Old Trafford has been Manchester United’s home for more than one hundred years, but if co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe gets his way, the Red Devils will be heading to a brand new stadium in just five years’ time.

On Wednesday, Manchester United announced plans to build what it called the world’s best soccer stadium, a 100,000 seat arena surrounded by a tent-like canopy held aloft by three giant poles.

The new stadium will cost some $2.5 billion to build, and comes at a time when United are already more than $1 billion in debt, but it is arguably necessary for United to keep up with its rivals.

Old Trafford was once the envy of other Premier League sides, but now, with its leaky roof and outdated facilities, it is falling behind rival clubs’ stadiums.

This can be seen in UEFA’s recent club finance report, which shows Manchester United’s gate revenue has stagnated.

The report states “the majority of clubs have doubled gate revenue since 2009” with all of the 20 clubs with the largest gate revenues seeing large gains apart from Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona. United made $140 million in gate revenue in 2024, which was roughly just $1 million more than in 2009.

It puts the club fifth behind Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Bayern Munich, down from second in 2009, and only slightly ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who increased gate revenue from $36 million in 2009 to $134 million in 2024 thanks to Spurs’ new stadium.

And it’s not just about adding more seats. Spurs make an average of $104 per fan each matchday, while United make $77 per fan.

That’s partly down to Spurs being based in London rather than the north west of England, as Old Trafford still brings in more per fan than Manchester City and Liverpool’s stadiums, but it is also partly due to the incredible facilities at Tottenham Hotspur’s new home.

If Manchester United’s new stadium could bring in the same average yield per fan as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium then with its larger size, it would almost double Manchester United’s current matchday revenue.

The last time Old Trafford hosted the Champions League final was more than 20 years ago, and it was also overlooked for Euro 2028 when Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium will host games instead. The new Manchester United stadium will likely host games of this stature as well as occasional England internationals, but while prestigious, these won’t be a gamechanger.

Manchester United also has the third highest commercial revenue in world soccer, and that could grow further with the new sponsorship and retail opportunities such as stadium naming rights that the new stadium would bring. Spotify’s sponsorship of Barcelona’s Camp Nou, for example, is worth a reported $440 million.

United has struggled on the pitch as teams with smaller fanbases have managed to be better at scouting and recruiting, and can compete in terms of prize money and to an extent broadcast revenue, but those clubs can’t compete with Manchester United when it comes to the potential extra matchday revenue and commercial revenue this stadium could help bring in, giving Manchester United a huge advantage.

But paying for new stadiums can also hold a team back for years, as seen by Arsenal’s struggles on the pitch in the years after moving to the Emirates Stadium.

By tying the stadium to a government regeneration plan, Manchester United will hope to get the government to pay for the necessary infrastructure upgrades. When Nottingham Forest submitted an application to increase the City Ground’s capacity by just 5,000 seats, it had to agree to spend more than $1.5 million to improve local bus and cycle routes among other infrastructure expenses. United will likely be hoping the government will end up paying for the infrastructure required to bring an extra 25,000 people to the stadium on match days.

It is claimed the stadium and regeneration project could bring in $9.4 billion a year to the national economy and create 92,000 jobs as well as bringing in an extra 1.8 million visitors a year to what is already England’s soccer tourism hub.

Manchester United wants this stadium built quickly, using a modular design built offsite and brought in on the Manchester Ship Canal to speed up construction. But the goal is to bring success to the Red Devils in the long term.

This stadium might be expensive, but with Real Madrid and Barcelona investing heavily in stadium renovations and other Premier League sides looking to expand their stadium capacities, it could be argued that Manchester United can’t afford not to build this new stadium.