Scottish Premiership football club Rangers is reportedly weighing up a potential expansion of Ibrox that would significantly increase the capacity of the stadium.
The expansion could see the capacity of Ibrox increase from 51,000 to 70,000, according to The Herald. The newspaper stressed that an expansion of this scale would be “a long way off” and is merely one of the options being considered by Rangers.
The extra seats would be added in the Copland and Broomloan stands, but discussions have also taken place around a smaller-scale expansion of the stadium.
In June, Rangers chief executive James Bisgrove revealed that the club was assessing three “medium to long term” options to expand Ibrox. It came after the club had previously detailed plans to increase the capacity of Ibrox from 50,817 to 51,500 as part of a wider project that will improve facilities for disabled fans at the venue.
The cheapest option put forward by Bisgrove would see 1,300 seats added to each corner of Ibrox in which a big screen is located, at a cost of £3m (€3.4m/$3.7m) to £4m per area. Alternatively, Bisgrove said that the screens could be removed entirely and the corners of the stadium adjacent to the Sandy Jardine Stand be filled in, a move that would add around 3,000 to 4,000 seats at a cost of between £20m and £25m.
Lowering the pitch and adding 4,500 seats was the third option outlined by Bisgrove. This would cost between £15m to £20m but would need more than one close season to carry out, meaning that Rangers would potentially need to explore playing at another stadium while the expansion takes place.
The report from The Herald would suggest that Rangers is considering a fourth option that centres on a more ambitious expansion of Ibrox. The Herald said that “tentative discussions” have been held over the possible building work but no plans have been finalised.
Rangers’ work to upgrade facilities for disabled fans commenced over the summer, with further construction scheduled for the summers of 2024 and 2025. The project aims to provide Ibrox with the best disabled facilities of any stadium in Scotland and become one of the most accessible sports venues in Europe.
Rangers first revealed plans to upgrade Ibrox in December last year. The stadium opened in 1899.
