‘A modern-day Colosseum’: Birmingham City unveil 62,000-capacity stadium plans

Birmingham City have unveiled designs of their striking new 62,000-capacity stadium, the Birmingham City Powerhouse, which the Championship club say will open for the 2030-31 season.

The stadium, which features 12 chimney-like towers inspired by the city’s industrial heritage, will dominate the Birmingham skyline and be visible up to 40 miles away. One tower will include a lift to Birmingham’s highest bar, offering city-wide views.

The Birmingham chairman, Tom Wagner, promised a “modern-day Colosseum” and “to create something unique and distinctive in one of this country’s greatest and sometimes overlooked regions … it will be overlooked no more. Together, we’re putting this city and our club on a trajectory towards greatness.”

Another rendering of the planned stadium, which will include a roof that can retract in 20 minutes. Illustration: Knighthead

The stadium – which will include a roof that can retract in 20 minutes and a moveable pitch to enable NFL, rugby and concert use – is central to Wagner’s vision for a sports quarter in the city, a £3bn investment into a 60-acre site less than a mile from their current St Andrew’s ground.

“We’re spending a lot of time and money on a stadium that will never be built,” quipped Wagner, alluding to doubters, at the launch of the stadium designs in Digbeth on Thursday.

Moments earlier Birmingham released a promotional video for the Powerhouse featuring Jude Bellingham, a product of the academy, the minority shareholder and NFL star Tom Brady and the actor Paul Anderson, who played Arthur Shelby in the TV drama Peaky Blinders, which is set in the city.

A rendering of how the inside of the stadium will look. Illustration: Knighthead

Rendering of a view inside the planned stadium. Illustration: Knighthead

“We’re going to change this city for ever,” Wagner said. “This will be a sports stadium and music venue that will claim the sky to claim the city.”

Knighthead Capital Management, co-founded by Wagner, completed a full takeover of Birmingham this month, having acquired a controlling stake of the club in July 2023. Birmingham were relegated in their first season at the helm but won League One last season and are targeting successive promotions.

Wagner said Birmingham’s new ground would be usable year-round and offer the “best acoustics and fan experience anywhere in the world” but maintained it was a “football-first stadium”.

Despite plans for multi-use including concerts and other sports, Birmingham chair Tom Wagner says the club’s planned new home would be a ‘football-first stadium’. Illustration: Knighthead

“There will be a modern-day, accessible, Colosseum – a sporting venue that will stand tallest in the city, visible for many miles around and permanent home to the football club that bears its name, Birmingham City,” he said. “It will be a beacon for excellence for Birmingham on the global stage, attracting the very best sporting and entertainment events. It’s the place where the world’s best will want to perform.”