Luton Town finished a fairy tale season by beating Coventry City in the Championship play-off final to earn promotion to the Premier League in a true rags to riches story. However Luton Town, who are known as the Hatters, have a race against time to prepare their home stadium, Kenilworth road, in order to comply with the English top flight’s broadcasting and facility requirements.
With the 2023/24 Premier League season starting on August 12, Luton have just 10 weeks to carry out the necessary work at Kenilworth Road to become an accepted outfit as per the leagues regulations. If they’re unable to finish the work in time, Luton could start the season with three straight away games.
One of the first changes needed is to lighting. Strict Premier League rules stipulate that high power LEDs are essential at grounds in order to not dazzle players or spectators, while strict measurement points on the pitch relate to TV broadcast and VAR analysis. As a result, the 118-year-old ground will require newly installed floodlights, with six new positions added around Kenilworth Road. These include two on top of the Kenilworth Stand, two the Oak Road End, and two on the Bobbers Stand. The five existing floodlights also need to be upgraded with high power LEDs.
Elsewhere, there is major upgrades needed on the media facilities. The Bobbers Stand, which currently houses all of Luton’s executive boxes, will likely be sacrificed for new press facilities. Media working areas are essential for Luton to meet Premier League rules for press and TV broadcasting, with a press conference room with seating for up to 100 people required. On top of that, areas with internet connections for broadcast and print media are needed, while facilities for up to 50 camera positions, data analysis studios for TV and toilets and eating areas also need to be built into Kenilworth Road.
Currently the TV gantry sits above the Bobbers Stand, and while that will remain the case for next season, work is being carried out on enlarging it and cladding it in a non-flammable material before reinstalling the gantry back in its original position.
Work will not come cheap, with the bill estimated to cost in the region of £10 million. Unfortunately. this is unlikely to bring in any additional match day revenue, as the stadium, which will already be the smallest stadium in Premier League’s history with a capacity of just 10,356, may actually need to reduce its capacity to make space for the required changes. Fortunately, Luton were awarded around £100 million for winning the Championship play-off final, meaning money won’t be the problem when it comes to these upgrades.
Interestingly, the changes are likely to be temporary, as the club preparing to move ground in the near future, to the Power Court stadium. Despite plans to move, the new ground isn’t far enough along in construction to allow Luton to move, meaning the club had no alternative other than to make the changes, in order to adhere to Premier League rules.
