Miller, alongside chief commercial officer Peter Silverstone, attended a Fan Advisory Board meeting at St James’ Park on November 4. The minutes were made available to the public on Monday afternoon and the main topics on the agenda was the ticketing and the future of St James’ Park.
And on the latter subject, Miller revealed architects are working on two options with the aim of presenting the conclusions to the club’s owners early next year.
It notes “BM [Brad Miller] referred back to a previous stadium infrastructure presentation. Planners, architects, project managers are all working away on the two options and scenarios previously discussed.
“Executives from the club are aiming to go to board in the new year with conclusions from the above and will present this to shareholders before making a final decision.”
United are exploring whether to expand St James’ Park on or build a new stadium nearby. When Miller asked for a show of hands at the STACK Fan Event last month, building a new stadium won the most votes.
"The first choice is, if we stayed at St James' Park, we have the 52,000 seats already,” said Miller. “It comes with significantly more money if we transform it and it will look amazing. That's option one.
"Option two is, if we were to move away, and not too far away as we aren't going to stretch the elastic band to the point of breaking. The second option we are looking at seriously as it does have the potential to earn more than twice as much in terms of revenue, compared to a transformation of St James' Park. And more seats, a lot more seats potentially."
He added: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So everything we are doing, do we invest and transform St James' as we see it today where we are? Or do we take that bold move and think about moving? We want to make sure it is a very robust process.
“So regardless of the outcome, I want to stand up in front of everybody through the process and say: 'This is why it is a logical decision'.”
In the meantime, the FAB meeting confirmed some small upgrades to St James’ Park, which has recently had installed anew speaker system and a new mixing desk. The club are also working with a company called Vanguardia, “who do a lot of acousticians and sound monitoring”.
13. Same height all around
This concept would see all four stands the same height. | Bondibot
14. How will it impact the listed buildings?
The concept suggests the listed buildings would not be impacted by the expansion should the pitch be raised and moved. However, exact measurements and architectural designs could suggest otherwise. This design as is would also impact the residents 'right to light' easement on Leazes Terrace. | Bondibot
15. Capacity?
This expansion would likely increase St James' Park's capacity to in excess of 60,000 despite losing a lot of seating from the Leazes Stand and Milburn Stand due to the pitch being moved. | Bondibot
16. A new stadium?
A new stadium built on Leazes Park has also been discussed. | Bondibot