![\"Birmingham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_JS367853822-1.jpg\")
Birmingham City chairman Tom Wagner<\/p>\nBirmingham City owners Knighthead have pledged to build a new Sports Quarter in the heart of the city<\/p>\n
12:16, 06 Sep 2024Updated 10:04, 02 Jun 2025<\/p>\n
Birmingham City chairman Tom Wagner<\/p>\n
In April 2024 Birmingham City<\/a> announced the purchase of a vacant 48-acre site in east Birmingham<\/a> for \u00a351m, formerly known as Birmingham Wheels, and unveiled plans to build a new Sports Quarter and super stadium.<\/p>\n Knighthead<\/a> also acquired another 12 acres of land adjacent to the Wheels site, excluding St Andrew\u2019s,<\/a> to take the total holding to 60 acres. Blues have taken inspiration from Manchester City\u2019s stunning Etihad Campus and plan to create a Sports Quarter that comprises a stadium, training and academy facilities.<\/p>\n There are also plans for office spaces, restaurants \u2013 or \u2018eatertainment\u2019 areas as Tom Wagner<\/a> calls it \u2013 and hubs to socialise. Knighthead intend for match days to make up a fraction of the Sports Quarter\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n Here is the rundown of what we know so far about a facility which will change the landscape of Birmingham city centre…<\/a><\/p>\n What\u2019s the timescale?<\/strong><\/p>\n Wagner wants the new stadium open by 2029<\/a> \u2013 but admits that is slightly ambitious. \u201cMy timeframe is lunacy but we\u2019d like to get this completed in five years,\u201d he said in April 2024. \u201cThat is the perfect world if everyone works with us at the same pace we\u2019re willing to work. Five years from August and we could be in. I\u2019m going to keep saying that even though it makes everyone around me sweat. A lot of it is outside our control but that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n The likelihood is that the Sports Quarter won’t be open by 2029, but it might not be long after if Knighthead can get things moving quickly.<\/p>\n What capacity will the stadium have?<\/strong><\/p>\n Knighthead are keen to stress that the stadium is only the centrepiece of the Sports Quarter, the other cogs are equally important and will be used more frequently. Wagner showed supporters a mock up at the Open House event last year but warned them: \u2018Don\u2019t get wed to this!\u201d<\/p>\n Wagner has confirmed the stadium will have a capacity of 62,000 \u2013 a figure which would make it the largest facility of its type in the Midlands and rank among the 10 biggest stadiums in England.<\/p>\n Speaking at Blues’ awards dinner in May, Wagner said: “To all those who doubt us, they are afraid what will happen when they see 62,000 in our home stadium.”<\/p>\n That figure would provide Blues with room to house more supporters than St Andrew\u2019s currently can and it would make the venue suitable for large scale non-football events. For instance, an NFL fixture in Birmingham would be a possibility.<\/p>\n Head of infrastructure Nick Smith, who will play an integral role in building the new stadium, has promised supporters will have a say on the design. Smith said: \u201cI want you all to be assured that you will have a voice about what the design will look like, what we take from here, what we make new, what the new family area looks like, what the new home end looks like. You will absolutely have a voice.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have started the masterplan and what some of the blocks might look like. We definitely don\u2019t have the same AI programme that have shot out four or five designs you\u2019ve seen!\u201d<\/p>\n What else will be in the Sports Quarter?<\/strong><\/p>\n Wagner insists there will be \u2018nothing else like it in the world\u2019. There will be a hotel, with easy access, and office space. \u201cWe want the site to be used 365 days a year,\u201d says Wagner. \u201cRestaurants, pubs, mini golf\u2026 All those types of venues will be incorporated.<\/p>\n \u201cThat revenue from every one of those things is going into your football club. Look at Tottenham and how much money that stadium is making. If you think that stadium is generating a lot of money, wait until you see what we\u2019re going to build.\u201d<\/p>\n Knighthead have continued to purchase land around the Wheels site and their holding in East Birmingham now comfortably exceeds 60 acres.<\/p>\n Wagner, along with Knighthead colleagues Kyle Kneisly and Laura Torrado, plus Blues\u2019 head of infrastructure Nick Smith are listed as directors of two companies on Companies House \u2013 Winter Sun 2023 and Red Fox 2023 \u2013 that are being used to hoard land in East Birmingham.<\/p>\n Winter Sun recently took control of a number of houses on the St Andrew\u2019s industrial estate, more houses on Crown Lane and Garrison Lane, plus land on Garrison Lane.<\/p>\n Documents also reveal that land has been purchased on the north east side of the Tilton Road.<\/p>\n Wagner estimates the cost of building the Sports Quarter will be between two and three billion pounds. It is worth remembering that infrastructure costs don’t count towards a football club’s Profit and Sustainability totals.<\/p>\n What about St Andrew\u2019s?<\/strong><\/p>\n The club\u2019s existing stadium underwent a makeover last summer<\/a> to bring its hospitality offering into the 21st century. Knighthead have splashed out to create a number of new spaces, despite the promise of the new stadium.<\/p>\n Why? Head of infrastructure Smith said: \u201cThe discussion with the owners goes, \u2018OK, how quickly do you want to go here? And how much do you want to spend to get here before going to the new stadium? If you are going to go, you have to go early and hard to return on the investment you\u2019re going to make.<\/p>\n \u201cHence why there\u2019s a big chunk of work now. There will probably be another 18 months or two years of investment (in this stadium) before we shift our energy and put sticking plasters on whilst we focus on the build phase of the new stadium.<\/p>\n “That was the thinking behind how and why we invested in this space. A lot of people have asked me, \u2018Why are you spending money on this when you\u2019re going there?\u2019 And that\u2019s it. You have to go on the journey.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause if you don\u2019t you get to it and go, bang, here\u2019s a thousand pound seat in hospitality it\u2019s \u2018Bloody hell, I\u2019ve been spending \u00a3100!\u2019. You can\u2019t do it like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Knighthead haven\u2019t revealed what will happen to St Andrew\u2019s once the new stadium opens, but Wagner has suggested the site could incorporate some housing. He said: \u201cThere\u2019s a development broadly within that region where we would hope to encompass some housing on this site (St Andrew\u2019s) depending on what we end up doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n A tunnel?<\/strong><\/p>\n Wagner has even mooted the idea of building a tunnel between the city centre and the Sports Quarter to solve the transport issue, but interim chief executive Jeremy Dale says it is just an idea.<\/p>\n \u201cTom said as a throwaway comment the day before about the idea of a tunnel and actually it\u2019s a very cost effective way of doing it,” said Dale. \u201cTom has some fabulously innovative ideas. I remember when I first talked to him about this project, he said some things and I was thinking that it was never going to happen, but then they have. Let\u2019s just say, I think it was an idea rather than a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n RECORD-BREAKING Birmingham City are back in the Championship.<\/p>\n Chris Davies’ side passed the 100-point mark on their way to taking the League One title this season.<\/p>\n And this Birmingham Mail promotion special<\/a> charts the brilliant Blues’ path to glory, with match-by-match analysis, reaction, comment, brilliant celebration pictures and a Champions poster in the middle pages.<\/p>\n Buy now<\/a> and have it delivered directly to your door. Alternatively you can purchase in most supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents in Birmingham <\/strong>from May 9, 2025.<\/p>\n A more realistic plan?<\/strong><\/p>\n BirminghamLive<\/strong> recently revealed plans for a \u00a31billion tram line that will start from the new Curzon Street Station<\/a> and make Blues’ new stadium easily accessible.<\/p>\n A plan has been drawn up to create a tram line that connects Blues\u2019 new stadium to the city centre, Heartlands Hospital, the NEC, Birmingham Airport<\/a> and the proposed health and science campus at Arden Cross.<\/p>\n It would run first from Curzon Street, the new HS2 station, via Digbeth<\/a> and on to the east of the city. It would pass by the entertainment hub being created at Digbeth Loc, and on to the Sports Quarter site at Bordesley Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ambition is that this first phase would be ready for the opening of Blues\u2019 new stadium, currently slated for 2030.<\/p>\n Where are we at?<\/strong><\/p>\n We are awaiting official confirmation on that tram line. That should be the trigger for work to start after 12 months where Wagner and his Knighthead cohorts have worked tirelessly to lobby support from government at local and national level.<\/p>\n Wagner has been in constant communication with Sir Keir Starmer’s team over a development that will be transformational for the Midlands.<\/p>\n Wagner told the Times: \u201cWe were presented with an opportunity to build a stadium with accommodation, office space and, most importantly, a training ground for the men\u2019s and women\u2019s first teams and the entire academy, in one place inside the city limits. That is an extraordinary opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cBy building all of those critical elements of the club one kilometre from the centre of the city, it becomes embedded into the community of Birmingham.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re dropping that investment into the middle of one of the most deprived areas in the country. I think there\u2019s a moral imperative to invest into an area like that and to have an opportunity such as the one I just described and not pursue it would be a crime against the city of Birmingham.\u201d<\/p>\n Will you miss St Andrew’s? Have your say in the comments HERE<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. Just click this link<\/a> to receive daily Blues content and breaking news. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. Click on the name at the top of your screen while in WhatsApp and click ‘Exit Group’. Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City owners Knighthead have pledged to build a new Sports Quarter in the heart of the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,983,1205,748,393,4884,8159,8161,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-151948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-centre","10":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-knighthead-capital-management","15":"tag-tom-wagner","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114613494990532937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Blues-new-stadiumPNG.png\")
A mock up image of Birmingham City’s prospective new stadium (Image: BCFC\/YouTube)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_BIRMINGHAM-CITY-PROMOTION-1.jpg\")
Birmingham City Champions 2024\/25 <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1746598463_180_0_BIRMINGHAM-CITY-PROMOTION-1.jpg\")
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