Seb Coe has acknowledged that the timeline for constructing Manchester United’s ambitious new stadium remains “slightly uncertain”, though he expressed confidence that the project is “moving in the right direction”.
Lord Coe, who famously spearheaded London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, currently chairs the Mayoral Development Corporation overseeing the extensive Old Trafford regeneration initiative.
The former IOC president previously led a task force established by United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, which explored various stadium options for the club as part of a broader revitalisation of the surrounding area.
Coe is now playing a pivotal role in the development of the proposed 100,000-seater stadium, which Ratcliffe envisions as the ‘Wembley of the north’. However, he revealed that securing the necessary land for the estimated £2 billion project is proving to be “complicated”.
Speaking on The Sports Agents podcast, Coe stated: “I love regeneration projects and I was really pleased to be asked to get involved in that. I do actually believe in good, locally-funded projects to make lives easier for local people. And I also saw from the London model that if you build it around sport, the multiplier impact of getting other stuff done is far quicker than it would have been.”
He elaborated on the challenges, adding: “Land acquisition is always complicated. I know that from London, so, at this moment, it’s just putting the stuff together sequentially and incrementally and using a world-class stadium to be a catalyst for so many other things, including inward investment.
“So, it’s about jobs, it’s about housing, it’s about educational aspiration and I’ve seen sport so often used properly, changing local landscapes and this is an exciting project.”
Regarding the timescale, Coe reiterated: “Well, again, it’s slightly uncertain at the moment. The stadium is being scoped and being improperly scaled. But again, that is also dependent on the purchasing and the acquisition of various other parcels of land in that space.
“That’s all taking place at the moment and I won’t maintain a running commentary on that, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
