In February 2022, Arsenal revealed plans to renovate Emirates Stadium. It may be a
surprise to some, as the stadium was newly-built in 2006, but the project aims to tackle some of
the long-standing issues at the ground which have been gnawing at the club’s fanbase for some time.
But what are they?
Well, one of the issues is context. While the Emirates was considered
state of the art when it opened, in the decades since it’s been made to
look outmoded by new stadiums which have been built at home and abroad.
Tottenham Hotspur unveiled their future-proofed successor to White Hart Lane in 2019,
Liverpool opened their new main stand in 2016 and plan to expand the capacity of the Anfield
Road in time for 2024, and Manchester United are debating a major reconstruction of Old Trafford.
In addition to which, since the Emirates was built, there have been new, redeveloped
or renovated stadiums completed at Real Madrid, Juventus and Atletico Madrid, with new projects
also planned by both Milan clubs and Barcelona. There is a new generation of stadiums in world
football and the Emirates is no longer part of that group. And that’s really the problem: while
it’s way too soon to undertake a major overhaul of the Emirates, a growing list of wear and tissues
can – and apparently now will – be fixed, if only to restore the appearance of modernity.
Chief among those is a leaking roof. During a recent Premier League game with Wolverhampton
Wanderers, supporters reported a stream of water falling between the two dugouts,
despite a dry night in North London, and that will be one of the main focusses of a project
which is expected to last for 40 weeks.
Other internal factors include the lack of Wifi in the ground. While the idea of supporters scrolling
Instagram or Twitter during games is a bit of pejorative Arsenal cliché – and an unfair one –
most fans like to check the scores from around the other grounds during the game, particularly during
a 3pm kickoff on a Saturday, and the inability to do that is not only a source of frustration
for fans, but also a connectivity issue which shouldn’t exist in a contemporary sports arena.
Improvements are also expected to be made to the PA system,
which probably also belongs to a slightly different era of the game,
and multiple fans across social media have also expressed irritation with the ticket
readers on the turnstiles, which don’t work as well as they might do and can often lead
to delays for supporters entering the ground and large queues on matchdays. In a few cases,
kick-off times have actually been missed and – encouragingly – these will be replaced.
In researching this video, various Arsenal fans also told Tifo that the stadium’s food can be very
disappointing and that – sometimes – the big screens inside the stadium can flicker which,
again, leaves the Emirates out of step. Compared, for instance, to the 120-yard,
oval-shaped infinity screen installed at SoFi stadium,
the arena recently completed by Stan Kroenke’s LA Rams – the technology inside the Emirates
certainly looks dated and, encouragingly, will be upgraded during the planned works.
The external areas are also due a facelift. When the Emirates was built, its outside perimeter was
decorated with great players from Arsenal’s past. David Seaman is showed arm-in-arm with Ted Drake,
for example, and Ian Wright appears alongside Geordie Armstrong. It’s a lovely touch, no doubt,
but over time the colours in the montage have noticeably faded and the red is nowhere near as
striking as it once was. The club crests and banners which also adorn the stadium
have suffered much the same fate and so while the Emirates’ glass exterior distinguishes the ground
as having been modern built, some of the other parts do now seem older than 16 years.
The actual substance of the upgrade is still unclear.
Fan focus groups have been formed and, in keeping with similar at Wembley and White Hart Lane,
there’s the suggestion that digital screens will be installed on the stadium’s exterior,
which obviously would offer the opportunity to increase the Emirates’ earning capacity.
So, these are not major changes and they’ll have no direct impact on the capacity. Nor
will they revolutionise the nature of the matchday experience. But they are improvements and they’re
well timed. In February 2022, Arsenal announced their first increase in season-ticket cost since
2014, with a 4% bump ahead of the 2022-23 season. As of the summer of 2021, however, the club’s most
affordable season ticket was the most expensive in the Premier League, so fans are entitled to
expect some of these issues to now be addressed and for the outward signs of decay to be remedied.