‘The Key To Investment’ – Leeds United Director Addresses Elland Road | OneFootball

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Leeds United director Peter Lowy has dubbed the redevelopment of Elland Road as being key to bringing in investment to the Leeds region.

Football, being so central to British culture, has naturally also emerged as a cornerstone around city planning, with entire regions being economically uplifted with the redevelopment of stadiums in particular.

Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium opening in 2019 has led to the club’s contribution to London’s economy tripling, while Everton‘s new Hill Dickinson Stadium has already had sizeable effects in reshaping the waterfront.

Lowy projected a million riders a year to be guaranteed, through those attending Leeds’ home games, if a light rail or tram service is introduced.

Stressing that the area around the stadium has remained unchanged for over four decades, Lowy feels that the ‘key to investment in Leeds’ is through the redevelopment of Elland Road.

Lowy, speaking at the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF), via BBC journalist Adam Pope, said: “The key to investment in Leeds is the redevelopment of the stadium.

“This is the anchor to developing the land around which hasn’t seen investment in 40 years. We need light rail or tram.

“If you get the light rail or tram from the city centre to Elland Road and White Rose we will have a million riders a year straight off the bat because of the 19 home games guaranteed.”

Lowy forecast the construction to take just under four years to complete, stating that the stand would be built in a modular fashion akin to a ‘Meccano set’.

“It’ll be 3 to 3.5 seasons to complete. It’s like building a Meccano set.”

Lowy also revealed that the pitch will have to be re-laid several times while the stand is erected with the top sections being completed before the bottom section is replaced.

The Lowy Family Group, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the Whites with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Leeds City Council, will be responsible for developing the 40 acres around the stadium, with this phase of the development projected to take eight to ten years, given that light rail or tram services are green lit.

Leeds’ were granted planning permission for the Elland Road expansion in January, with the development set to take the capacity to 53,000 seats, and it will be the ground’s largest modification since the £5.5m East Stand construction in 1993.

Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth revealed that journalists had to rush out of the press room after the manager‘s post-match press conference following the Brighton tie on Sunday, the final home fixture of the season, with workers swooping in immediately to begin the West Stand reconstruction.

Simon Grayson has stressed that Leeds must ensure ‘we never, ever drop to the Championship again’ and ‘be better for it from a city perspective’ and these off-field developments will go some way towards ensuring that.

As for shorter term goals, former Whites striker Jermaine Beckford has set a target of 50 points for the season, which they can achieve with a final day victory against West Ham United, with Leeds currently separated from the top half of the table by only two points.