Liverpool Reveals New Stadium Plans

Premier League club Liverpool has unveiled the designs for its new 60,000
all-seater stadium scheduled to be opened in 2010.

The club, which has taken the decision to move from its traditional Anfield
home to a new venue in neighbouring Stanley Park, will invest close to £300m in
the construction of the new stadium.

The stadium has been designed by American architects HKS, who are also
designing the Dallas Cowboys’ new arena, and has the ability to increase its
capacity to more than 75,000.

The club’s new American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, in conjunction
with HKS, have radically redesigned the original plans for the stadium to
include the additional capacity option.

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said: ‘It’s very exciting and I think
the designs are fantastic. It will sit so well in Stanley Park and will be an
integral part of it. People from far and wide will be able to come to the
stadium and get a glimpse both of the outside and inside. The area will become a
tourist destination.

‘It will be a world-class development for a city that deserves world-class
developments. It’s designed to hold up to the high 70,000s. We have to go
through an approval process to increase it to 75,000 or maybe up to 80,000. That
will be done during the three-year construction cycle.

‘We want to be competitive and we have over 60,000 fans on the waiting list.
We need more seats so something in the high 70,000s would be better.’

The unveiling of the design coincides with the club’s submission of the
planning application to Liverpool City Council with construction scheduled to
begin as soon as approval of the plans is granted.