Brand new £1.2 billion stadium replacing St James’ Park to be recommended to PIF – Report | OneFootball

A very intriguing new media exclusive has now reported that a brand new £1.2 billion stadium replacing St James’ Park is going to be the recommendation.

The Newcastle United owners have had the club’s employed hierarchy working on the various choices that would deliver a far bigger capacity stadium. With senior specialist staff recruited to directly oversee this process and of course then lead on overseeing the new higher capacity stadium construction/redevelopment as it takes place.

The Telegraph state that their information is that the employed NUFC hierarchy are ‘on the verge’ of making their recommendation to the Newcastle United owners.

With that recommendation looking set to be a brand new stadium over a potential redevelopment of the current St James’ Park.

The newspaper report saying that a brand new stadium with a capacity of just under 70,000 has been estimated to cost £1.2 billion, whilst any redevelopment of St James’ Park to an unspecified new capacity, would cost between £600m and £800m.

The really intriguing thing though is where The Telegraph say the location of this proposed brand new stadium would be.

They report; ‘Sources have described the location as being like a diagonal shift away from the listed buildings that make the redevelopment of St James’ Park so difficult.’

If this brand new stadium gets the go ahead, it could be set to cover part of the land that the current Leazes End sits on. With potentially that being the last part of the proposed new stadium to be developed, allowing the current capacity of St James’ Park to be maintained for as long as possible.

The innovative plan could/would see the south/bottom end of the new stadium starting where the current Leazes End is (roughly the half of it furthest away from the Leazes Terrace listed buildings), then continuing roughly northwest and building over where the current club land is, which is occupied by a multi-story car park, then continuing on further into land that is currently part of Leazes Park.

The media exclusive reporting that this use of only a small part of Leazes Park should make the planned new stadium ‘more palatable to the city council as well as local residents’, with then the Newcastle United owners potentially financing the development of new green space land close by, to offset the loss of the park land needed for the new stadium.

The report adding that as part of the overall plan, the club could also develop a leisure, business and retail complex at Strawberry Place, where the Stack/Newcastle United fanzone currently occupies.

If going ahead, this planned brand new stadium would mean that Barrack Road (the road running up behind the current Milburn Stand) would remain open as well, further limiting the impact on the city centre disruption.

The Telegraph say their information is that ‘…the new bowl-shaped stadium would be higher than St James’ Park, making it an even more imposing feature of the city’s skyline.’

Obviously there is some way to go before this proposed brand new stadium could become a reality, however, it certainly appears to offer many positives, in terms of balancing the needs of the Newcastle United owners and fanbase, along with that of Newcastle City Council, The Freemen, local residents and businesses.

A brand new state of the art stadium with a far higher capacity that can accommodate many more fans and help to massively increase revenues at the club.

The location would surely be seen by fans and local businesses who thrive on matchday traffic as the best possible alternative to the current site, especially as part of the new stadium could overlap on the existing SJP.

Barrack Road remaining open and indeed the road behind the Gallowgate then unaffected as well.

Whilst Leazes Park impacted only to a certain extent and the possibility of alternative green space created to compensate.