King Power Stadium
King Power Stadium is a football stadium located in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England, and the home of Leicester City. The stadium opened in 2002 as the Walkers Stadium and has a capacity of 32,259. The club attracted worldwide attention when they lifted the Premier League title on the site in 2016.
History
Background and construction
Leicester City's previous stadium was at nearby Filbert Street from 1891 to 2002, located less than 300 yards away from the current site.Filbert Street was gradually upgraded during the 20th century and with the advent of the Taylor Report in January 1990 requiring all clubs in the top two divisions to have all-seater stadiums by August 1994, Leicester's directors began to investigate building a new stadium soon after the Taylor Report recommendations were announced, but decided to take the redevelopment option by building a new stand on one side of Filbert Street and fitting seats into the remaining standing areas, giving the stadium a 21,500 all-seated capacity by the 1994–95 season.
Filbert Street's conversion to an all-seater stadium coincided with their promotion to the Premier League after a seven-year exile from the top flight, and with their relegation after just one season it appeared the 21,500 capacity would be adequate. However, success in the late 1990s saw crowds rise, which meant virtually every game at Filbert Street was a sell-out by the end of the decade. Relocation was soon back on the cards; several clubs had relocated to new stadiums around this time, including fellow Midlands clubs Stoke City and Derby County.
Some parts of the ground – the East and North Stands in particular – were also somewhat outdated, which led the manager, Martin O'Neill to joke that when he showed Filbert Street to new signings he led them backwards out of the players tunnel to prevent them from seeing the East Stand.
In early 1998, plans were announced for a 40,000 all-seater stadium to be built at Bede Island South in time for the 2000–01 season, but they were abandoned on 5 January 2000. Chairman John Elsom vowed other options, including relocation to another site or even further redevelopment of Filbert Street, would be considered, hoping either option would have materialised by August 2002.
The relocation option was soon settled upon, as plans were unveiled on 2 November 2000 for a 32,000-seat stadium in the Freeman's Wharf area, situated alongside the River Soar. The stadium was expected to be completed in time for the 2003–04 season, although it was suggested at the time relocation could happen at the start of the 2002–03 season. Work on the stadium began in the summer of 2001, and by 10 October that year it was confirmed the new stadium would be ready for the 2002–03 season. The stadium was completed on time in the summer of 2002, ready for Leicester to take up residence for the start of the 2002–03 season.
The stadium cost £35-37 million to build. Designed by architects The Miller Partnership, it was constructed by Birse Stadia. After becoming official contractors, Martin Peat, managing director of Birse Building said: "We are delighted to have been selected by Leicester City Football Club as construction partners for their new stadium which, when completed, will be one of the finest in Europe." The club's chief executive Steve Kind described the stadium as a "flagship development, not just for the club but for the community and city of Leicester as a whole."
As well as being a venue for football, the stadium was originally branded as The Midlands Conference Centre, offering a "state of the art conference, banqueting and catering facility unparalleled in the East Midlands." At the time of building, two large dual-purpose concourses, which could be used as exhibition centres on non-matchdays, were a first in British stadium design.
Opening
The stadium was officially opened by former Leicester striker Gary Lineker on 23 July 2002. He used a giant pair of scissors to cut a ribbon on the pitch after arriving at the stadium in a Walkers lorry. The first game at the new stadium was a friendly against Basque team Athletic Bilbao, on 4 August 2002. Manager Micky Adams described the stadium in the club's pre-match programme: “I am sure everyone will agree our new home is pretty special. Spectacular, I’d call it. Fantastic seems to be the word used by most people to describe the surroundings and the facilities. It’s certainly a stadium befitting the 21st century."The game finished 1–1, with Tiko scoring the first goal at the stadium, and Jordan Stewart scoring Leicester's first goal. The attendance was approximately 24,000. The first competitive match took place six days later and Leicester beat Watford 2–0 in front of a near-capacity crowd of 31,022. Brian Deane scored both goals, including the stadium's first in competitive games. Leicester ended the 2002–03 season promoted back to the Premier League, losing just two home games in the season, despite spending the early part of the season in receivership due to their huge debts, until a takeover deal was completed.
Ownership
The cost of the new stadium, combined with relegation from the Premiership, the collapse of the English transfer market due to the introduction of the transfer window, and the collapse of ITV Digital, meant Leicester went into receivership shortly after moving to the new stadium. Birse Construction, who had built the stadium, therefore lost a large part of their fee and they withdrew from football ground construction. The club did however pay the stadium's overall project manager, DTZ, in full.As part of the deal which brought the club out of receivership, the stadium's ownership reverted to American academic retirement fund TIAA–CREF, who had supplied £28 million via a bond scheme towards the stadium's construction, with the club taking a long-term lease while the bond repayments were made.
On 1 March 2013, owners King Power purchased the stadium for £17 million through their company K Power Holdings Co, Ltd. Vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said "our plan is to bring long-term sustainable success to Leicester City Football Club. Purchasing the stadium was always a key element in this plan. Whilst there are no immediate plans to alter the structure or design of the stadium site, the increased flexibility through direct ownership ensures that the football club can freely adjust to the changing needs of its supporter-base for the future."
Development and other stadium works
In 2015, vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha stated plans were in place to increase the ground's capacity to around 42,000. During the close season between May 2016 and August 2016, the seats inside the stadium were specially treated for the first time. In April 2018, it was announced that initial planning for the expansion and development of King Power Stadium was underway. In October 2018, two new screens were installed at either end of the stadium. On 28 July 2021, Leicester City confirmed that they would reveal plans to the public which included increasing the capacity to 40,000, as well as several development projects in the area surrounding the stadium. The club announced on 25 October 2021, that they had submitted a hybrid planning application to Leicester City Council for the redevelopment of King Power Stadium and the surrounding area. They had also applied for permits in September 2021 to begin early enabling works in preparation for the redevelopment. In August 2022, the stadium became the first in Europe to operate a frictionless kiosk for food and drink purchases. In September 2022, plans were provisionally approved for the expansion of King Power Stadium's capacity to 40,000. The other development projects were also given provisional approval. On 14 December 2023, the club announced that they had received formal approval from Leicester City Council to begin development works, following initial approval in September 2022. In preparation for the 2025–26 season, safe standing areas were installed at the stadium for the first time, consequently meaning the stadium was no longer an all-seated venue.Helicopter crash
On 27 October 2018, a Leonardo AW169 helicopter carrying club chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others crashed in a car park outside the stadium. The crash happened shortly after the helicopter took off from the pitch, and there were no survivors on board. The Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Memorial Garden opened a year later on 27 October 2019, before The Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Statue was unveiled on 4 April 2022.Naming
In 2002, former Leicester City shirt sponsors Walkers signed a ten-year deal for naming rights. The stadium was originally to have been called the "Walkers Bowl", but the name was dropped after fans objected on the grounds the name was too "American". As a result of a fans' petition, the name was quickly changed to the "Walkers Stadium". However, some fans at the time were still unhappy that the name only referenced the sponsor, with no reference to Leicester City. The agreement for naming rights was superseded halfway through the ten-year period, in May 2007, when Walkers again paid a seven-figure sum to extend their sponsorship of the stadium until 2017. On 5 July 2011, naming rights were sold to King Power, who took ownership of the club in August 2010.Since opening in 2002, the stands inside the stadium have had various names but are currently titled the North, East, South and West respectively. The North Stand was originally called the Lineker Stand, after former player Gary Lineker, and the South Stand was originally named the Fosse Stand, after the club's founding name Leicester Fosse. There are also two lounges inside the stadium currently named after two other former notable players, Gordon Banks and Keith Weller. The stadium is often referred to as Filbert Way after the site's address, which retains a link with the club's former home ground Filbert Street. It is also referred to as Freeman's Wharf, after the area in which the stadium is situated. During the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the stadium was known as the Leicester City Stadium and this is the same for UEFA competitions.