West Brom: 40,000-capacity renovation mooted at The Hawthorns after takeover completion
Adrian Goldberg is hopeful that Shilen Patel will explore the possibility of renovating The Hawthorns after completing his West Brom takeover.
The Florida-based entrepreneur and his father have agreed an 87.8 per cent shareholding in WBA Group Limited via Bilkul Football WBA, LLC.
Stabilising the club is the priority given the precarious financial situation in recent times, but expanding the stadium could be under consideration in the future.
Speaking on The Liquidator podcast [18 February, 16m 20s], former BBC broadcaster Goldberg said: “My single most vehement wish for the Albion is that we seriously address growing our fanbase.
“Albion could get 38,000 people into The Hawthorns in the late 70s. Since then the population of the West Midlands has not declined by a third, but our capacity has.
“There are people out there to be won. I’d like to see a serious long-term moneybags investor completely rebuild the stadium at its current site.
“There is so much room taken up by the East Stand carpark. We could build a 35,000/40,000-capacity stadium where it currently stands. It will allow the club to grow while still feeling like our traditional home.”
Commenting on the capacity of The Hawthorns, Chris Lepkowski added: “That’s the madness of it, that a club in the Premier League took the decision to let fewer people in, potentially reducing the overall revenue.”
What is West Brom’s average home attendance?
The Hawthorns currently has an official capacity of 26,688, which the Baggies have managed to sell out multiple times this season.
Albion have an average home attendance this season of 23,880, but you have to wonder how much higher that figure would be if the capacity increased.
That is not to say every fixture would be sold out, of course, but certain games could easily attract more than the club are currently able to get in through the turnstiles – the Wolves FA Cup clash being one such example.
There were plans in place back in 2003 to increase the capacity to 40,000, but they were scrapped after the club slipped out of the Premier League. Since then, the capacity of the stadium has decreased due to the West Stand renovation, as Lepkowski pointed out.
The fact that these discussions have previously taken place and been signed off on shows that it is possible to expand to 40,000 seats one day.
It may well be that West Brom have to wait until they are back in the Premier League for these talks to come back up, and hopefully the club can then stay in the top flight for long enough for them to come to fruition.
In other West Brom news, Adrian Chiles has made a bizarre claim regarding Taylor Swift and an Albion player.
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