Cardiff City are preparing for their biggest attendance of the season on Saturday lunchtime, as they welcome title rivals Lincoln City to the Cardiff City Stadium.
The Bluebirds’ ticket sales have surpassed 22,500, with the Imps set to bring almost 3000 supporters to South Wales, ahead of the clash between the top two League One teams this campaign.
And the FAW CEO, Noel Mooney, has spoken about potential plans to expand the stadium beyond its current 33,000 capacity, with one big condition.
Room For Growth
The Welsh national side have made the capital its home, with Cardiff’s ground their current choice of stadium. But the Principality Stadium is also located in the Welsh capital, though it is approaching a decade since football was last played there. It is anticipated that they will play at least one match at that ground before Euro 2028, with the venue set to host the opening match of the tournament in two summers’ time.
The home of rugby holds around 74,000 for sporting events, a figure well over double that of the Bluebirds’ ground. Nevertheless, the disparity in capacity between the two grounds is something that could soon be addressed.
Speaking to the Business of Sport podcast, Mooney laid out the potential proposals to increase the capacity of the Cardiff City Stadium.
“I suppose what you’d love to see is if Cardiff City get promoted back to the Premier League. We’ve spoken to the club that there is an opportunity to develop two ends, to turn that from 33,000 seats into close to 45,000 seats.
“That for us would be about right. We have a brilliant Red Wall that’s got a great brand all across the world and they’ve lit up tournaments. We want to deliver for them what they want, there’s no rocket science to it.
“Our fans are pretty clear. They want to stay in Cardiff City Stadium.”
How Likely Is A Premier League Return?
There have been some conversations on social media in the past few days about how this Bluebirds side would cope in this season’s Championship with their current side. Cardiff would certainly strengthen in the summer if they win promotion to the second tier, but may find it difficult to break into the top half of the second tier.
Looking at some of the clubs likely to be relegated from the Premier League, the Championship looks to be as open as ever next season. Ipswich Town, Wrexham and Birmingham City have all made light of the step up in recent times to excel in the second tier, with the Blues a prime example that relegation to League One could actually prove to be a blessing in disguise in the long-term.
Of course, it is far too early to fully speculate, with two months of the season remaining and only Sheffield Wednesday’s relegation decided. But if Cardiff do go on and win promotion, there’s no reason that they won’t be knocking on the door of the Premier League before the decade is out.
