Man Utd's new stadium - nine key questions

Manchester United have announced ambitious plans to build a new £2bn 100,000-capacity stadium close to their current home at Old Trafford.

Red Devils co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he wanted to build the "world's greatest football stadium".

But when? And how can they afford it? What does it look like? And what happens to the current stadium?

BBC Sport looks at some of the key questions surrounding the project.

Manchester United believe the new stadium can be completed in five years.

A project of this size would normally take about 10 years to complete.

However, the club think they can halve the building time by making full use of the Manchester ship canal.

"Normally, if you were building a 100,000-seater stadium from the ground up, in an area that needs to be regenerated, it's a 10-year project. But if we get going with the government then I think it's a five-year project, not a 10-year project," said Ratcliffe.

The club plan to build large parts of the stadium off-site before shipping it to the Old Trafford site via the Manchester ship canal.

"It will be a modular build - that means it can be built far more quickly," said Ratcliffe.

"There are yards which specialise in building very large structures, which are then shipped to locations around the world."

Architect Norman Foster added: "Normally a stadium would take 10 years to build, we halved that time - five years. How do we do that? By pre-fabrication, by using the network of Manchester ship canal, bring it back to a new life, shipping in components, 160 of them, Meccano-like."

There is no confirmed starting date.

Ratcliffe says the project will depend on how 'quickly' the government are with kick-starting their regeneration project of the area.

"On the timeline for this, it starts with a discussion," said Ratcliffe.

"It depends how quickly the government get going with their regeneration programme. I think they want to get going quite quickly, because they want to see progress in this parliament.

"I'm assuming that will go well and it will go quickly."

United's chief operating officer Collette Roche says the club will work closely with the authorities to make the project proceed "as smooth and quick as possible".

"One of the things we are establishing is a mayoral development corporation, that gives a lot of rights to speed these things through," she added.

"You also heard today that Jim mentioned us potentially doing some pre-fabrication. So that means we can do a lot of the enabling works and start to design and build the pieces in advance of having to do anything on the ground in Old Trafford."

It is unclear what will happen to United's existing home - but it looks unlikely the current Old Trafford will be kept.

Architects Foster and Partners had suggested Old Trafford would be demolished - and there is no sign of the current stadium in the new artists impressions.

Given the proximity of the new stadium to the current site, this option looks likely.

"By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford," Ratcliffe said.

It had been suggested in 2024 that the current stadium could be scaled back and used as a home for United's women and youth teams.

United chief executive Omar Berrada said the club may revisit that plan, but it is "unlikely".

That's the ambition.

Berrada says the club wants to grow the women's team fanbase enough for them to play at the main stadium, which could incorporate matches or events with smaller capacities.

He added they were looking at pitch technology that would allow for the surface to be in "mint condition" for both the men's and women's teams.

Roche added: "The great thing about having this type of stadium is it can actually be creative for different venues.

"There is technology now that can still give you a sense of a smaller, great atmospheric stadium. That could benefit the women's team with a smaller crowd – and that's the kind of thing we are looking at."

Manchester United say the new stadium will cost about £2bn.

"We're looking at a ballpark [figure] of £2bn," Berrada told BBC sports editor Dan Roan.

The club have not said how the stadium will be financed.

There are several options on the table, such as loans, private investment or investment from co-owner Ratcliffe.

However, the proposal to build a new £2bn stadium runs alongside the cost-cutting measures being made by Ratcliffe since his investment in the club.

'What we're doing now is try to put ourselves in the best financial position to be able to finance a stadium and other infrastructure projects," said Berrada.

"Our aim is to be the most profitable club within three years. We think this will put us in the best financial footing to make this investment and to work with private investors who are willing to work with us."

The club are more than £1bn in debt.

However, football finance expert Kieran Maguire says the club have more headroom to borrow money.

"The good news for Manchester United is that the club is in a position to borrow substantial sums, despite existing levels of debt," Maguire told BBC Sport.

"If the club does borrow a substantial amount of the estimated £2bn cost of the new stadium, it is likely to do so with some form of interest only loan.

"When Tottenham took a similar approach to building a new stadium in London a few years ago, they negotiated at very low interest rates. These loans have resulted in Tottenham's interest costs rising from £12m in the final season at White Hart Lane in 2016-17 to £46m in 2022-23. During that same period matchday income had increased by £72m and commercial income by £155m.

"The increase in commercial income is due to the club having a bigger multi-function stadium, used for a myriad football and non-football events such as NFL, music concerts and boxing."

Speaking to BBC sports editor Dan Roan earlier, Ratcliffe said: "The financing is not the issue, I think it's eminently financeable. But the detail of that we'd rather talk about in the future. It will be financeable, I think."

Ratcliffe told the Overlap podcast, external that no public money will be used to build the stadium, but the project will not be possible without wider regeneration funded by the government.

"We can't afford to regenerate southern Manchester. It is too big a bill for the club," he said.

"We don't need any government funding for the stadium, but it has to be the underpin for the regeneration."

According to Berrada, no.

"We don't want to inhibit our ability to invest in the team, for us to continue being competitive while we are building a new stadium," he added.

"There are various ways around that. One of the things we are looking at is to shorten the construction timelines.

"In the meantime, by getting our finances back in order and becoming profitable, we believe that we can be very competitive.

"The big, big benefit that this club has is that it has the biggest fanbase in the world and therefore the ability to be the number one in terms of revenues that it generates."

Roche added: "Our number one goal is to get our teams winning and to get the men's team competing for all the titles consistently. We are not going to deviate from that."

The new stadium is to be built next to Old Trafford, which Ratcliffe hopes will "preserve the essence" of their current home.

The new stadium will form part of a wider regeneration of the Old Trafford area. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already given Government backing to the plans.

United say the project has the potential to create 92,000 new jobs, bring an additional 1.8 million visitors to the area annually and will be worth an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy.

Old Trafford's current capacity is 74,310, so the new stadium will accommodate more than 25,000 new spectators.

How will United fill it? And who will they be?

"Those Manchester United fans on the waiting list for season tickets may be disappointed if they thought the additional capacity of the stadium would result in many more season tickets becoming available," said Maguire.

"Manchester United have a huge global fanbase who are more likely to be willing to pay higher prices than those available to season ticket holders. Liverpool have in recent years increased the capacity of Anfield from 45,000 to over 61,000 as owners Fenway Sports Group have made most of the extra tickets available to fans in the membership scheme rather than those who want to have a coveted season ticket."

In a statement, the Manchester United Supporters' Trust (MUST) said fans "remain anxious" about the plans and whether ticket prices will be driven up, forcing out local supporters.

"We look forward to further consultation with supporters discussing these vital questions with the club. If they are able to produce a new stadium as stunning as the plans suggest without harming the atmosphere, without hiking ticket prices and without harming investment elsewhere, then this could be very exciting.

"But until the questions are answered, our optimism about plans to make Old Trafford the biggest and the best again will be restrained by caution about what the consequences for fans might be."

Architects at Foster and Partners, who will design the project, said the new stadium would feature an umbrella design and a new public plaza that is "twice the size of Trafalgar Square".

The design will feature three masts described as "the trident", which the architects say will be 200 metres high and visible from 25 miles away.

"As you move away from the stadium, it's not a fortress surrounded by a sea of cars. Its open, and it's contained by an umbrella that harvests solar energy, harvests rainwater but it's protective and it encloses arguably the largest public space in the world," said architect Norman Foster.

"And then the three masts, the trident, visible from 40kms, 200 metres high. So, this becomes a global destination.

"And then we rebuild the Old Trafford station and that becomes the pivot. The processional way to the stadium, welcoming at the heart of a new sport-led neighbourhood. It's walkable, it's well served by public transport. It's endowed by nature.

"It learns from the past, it creates streets, it's a mixed-use mini city"

Conceptual images of what the new stadium and surrounding area could look like were unveiled on Tuesday by Foster and Partners

The stadium will shelter a public plaza that is twice the size of Trafalgar Square

United say the stadium will be at the heart of a new sustainable district, which is completely walkable

United say they are "creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience only footsteps from our historic home"

The club say the stadium has the potential to deliver £7.3bn a year to the UK economy

The 'umbrella' surrounding the stadium will harvest rainwater

Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force chair Lord Coe says the stadium is "the most exciting urban regeneration project in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics"