Since moving to the Amex Stadium in 2011, Brighton & Hove Albion have risen through the divisions to become an established Premier League club. They are now considered one of the most forward-thinking clubs in the country thanks to their data-driven approach to player recruitment and insistence on playing a certain style of football.
In recent years, the club have even enjoyed a European campaign where they made it through to the Europa League quarter-finals. As part of that run, club officials experienced some of the biggest stadiums in Europe, including the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, and it perhaps got them thinking about what would be possible at the Amex.
At present, the club's manager is Fabian Hurzeler, and the young German will be keen to get the club back into Europe as soon as possible, not only to help raise funds for Brighton but also to get his name out there for his next potential move.
Amex stadium redevelopment: the latest
December 2024: New away section and fan zone
Brighton and Hove Albion are set to undergo a £40 million redevelopment of the Amex Stadium, which will relocate the away section to a new tier and increase the capacity by 800, bringing the total to 32,500. The project will unfold in three phases, starting with a refurbishment of the club store and Dick's Bar after the Arsenal match on January 4, with a temporary store opening on 15 January.
Key developments include the creation of a new fan zone called The Terrace, which will open in spring and aim to be the largest in the Premier League, accommodating up to 2,000 fans in warmer months. The final phase will introduce an additional 1901 Club area and provide a pub-like atmosphere for home fans, alongside other updates like safe standing in 2025 and moving away supporters to the southwest corner by 2027.
The club also reaffirmed plans to build a purpose-built women's team stadium in the future.
Safe standing returns to the Amex Stadium
Brighton will return to the Amex Stadium with a safe-standing section from the 2025-26 season. Safe standing was banned in 1990 and only formally reintroduced in 2022. Thus far, 14 clubs, including Brighton, have seating sections. The change will not increase capacity, and prices will remain the same.
Brighton will install the “rail seating” variety of standing sections, which will have foldable seats behind them. These seats can be unfolded for UEFA games and folded back for League and Cup matches. Brighton intend to push for Europe again this season, and maintain a place in European competitions going forward.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler is behind the plans, he said:“Honestly, I think it is a great thing. I experienced great atmospheres in the Bundesliga. In German stadiums, it is normal for some people to stand, especially in my former club, St Pauli. What I experienced, I don't know if it is because they are standing or not, but it was great support. Very loud support, very emotional support. It is great that we do it, I really love it. I also really love that we are open to new things, this club shows they are open for new things and to do things in a different way. They like to make decisions like others have not done before. That is something that I really appreciate and that is my thinking and mindset too.”
When they moved to the Amex, the capacity stood at just 22,500. Several expansion projects have taken place over the past decade and the overall capacity now is just shy of 32,000.
Ahead of the 2024/25 season, the club made further changes to Amex Stadium but this time in relation to supporter experience rather than capacity.
More covered spaces and expanded food and drinks stalls have been installed around the stadium while a pre-turnstile bar and tunnel club hospitality have also been introduced in recent times. In March 2024, it was also revealed that Brighton had put in a planning application for a two-storey fan zone at Amex Stadium.
Amex stadium expansion capacity
A further expansion of the Amex Stadium could be on the cards in the near future as the club are now regularly selling out the stadium. Last season, the club's CEO, Paul Barber said that the plan is to get more fans through the door in the coming years but tempered expectations. He said:
“In terms of increasing the size of the Amex, we want to get as many of our fans as possible into the stadium, but given its design, we can maybe add a few hundred more seats over time but not thousands.”
As a result, it's unlikely that we will see a redeveloped Amex Stadium that breaks through the 40-50,000 capacity barrier anytime in the near future but a small expansion could be on the horizon should the club continue to perform at their current levels on the pitch.