On Thursday it was announced that Manchester City have been granted planning permission to expand the clubs Etihad Stadium to hold over 62,000 fans, which will make it the second largest stadium in the Premier League.
City’s cross-town rivals Manchester United, of course, hold the mantle of having the biggest home stadium in the PL with Old Trafford seating 75,811.
That venue regularly sells out, as does City’s current setup at the Etihad with over 47,000 fans, as does Arsenal’s 60,000 capacity Emirates Stadium and Newcastle United’s magnificent amphitheater holding 52,000 at St. James’ Park.
All in all, the demand for more seats at PL stadia has perhaps never been greater. With West Ham United set to move to the 60,00 capacity Olympic Stadium in 2016, Tottenham are in the process of completely redeveloping White Hart Lane and expanding it to 56,250, while Liverpool’s Anfield expansion is expected to get the go-ahead to see the Reds’ historic home push over the 60,000 mark.
More and more seats are needed, as PL attendances go through the roof with most of the league’s 20 clubs operating at 90 percent capacity or greater. This season the average attendance in the PL has been over 36,000.
But how does this compare to America’s most-watched sport, the National Football League? Well, below we’ve compiled a list of the five largest soccer stadiums and five largest NFL stadiums, so you can get some comparison on how the venues in America are much larger.
(MORE: Liverpool plan Anfield expansion, but will it be enough?)
For obvious reasons, stadiums in the U.S. are bigger because of the larger population and also the amount of land on which to build stadiums, which also plays a huge role. After some calculations, based on the 2013 regular season in the NFL, the average attendance across the 32 teams was a whopping 68,338. That’s almost double the amount the average for fans who attend PL games. But putting the populations of England and Wales and the USA side by side, England and Wales has 54 million inhabitants while the USA has a current population of 313 million.
Make of that what you will.
Take a look at the list below, and see if you think some NFL teams could do with scaling down the size of their stadiums. And perhaps some PL clubs should expand their homes further.
Largest Premier League stadiums
1) Manchester United - Old Trafford: 75,811
2) Manchester City - Etihad Stadium : 62,170* (once work is finished)
3) Arsenal - Emirates Stadium: 60,361
4) Newcastle - St. James’ Park: 52,405
5) Sunderland - Stadium of Light: 48,707
Largest NFL stadiums (including standing room)
1) Dallas Cowboys - AT&T Stadium: 105,121
2) Washington Redskins - FedEx Field: 85,000
3) New York Giants/Jets - MetLife Stadium: 82,566
4) Green Bay Packers - Lambeau Field: 80,750
5) Miami Dolphins - SunLife Stadium: 80,120