Football League World
·19 October 2025
How Birmingham City, Luton Town and Oxford United's new stadiums will all compare in size

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Yahoo sportsFootball League World
·19 October 2025
FLW has compared the size of the upcoming new stadiums set to house the trio of EFL sides
The modern outlook of football means that old-school stadiums are starting to go 'out of fashion', with clubs looking forwards rather than with nostalgia, as finances take up even more of the spotlight.
As such, clubs such as West Ham United and Everton in the Premier League have moved to the London Stadium or the recently-opened Hill Dickinson Stadium in an attempt to increase revenue streams that will, in the eyes of the Hammers and Toffees hierarchy, see their clubs bridge a well-documented gap between themselves and the cluster of 'elite' sides at the top of the division.
Such viewpoints have also been held by the likes of Knighthead Capital Management, who currently oversee boardroom matters at Birmingham City, as well as CEO of Luton Town, Gary Sweet, especially with the Hatters sampling the glitz and glamour of the Premier League during the 2023/24 season before suffering back-to-back relegations and falling back into League One.
Another side who have recently dominated headlines due to off-pitch matters are Blues' divisional counterparts, Oxford United, with the Yellows also hoping to depart the Kassam Stadium - an arena which has so often split opinion amongst locals and travelling supporters - and move forward into a new era at a stadium based near the village of Kidlington, north of Oxford city centre.
Unsurprisingly, the fanbases of all three clubs are all excited about what the future could hold, and with that being said, Football League World has compared the proposed capacity of all three stadiums that are currently in the pipeline.
Having seen plans for a new stadium falter in the past, Blues supporters saw talk of their upcoming 62,000-seater stadium begin in April 2024, when it was revealed that Knighthead had initially acquired 48 acres of land on the derelict 'Birmingham Wheels' track, less than a mile away from St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.
The stadium will be the centrepiece of a major regeneration project in East Birmingham, largely funded by the ownership group, that will provide at least 8,400 jobs for the local community, and will feature an adjacent 15 to 20,000 indoor arena, training facilities for the club's men's, women's and academy sides, as well as leisure, retail and commercial spaces.
The 'Sports Quarter' complex as it is being dubbed, is set to cost £2-3bn, with it effectively being green-lighted in June 2025 as government funding towards an expected West Midlands Metro extension that will run to the development and beyond was unlocked, with the club hoping to move by the summer of 2030.
Luton Town's plans for the upcoming modern stadium at Power Court can be traced as far back as 2016, when the club were still in League Two.
The upcoming development has seen several revised plans in terms of overall capacity and opening dates, having initially been set for a capacity of just 17,500 at the start of planning proceedings.
However, in line with the Hatters' rapid rise to the top flight, the club have been able to increase the capacity of their future home due to the receiving of greater cash sums, such as parachute payments, which have helped fund the process.
As such, it was revealed in December 2024 that the stadium will hold an initial capacity of approximately 25,000 spectators and that it would be opened by the beginning of the 2027/28 campaign.
In even more exciting news, it was later confirmed that Limak International would be tasked with the construction process, alongside their well-documented redevelopment of FC Barcelona's iconic Camp Nou stadium.
Oxford United only moved to the Kassam Stadium in the summer of 2001, although they have never owned the 12,500-seater stadium which has earned notoriety due to a missing 'stand' behind one of the goals, which gives a view of the adjacent car parking and retail facilities.
The Yellows' current lease for the stadium, in conjunction with Firoka Group, was set to expire in June 2026, but has recently been extended to the summer of 2027 and possibly 2028, depending on the outlook of developments concerning the aforementioned new stadium, which is set to boast a 16,000 capacity.
After various behind-the-scenes talks regarding the new stadium, the local authority of Cherwell District Council approved planning approval in August 2025, with club staff such as chairman, Grant Ferguson, stating: "This is a crucial step forward in the long process towards safeguarding the future of this great club."
It remains to be seen what the exact timescale of the new stadium development will be, but the club took further strides towards it being a reality in mid-October 2025, when the Secretary of State declared that it was content that the aforementioned local authorities determined the eventual plans themselves.
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