Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Did You Know?

• The stadium's attendance is counted by actual fans through the gates, not tickets issued, unlike the Emirates and Spurs at Wembley.
• The first match after official opening was attended by 59,215 fans, as some rows were kept empty and premium areas were not yet opened.
• The stadium was the setting for an elimination challenge on the fourth episode of Top Chef: World All-Stars.

History

Tottenham Hotspur was formed in 1882 and initially played on public land at Tottenham Marshes. As crowds grew, the club moved to an enclosed ground at Asplins Farm in 1888, but it soon became overcrowded. In 1899 the club relocated to land east of Tottenham High Road behind the White Hart pub, which became White Hart Lane. The club acquired the freehold and additional land in 1905, and from 1909 a new stadium designed by Archibald Leitch was built over two and a half decades, reaching a capacity of nearly 80,000 by 1934. Over time, seating replaced standing areas, reducing capacity to about 50,000 by 1979, though a raised standing terrace called The Shelf remained. Redevelopment began in the early 1980s, and after the Taylor Report of 1989 the stadium became all-seater, with capacity falling to around 36,000 by 1998. As other major English clubs expanded, Tottenham explored ways to increase capacity to compete financially. Various schemes were considered, including rebuilding the East Stand or moving to Picketts Lock or the Olympic Stadium, but none succeeded except the Northumberland Development Project.

Architecture and facilities

The stadium is an asymmetric bowl with a capacity of 62,850. The bowl shape maximises hospitality facilities, while the asymmetry comes from a single-tier stand in the south. The structure is about 48 m high, 250 m long north–south, and 200 m wide east–west, covering 43,000 m2—nearly twice the area of White Hart Lane. The northern section has nine floors above the basement, the south has five, and the gross internal area is 119,945 m2. The West Stand front faces the High Road with a projecting glazed box containing an escalator as the main entrance. A 9.5-m pavement improves crowd flow on match days. An NFL entrance is on Worcester Avenue, and two raised podiums provide fan access. The south podium, the size of Trafalgar Square, serves as the main access for home fans and features a 7,000 m2 curved glazed facade behind a five-storey atrium. The building's mass is modulated by claddings of glass, metal panels, and pre-cast concrete; perforated metal panels allow natural ventilation and light while acting as a sculptural element. LED luminaires in the panels glow on match nights.

Uses

The stadium is the home venue for Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League and cup matches. It also hosted a live screening of the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final, Under-23s games, and the first North London derby in the FA Women's Super League between Tottenham and Arsenal on 17 November 2019. The women's team has since played home games there. Up to 16 non-association football events are allowed per year, at least two of which are NFL games; this was proposed to increase to 30 after Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour caused a licensing breach, approved by Haringey Council in 2024. The stadium is the first and only venue designed specially for NFL games outside North America and is the official home of the NFL in the UK. The first NFL game was on 6 October 2019, when the Oakland Raiders beat the Chicago Bears 24–21 before a record crowd of 60,463. The first touchdown was scored by Josh Jacobs. The NFL returned in 2021 after the 2020 games were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Atlanta Falcons hosting the New York Jets on 10 October and the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting the Miami Dolphins on 17 October.

Cost, finance and sponsorship

An early estimate for Phase 2, including stadium construction, was £305 million, but by July 2018 the projected cost was £350–£400 million out of an estimated £850 million for the entire Northumberland Development Project. Costs rose due to the Brexit vote's effect on exchange rates, design changes, overtime, extra hiring, and higher construction costs. Chairman Daniel Levy said just before the April 2019 opening that the cost was of the order of £1 billion, and in November 2020 he indicated it had reached £1.2 billion. Financing came from club resources, bank loans, and revenues. A £200 million interim facility was arranged in December 2015, replaced in May 2017 by a £400 million five-year loan. By then £340 million had been spent; £100 million came from the interim facility, the rest from club resources. An extra £237 million was borrowed, raising the facility to £637 million, to be repaid over 23 years at £30 million per season. £525 million of debt was refinanced through bonds maturing in 15 to 30 years, arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which also provided a £112 million loan. The club expects to pay for the stadium through increased ticket sales, NFL contributions, hospitality, sponsorship, merchandising, advertising, concessions, digital rights, and broadcast revenues.