It was a pioneering, award-winning design that was ahead of its time.
But how does the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield compare to other modern sports grounds?
Tottenham have been given the green light for their new 61,000 seater £400m stadium by Haringey Council - but how does it compare to other new builds around the country?
To find out, the Trinity Mirror Data Unit have taken the building costs of new stadiums built in the post Taylor report era of the clubs in England’s top two divisions and adjusted them for inflation.
The most expensive and largest club ground built to date belongs to Spurs’ biggest rivals, Arsenal. When they started building the Emirates Stadium back in 2004 they spent a reported £390m. However, when adjusted for inflation, that figure would have been £534.8m in today’s money.
Huddersfield Town, Huddersfield Giants and Kirklees Council worked together to plan and build what was originally the McAlpine Stadium, which opened in August 1994 with a Town game against Wycombe Wanderers. It replaced the old Leeds Road ground which was sold for the Leeds Road Retail Park
It cost £40m to build with a 24,500 capacity and that equates to £72.8m today, when inflation is taken into account.
Since then it has been known as the Galpharm Stadium and now the John Smith’s Stadium.
Not only will the new Tottenham ground be cheaper than the Emirates, when adjusted for inflation, but it’ll be larger too. Arsenal’s home ground has a capacity of 60,272 which is 728 seats fewer than the proposed 61,000 of Spurs’ new home.
After the Gunners come Manchester City. When their ground was first built as an athletics stadium for the Commonwealth Games the construction cost was £112m, or £173.4m when adjusted for inflation. Converting the ground for football though cost a reported £42m, which would be £61m today.
Brighton’s Amex Stadium is the next most expensive at £101m in today’s money.
Reading’s Madejski stadium comes after Brighton’s at £81.3m when adjusted for inflation.
Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium comes next at £72.8m, followed by Hull’s KC Stadium (£62m), the Cardiff City Stadium (£59.5m), Leicester’s King Power stadium (£53.8m), and Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium (£48.1m).
The 90,000 seater Wembley stadium cost a staggering £798m to build.
Work first started in 2002, and adjusting the cost for inflation from that date puts it at an eye-watering £1.16bn.
However, Wembley was being built for an awfully long time, and didn’t open until 2007. If we adjust for inflation from that date the building cost is slightly less but still a staggering £989m.
Chelsea also recently announced plans for a new stadium. The new 60,0000 seater Stamford Bridge ground is set to cost the west London club £500m.
Club | Name | Year | Cost at time £m | Adjusted for inflation |
Arsenal | Emirates | 2004 | 390 | 534.8 |
Man City | Etihad Stadium | 1999 & 2002 | 154 | 234.38 |
Brighton | Amex | 2011 | 93 | 101 |
Reading | Madejski Stadium | 1997 | 50 | 81.3 |
Huddersfield | John Smith's Stadium | 1993 | 40 | 72.8 |
Hull | KC Stadium | 2001 | 42 | 62 |
Cardiff | Cardiff City Stadium | 2007 | 48 | 59.5 |
Leicester | King Power | 2002 | 37 | 53.76 |
Southampton | St Mary's | 2000 | 32 | 48.1 |
Derby | IPro | 1995 | 28 | 48.1 |
Bolton | Macron Arena | 1995 | 25 | 42.9 |
MK Dons | StadiumMK | 2005 | 30 | 40 |
Swansea | Liberty | 2003 | 27 | 38 |
Sunderland | Stadium of Light | 1996 | 17 | 28.5 |
Middlesbrough | Riverside Stadium | 1994 | 16 | 28.4 |
Stoke | Britannia Stadium | 1996 | 14.7 | 24.6 |
Rotherham | New York Stadium | 2011 | 20 | 21.8 |