Stamford Bridge has been the home of Chelsea for 118 years. The eleventh-largest football stadium in England has undergone many changes over the years but further renovations are now on the cards.
Todd Boehly hasn't shied away from making changes in London since completing a £4.25 billion takeover of the club last year. After kicking-off the process of developing the squad to become one of the best in Europe, the U.S billionaire is now in talks over transforming the oldest stadium in the Premier League.
As reported by The Telegraph Boehly is, with Behdad Eghbali, considering the available options to transform Stamford Bridge as one of the best stadiums in football as part of an ambitious £1.5bn project. Talk of demolishing the home of Chelsea to enable a new stadium to be built has surfaced, though no decision has been made.
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Building an entirely new ground has been called the 'most likely option', with the possibility of redeveloping the current stadium on the cards. It's reported that Chelsea board member Jonathan Goldstein, alongside executive vice president of planning and development for the LA Dodgers Janet Marie Smith, will oversee the project.
The changes in Stamford Bridge may come as a scary prospect for Chelsea supporters, with so much history inside the famous arena. However, football.london has looked at the changes Boehly and Marie Smith made to the LA Dodgers' Dodgers Stadium in their recent £83m renovation and how they could transfer to Chelsea's ground.
First up, and possibly the most exciting alteration, are the changes made to the centerfield plaza in LA. The renovation, which was completed in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic, included a major overhaul outside the stadium with a number of changes made to ultimately improve the matchday experience for fans.
The Dodgers used almost two acres of land surrounding the 56,000-capacity arena to put in unique food stores, entertainment and kids areas, retail locations, sponsor activations and more social room areas.
Currently, there isn't much room for these sorts of attractions at Stamford Bridge. However, Goldstein and Smith are currently awaiting news on whether they have successfully purchased 1.2 acres of land next to the stadium.
The land currently belongs to housing association Stoll and would provide the space needed for similar changes made in the U.S. However, as per the report by The Telegraph, a new state-of-the-art stadium could be created to provide additional parking for visiting spectators.
As comes with a brand new stadium or a redevelopment of the current building, more space means more area to cover with sound. Back when the LA Dodgers unveiled their new plans, a new sound system replaced the current speaker tower to provide 'an enhanced audio experience' to spectators.
Depending on what option Boehly and Chelsea decide to go with, consideration on how supporters will access their seats must be thought of. Should the planning process involve a new stand with additional seating high up, walking may not be an option for some supporters.
One solution to this could be the addition of elevators and bridges. The Dodgers included elevators in the right and left field plazas for access to allocated seats. In England, Wembley has escalators and we could see a similar method implemented.
Finally, we could see a new statue erected outside Stamford Bridge. Currently, a sculpture of Peter Osgood is the only one outside the stadium after being unveiled in October 2010.
During the LA Dodgers' renovation in 2020, Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher Sandy Koufax was honoured with a statue. There's an array of former Chelsea favourites who could be in contention to be honoured in some fashion, however, no talk of a statue has surfaced as of yet.
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