Opinion | As Tottenham Hotspur Stadium finally opens, the list of Premier League grounds gaining on Old Trafford continues to grow
- Manchester United’s home had limited upgrades in recent years
- Almost half of the Premier League’s clubs have plans to upgrade their homes substantially
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, which opened with a trial event on Sunday, looks magnificent. Costing £1 billion (US$1.3 billion), it’s the best stadium in England, with its 62,062 capacity only second to Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
There’s a vast single-tiered stand behind one goal seating 17,500, the stands are steep and close to the pitch, the acoustics praised, the architecture as awe-inspiring as when Munich’s Allianz Arena was opened in 2005.
There are other pluses, since there’s space for safe standing areas should legislation allow. Spurs’ new home is built on the site of their historic home, just as Athletic Bilbao built their new San Mames overlapping the old site. These things matter.
Ideally, a stadium should be part of a community and fans should be able to retrace the pre-match rituals of their fathers. The best located stadiums – Newcastle United’s St James’ Park, Real Madrid’s Bernabeu or Bilbao’s New San Mames, Deportivo La Coruna’s beachside Riazor or Seattle Sounder’s CenturyLink Field are in the heart of the city surrounded not by stadium-owned franchises selling overpriced food and drink, but independent bars, cafes and restaurants. The opposite is the overly corporate Levi’s stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, 43 miles from downtown San Francisco and surrounded by car parks.
West Ham’s new home, London’s Olympic Stadium, does not feel like West Ham. And the second tier of the stands is too far from the pitch, but West Ham’s crowds are now touching 60,000.