John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield, England
Featured image credit: Rob Ridley
Huddersfield Giants have announced they plan to develop a new stadium, while fellow Super League club Hull Kingston Rovers has detailed a permanent stadium expansion for the 2025 season.
The Giants currently share John Smith’s Stadium with League One football club Huddersfield Town, but have long struggled to attract strong attendances to the 24,500-capacity venue. The club’s end of season dinner has now seen Ken Davy set out the Giants’ stadium ambitions as it was confirmed he will return as chairman.
Davy announced that after a gap of four years, during which he spent a couple of years as executive chairman of Super League, he is returning as chairman with current incumbent, Keith Hellawell, taking on the role of club president.
Speaking at the dinner, Davy said: “As we have seen from various clubs’ financial results recently, including the game’s two most consistently successful clubs, Wigan and St Helen’s, the game’s finances are not where any of us would wish them to be and that will be top of my agenda to try to improve.
“Our goal going forward is for the Huddersfield Giants to have our own stadium and we are actively progressing towards achieving that objective.”
Expanding on his vision to the Serious About Rugby League website, Davy stated: “Our objective is to move to a new purpose-built stadium and dedicated home of the Huddersfield Giants in the shortest possible timeframe.
“And we are determined to make sure that our ambitious vision for the future of the Giants becomes a reality. That’s because as much as the John Smith’s Stadium is a wonderful arena, it is just not viable for the Huddersfield Giants.
“I say that because it has always been too big for the Giants and we are looking to develop a stadium with an initial capacity of 7,500 or 8,000. At the moment, the reality is that it’s a challenge to create a genuine atmosphere that reflects the enthusiasm for the Giants among our fiercely loyal fans.
“We’ve been stagnating at the John Smith’s Stadium and a place the Huddersfield Giants and Giants supporters can call home will really invigorate the club and rugby league in Huddersfield as a whole. Our plans will pave the way for the ideal facility for the club and our fans and it would provide us with the springboard to grow as a club and to expand the stadium.”
The Giants and Town have played at John Smith’s Stadium since the venue opened in 1994. It is currently owned by Kirklees Council (40%), Town (40%) and the Giants (20%) through Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd.
Town is currently in the process of assuming full control of the stadium, and Davy said the Giants have three sites in mind for a new home. “We first started to talk about a new home for the Giants two years ago and we’d identified what we thought would be an ideal site and were very hopeful,” he added.
“But unfortunately, we missed out on that location as it was snapped up for other purposes so we had to start our hunt again and we’ve now narrowed the list of potential locations to three sites. We’ve had positive discussions with our local authority, Kirklees Council, and we’re actively progressing those plans and we hope to be able to say more in due course.
“I can’t be any more exact than saying ‘due course’ because negotiations on matters that are as significant as building a new stadium are always going to be complex.”
KR continues to meet fan demand
In other news, Hull KR has announced a 1,000-seat extension of the East Stand at Sewell Group Craven Park in order to meet an increasing demand for match tickets.
The stand, which will be in place for the 2025 and 2026 season subject to a successful planning permission decision, will be installed in January, complete with red seats and a roof which covers the back two thirds of the stand. As part of the plans, an improved disabled viewing area will be in place, along with a new, improved and bigger Craven Street fan zone.
Demand for matchdays at Craven Park continues to soar, with memberships and attendances at an all-time high for the club. Eleven of 13 home games have sold out in the 2024 season, with the club currently sitting second in the table ahead of this weekend’s final set of regular season fixtures.
Earlier this month, KR detailed plans to open a 1,000-capacity temporary stand for its final regular season match against Leeds Rhinos, as well as its home play-off tie. The stand is located at the south end of Craven Park.
Paul Lakin, chief executive of Hull KR, said: “Huge demand for games has been a good problem to have. Big games have been selling out weeks in advance, so we are confident there is strong appetite for this new East Stand block.
“We have been working with the Hull City Council Safety Advisory Group to ensure the plans not only allow us to increase the capacity, but enable future permanent developments, and make sure we can still run 25,000 capacity concerts. We are therefore confident with our due diligence that planning permission will be granted.”
KR yesterday (Tuesday) secured the notable coup of two Coldplay concerts. The English band announced six August 2025 shows at London’s Wembley Stadium and two gigs at Craven Park on August 18-19. These will be the only UK/European cities Coldplay will perform next year.
Coldplay has pledged that 10% of the band’s proceeds from the Wembley and Hull shows will be donated to the Music Venue Trust, to help fund its work supporting grassroots UK venues and upcoming artists.
In what is claimed to be a world first for a stadium show, the band have also stated they will power the Wembley concerts’ production with 100% solar, wind and kinetic energy as part of their ongoing sustainable touring ethos.
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