How Arsenal aim to learn US lessons for Emirates to aid Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta plans

Arsenal will look to take lessons from another one of owner Stan Kroenke’s teams when it comes to redeveloping the Emirates Stadium.

The club’s Emirates Stadium was one of the first major new arenas of the 2000s in the Premier League, but having been built in 2006, the near 61,000-capacity home of the Gunners is 20 years old next year. At a time when their rivals have been building new stadiums that offer a myriad of commercial opportunities, the club will need to address the Emirates and assess the possibilities of redevelopment to maximise revenue income from both matchday and commercial pillars.

Earlier this year it was reported that Arsenal were eyeing the expansion of the Emirates which was the second largest stadium in England at the time of its completion but has since fallen to fifth, with work potentially being completed by 2028. It has been reported that the Gunners could target a capacity as high as 80,000.

Kroenke’s company, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment has multiple sporting assets in its portfolio, including the Los Angeles Rams (NFL), the Denver Nuggets (NBA), the Colorado Avalanche (NHL), and the Colorado Rapids (MLS). The company also has extensive real estate attached to their sporting assets such as the Gunners’ Emirates Stadium home, the So-Fi Stadium where the LA Rams play, and the Nuggets’ Ball Arena home.

The So-Fi Stadium is one of global sport's biggest and best arenas. Constructed in 2020 at a cost of around $5.5bn (£4.1bn) the 70,240-capacity stadium is a state of the art venue that plays host to multiple events, not just NFL games, with it selected to host eight of next year’s World Cup games in North America, including the opener for the United States.

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It is a stadium with world-class facilities and hospitality, with the latter something that Arsenal are wanting to improve when it comes to improving the Emirates and driving revenue growth.

Earlier this year, KSE created Kroenke Sports Properties (KSE), an extension of the business focused on selling sponsorships across its sporting and real estate assets, something which Kevin Demoff, president of team and media operations for KSE, on.

“While in North America it is obviously important to grow your brands and to grow your teams, certainly in the Premier League, the more revenue you can drive does affect the product that you can put on the pitch,” Demoff said.

“So any way we can leverage the entire power of KSE to drive revenue for Arsenal is going to be better for the team that, ultimately, Andrea (Berta) and Mikel (Arteta) can field.”

Demoff spoke on the lessons that could be learned from the construction of the So-Fi Stadium, not least ensuring it is delivered on time and within budget, as well as how important the hospitality element could be for the Gunners.

"If you look at something like Emirates, there are a lot of things that you would look at SoFi and say, ‘Are there ways that we could bring some of this to drive revenue, to improve the fan experience?’” Demoff said.

“You also have to be very cognizant that the fan experience in the Premier League and what Arsenal fans value is very different than what Rams fans value.

“[Hospitality] That’s the kind of envelope-pushing you want,” he added. “And then I think that’s really for the Arsenal leadership team to decide, ‘Hey, that could work here in its real version or in a tweaked version,’ or, ‘That’s just not going to fly at all with our fans.’”