Birmingham City owners Knighthead have pledged to build a new Sports Quarter in the heart of the city
Almost a year ago Birmingham City announced the purchase of a vacant 48-acre site in east Birmingham for £51m, formerly known as Birmingham Wheels, and unveiled plans to build a new Sports Quarter and super stadium.
Knighthead also acquired another 12 acres of land adjacent to the Wheels site, excluding St Andrew’s, to take the total holding to 60 acres. Blues have taken inspiration from Manchester City’s stunning Etihad Campus and plan to create a Sports Quarter that comprises a stadium, training and academy facilities.
There are also plans for office spaces, restaurants – or ‘eatertainment’ areas as Tom Wagner calls it – and hubs to socialise. Knighthead intend for match days to make up a fraction of the Sports Quarter’s revenue.
Here is the rundown of what we know so far about a facility which will change the landscape of Birmingham city centre…
What’s the timescale?
Wagner wants the new stadium open by 2029 – but admits that is slightly ambitious. “My timeframe is lunacy but we’d like to get this completed in five years,” he said. “That is the perfect world if everyone works with us at the same pace we’re willing to work. Five years from August and we could be in. I’m going to keep saying that even though it makes everyone around me sweat. A lot of it is outside our control but that’s the goal.”
The likelihood is that the Sports Quarter won’t be open by 2029, with a timeline of a decade more realistic.
What capacity will the stadium have?
Knighthead are keen to stress that the stadium is only the centrepiece of the Sports Quarter, the other cogs are equally important and will be used more frequently. Wagner showed supporters a mock up at the Open House event last April but warned them: ‘Don’t get wed to this!”
The stadium is expected to have a capacity of around 60,000 – a figure which would make it the largest facility of its type in the Midlands and rank among the 10 biggest stadiums in England.
That figure would provide Blues with room to house more supporters than St Andrew’s currently can and it would make the venue suitable for large scale non-football events. For instance, an NFL fixture in Birmingham would be a possibility.
Head of infrastructure Nick Smith, who will play an integral role in building the new stadium, has promised supporters will have a say on the design. Smith said: “I want you all to be assured that you will have a voice about what the design will look like, what we take from here, what we make new, what the new family area looks like, what the new home end looks like. You will absolutely have a voice.
“We have started the masterplan and what some of the blocks might look like. We definitely don’t have the same AI programme that have shot out four or five designs you’ve seen!”
What else will be in the Sports Quarter?
Wagner insists there will be ‘nothing else like it in the world’. There will be a hotel, with easy access, and office space. “We want the site to be used 365 days a year,” says Wagner. “Restaurants, pubs, mini golf… All those types of venues will be incorporated.
“That revenue from every one of those things is going into your football club. Look at Tottenham and how much money that stadium is making. If you think that stadium is generating a lot of money, wait until you see what we’re going to build.”
Wagner estimates the cost of building the Sports Quarter will be between two and three billion pounds. It is worth remembering that infrastructure costs don’t count towards a football club’s Profit and Sustainability totals.
The clean up
Before building can start, a clean up is required. When the Birmingham Wheels site was closed in 2021 the council completed some work on the land and discovered that it was contaminated. Japanese knotweed was among the issues discovered and the council withdrew the plot from sale in 2022.
Included in the sale agreement between Blues and the council is a £17m government grant to part fund the clean up operation of the site. Matters probably weren’t helped by a fire at the Wheels site in June.
What about St Andrew’s?
The club’s existing stadium underwent a makeover during the summer months to bring its hospitality offering into the 21st century. Knighthead have splashed out to create a number of new spaces, despite the promise of the new stadium.
Why? Head of infrastructure Smith said: “The discussion with the owners goes, ‘OK, how quickly do you want to go here? And how much do you want to spend to get here before going to the new stadium? If you are going to go, you have to go early and hard to return on the investment you’re going to make.
“Hence why there’s a big chunk of work now. There will probably be another 18 months or two years of investment (in this stadium) before we shift our energy and put sticking plasters on whilst we focus on the build phase of the new stadium.
That was the thinking behind how and why we invested in this space. A lot of people have asked me, ‘Why are you spending money on this when you’re going there?’ And that’s it. You have to go on the journey.
“Because if you don’t you get to it and go, bang, here’s a thousand pound seat in hospitality it’s ‘Bloody hell, I’ve been spending £100!’. You can’t do it like that.”
Knighthead haven’t revealed what will happen to St Andrew’s once the new stadium opens, but Wagner has suggested the site could incorporate some housing. He said: “There’s a development broadly within that region where we would hope to encompass some housing on this site (St Andrew’s) depending on what we end up doing here.”
Wagner’s plea and idea
Wagner has called on Keir Starmer’s Government to improve transport links in Birmingham to facilitate the construction of the Sports Quarter. Transport links are of paramount importance and need to be improved.
Wagner has even mooted the idea of building a tunnel between the city centre and the Sports Quarter, but interim chief executive Jeremy Dale says it is just an idea.
“Tom said as a throwaway comment the day before about the idea of a tunnel and actually it’s a very cost effective way of doing it,” said Dale. “Tom has some fabulously innovative ideas. I remember when I first talked to him about this project, he said some things and I was thinking that it was never going to happen, but then they have. Let’s just say, I think it was an idea rather than a plan.”
Where are we at?
Wagner and Dale showed members of local and national government around the Wheels site in February in the hope of gaining support.
The last few months have seen Wagner apply pressure on political leaders. The American and his investors want guarantees of support on planning and transport. Technically, the project is still in the planning phase.