Crystal Palace is planning to make extensive improvements to its home stadium in the near future. Selhurst Park dates back 100 years ago to construction in 1924. The South London club previously renovated the historic arena several times in recent decades. Nevertheless, plans to drastically improve the stadium have been in the works for years now.
Palace officials announced in 2018 that a $130 million development plan for Selhurst Park was in place. This proposal, however, eventually experienced several delays. The COVID-19 pandemic created issues for most clubs, including Palace. Similar demolitions of several houses in the area further put the plans on hold.
With these problems now out of the way, Palace officials can now work on upgrading the stadium. Alterations are expected to see the total seating capacity go from nearly 26,000 to 34,000. At the moment, only three other Premier League teams have smaller arenas than Palace. Newly promoted Ipswich Town even has a bigger home stadium than the Eagles.
A large chunk of this increase in capacity will be gained by adding seats in the arena’s main stand. Other improvements will also help boost attendance as well. This includes creating more corporate boxes and enhancing the arena’s current disabled access area.
Because plans suffered such long delays, the project will now cost Palace closer to $200 million. The club, however, will be able to play at Selhurst Park during the upcoming renovations. As the Eagles have become a mainstay in the Premier League, attendance has regularly reached capacity in recent years. Fans nearly filled the arena to its maximum capacity during the club’s opening home match of the 2024/25 season.
Palace chairman Steve Parish previously explained plans for the alterations at Selhurst Park back in 2022. “We would have liked to have started the project sooner, but our plans were delayed by financial constraints caused by the COVID pandemic,” stated Parish.
“In the last couple of years, our focus has been on bringing our exciting academy development to fruition, but our attention will now turn to the stadium project.”
“It has long been our ambition to extend and modernize Selhurst Park, making it a home fit for the 21st century. We are looking forward to getting started on the project. There is a lot of preparatory work to be done in the coming months and we will update on a likely timetable in due course.”
Although it has taken two extra years, the plans are now finally in place. Selhurst Park is, however, not the only area set for changes at the club. John Textor has been attempting to sell his 45% stock in the club for months now. The American billionaire wants to offload his minority shares of the Eagles to fully purchase Everton.
Textor was in advanced negotiations to buy the Toffees from embattled owner Farhad Moshiri. Investors cannot own pieces of multiple English top-flight teams. As a result, Textor must sell his shares in Palace to officially complete a takeover at Everton. It remains unclear if the pending deals could potentially delay plans with Selhurst Park once again.
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