Kieran Maguire moots key Elland Road expansion 'focus' for Leeds United owners 49ers Enterprises
Leeds United’s owners have regularly discussed the development of Elland Road.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes any imminent investment into Elland Road will likely be put towards corporate development, rather than major expansion of regular seating.
The expansion and improvement of Elland Road has long been a focus of 49ers Enterprises, with chairman Paraag Marathe regularly bringing up the matter since full control of the club was bought from Andrea Radrizzani in the summer of 2023. Leeds United have been able to sell out their stadium virtually every week and could feasibly fill a 50,000-capacity stadium even in the Championship.
Work has been underway for several years on investing into the stadium and is ongoing, with Andrew Schwartzberg and Eugene Schneur appointed to the board this summer - both have backgrounds in construction. But while talk of a major increase in general capacity has been mooted, Maguire believes the initial focus will be on the more costly corporate hospitality.
“In relation to Leeds, I suspect 49ers Enterprises will have a greater focus on improving facilities at the higher end of the Elland Road project, in terms of hospitality etc.,” Maguire told TBR Football. “The return on those investments tends to be much higher than offering additional seats to the core fanbase.
“But if there is an opportunity to add a couple of thousand seats, we are probably looking at no more than 3,000 to 4,000 maximum. The main focus will be on improving what the club can offer to the corporate sector. The prices charged and the ability to increase those prices is much greater than it is for regular season ticket holders.
“If additional tickets are laid on as part of the revamp, I suspect they will go to members as opposed to season ticket holders. From an economic point of view, these are the people that are likely to pay higher prices and pay more for merchandise and so on.”
Leeds United assumed full control of Elland Road for the first time in 20 years earlier this year, with the 49ers transferring control in March. Updates to concourses, toilets and lounges have already been made under the new ownership and speaking after May’s Championship play-off final defeat to Southampton, Marathe insisted failure to achieve promotion did not mean plans for expansion would be put on hold.
“There's still work to be done we're doing anyway and I don't want to say work, I mean a significant investment, to line up the right things you need to do to work with the city council, to get all the approvals, to do all of the drawings,” he said. “All of those things, before you put a shovel in the ground, whether we were in the Premier League or the Championship, we will be doing anyway.”