Leeds United Elland Road expansion: ‘Millions’ claim, changed plans, Phil Hay hint, 49ers’ view

Leeds United have begun a new life under 49ers' majority ownership and whilst the success on the field has not appeared yet, fans will hope the club begin to turn a corner and attempt a push back to the Premier League.

Relegation from the Premier League didn't stop the 49ers making their move this summer, and now one of the biggest questions is what will happen to Elland Road?

There have been several decisions and claims made in recent years regarding Elland Road and what will happen next. Even Paraag Marathe has his views and The Athletic's Phil Hay has provided a hint at how things could play out.

Here, we round down the latest in a round-up on the Elland Road situation.

Leeds looking at ‘tens of millions’ to expand

The proposed Elland Road redevelopment could cost Leeds United ‘tens of millions’ of pounds. That’s according to football finance expert Daniel Plumley, who spoke with MOT Leeds News about the club’s stadium expansion plans.

“Look at the amount of money it is taking Everton to do a full new stadium, obviously the Spurs one was the most expensive in history. So, you’re talking hundreds of millions to do a full stadium, then you work off from there, so if it’s full stand reconstruction, you come down from those numbers but it is still significant amounts of money, certainly in the tens of millions for sure.”

Phil Hay hint

Amid reports of the Elland Road expansion, a report emerged from The Athletic claiming the uncertainty over the previously held up takeover was to blame, suggesting now more ground will be made.

The Athletic’s Phil Hay wrote: “It’s been apparent for a while now that Leeds could fill a much bigger ground. You only have to look at the waiting list. It’s a frustration on two fronts. First, because a lot of would-be match-going fans cannot get tickets. And second, because the commercial advantages of a larger, more modern stadium would make a big difference to the club’s accounts.

“To answer this succinctly, stadium development will not start or move any further forward until a takeover goes through. It would be an expensive project. But a major upgrade is very much at the centre of 49ers Enterprises’ plans. It wants an improved ground and it wants to gradually push annual revenue much closer to the £400m mark.”

The plans that changed

It was agreed in 2021 that Leeds would build a new training ground, as well as expanding Elland Road. But those plans were later withdrawn, with Leeds instead opting to expand the stadium to 55,000 seats, up from the current capacity of 37,608.

It was said at the time that further investment from the 49ers would be needed. Angus Kinnear said at the time: “If we stay up this year, then construction wouldn’t start next year, but the process would.”

49ers' previous promise

Paraag Marathe is keen to preserve the personality and history of the Elland Road culture.

In an interview with the BBC, Marathe said: “I’ll be honest with you, the main thing is to protect the magic and electricity that is in Elland Road. The answer then is [it] probably means that it’s more of a stadium expansion than a new stadium because I don’t want to take away from that.

“Players from the other 19 [Premier League] clubs, if they are going to list the three worst places that they want to play on the road for an away match, Elland Road is probably one, two or three for them. I don’t want to take that away.”