Liverpool city council will make a decision. I’ll be looking at proposals (for Stanley Park) in terms of a Plan B. The government has taken away £45m a year from this council and money from the Housing Market Renewal Fund to create housing in Anfield has now been put into the Regional Growth Fund so we’re competing with the whole of the country.”

The decision maybe taken out of NESV’s hands. Clearly Liverpool City Council want Liverpool to build a new stadium at Stanley Park because they are aware it will bring regeneration to the area. With the lack of money the council has, the Reds investing at Stanley Park will effectively do the job for them, but if they don’t have a decision by April, they want to be able to find other businesses to regenerate Stanley Park.

Initially John W Henry talked about taking up to two years to decide on the issue:

“When we [NESV] went into Boston, we spent three years trying to figure out whether we should build a new stadium, or refurbish the existing one. Here, we don’t have that luxury, we need to move faster, so hopefully within a couple of years we’ll have a decision on which way we’re going to go. Hopefully within a year, but I don’t want to set a hard, fast time limit on when to make that decision.”

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