AFC Bournemouth owner Bill Foley has outlined his intentions to move the Premier League club into a new stadium by the summer of 2027.
The Cherries have the smallest stadium in England's top-flight with a current capacity of 11,307 at the Vitality Stadium.
So, what will the capacity of a new Bournemouth stadium be? What else will the plans involve except capacity expansion?
New Bournemouth stadium: The key details
- The planned completion date is the summer of 2027.
- The new Bournemouth stadium will have a capacity of 18,500.
- Bournemouth owner Bill Foley told The Athletic he expects the total cost of a Bournemouth new stadium to be £80-90 million.
- The Cherries are also building a new training centre, costing £32 million, which will be completed in October 2024.
- The new stadium will be built directly behind the Vitality Stadium.
History of the Vitality Stadium
Widely considered one of the worst stadiums in the Premier League, the Vitality Stadium replaced the old Dean Court, which had stood for 91 years. It has been AFC Bournemouth's home since 2001.
New Bournemouth stadium capacity
Talking to The Athletic in May 2023, Bournemouth owner Bill Foley said: “The current plan envisions a capacity of 18,500, which may not seem like a big change, but it will provide proper facilities, good restaurants, and be a significant upgrade.”
A big reason for the increase in capacity for the new stadium is due to the club wanting to capitalise more on hospitality. At present, the small capacity of the Vitality Stadium means there isn't much space for hospitality sections but Foley wants to provide fans with more options. He said:
“The new stadium will have the normal Premier League percentage of hospitality, roughly 16-17% of the stadium will be hospitality related. Right now we’re at about 6%, so we don’t have the facilities to do what we need to do to entertain our fans.”
When will the Bournemouth new stadium be completed?
Bill Foley has stated a hopeful completion date of the summer of 2027, but there are some hurdles to overcome.
The new Bournemouth stadium will be constructed on the land currently occupied by the Bournemouth training facility. So, the club needs to complete its move to a new training complex at Canford Magna to then start construction on a new stadium.
There is one other issue. Bournemouth don't actually own the Vitality Stadium. When the club had major financial troubles in 2005, they sold the stadium and leased it back. However, there is what's called a ‘sporting covenant' on the land at Dean Court, meaning the land can only be used for sporting purposes. Effectively, the land has to have a stadium on it. It can't be knocked down in favour of new houses.
So, Foley expects the current landlords Structadene to come to a reasonable agreement with Bournemouth, who have only five years left on the lease at the Vitality.
“The clock is ticking,” he said. “We know they'll see us the stadium at a reasonable price, and that price gets more reasonable the longer we wait.
“If we move out, I guess they could go back to the council and say ‘We’ll tear it down and build affordable housing’, which is fine but that could take a while, so time is on our side.”