Plans Drawn Up for Leicester's King Power Stadium Expansion
Architects are drawing up preliminary plans to expand the capacity of Leicester City's King Power Stadium.
The King Power Stadium currently has a capacity of around 32,000, but according to the Leicester Mercury, it is understood that a series of architectural firms have been asked to come up with a feasible plan to increase the capacity to 42,000 - which would include a second tier added to the East Stand.
It has also been reported that the club have bought land behind the existing East Stand to allow for future development should plans to increase the capacity of the stadium be approved.
Foxes chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha revealed last month that the expansion project was still just a possibility, but that both the financial and practical issues still needed to be organised and worked out for what is likely to be a £25m project.
He was quoted in the final matchday programme saying: "Such decisions require thorough due diligence to ensure it would be beneficial for us in the long term.
"The atmosphere at King Power Stadium and the power of our fans to contribute to an occasion has been among our biggest strengths in the last seven years.
"A decision on the stadium development would potentially have an impact on that, so we must be certain that the impact would be positive before we move forward."
One of the men who has reportedly been asked to look over the project is Dan Meis, who runs Meis Architects based in New York and Los Angeles and has a renowned reputation as one of the most prominent sports stadium designers in the world.
He helped with designing the Lincoln Financial Field - home of the Philadelphia Eagles American Football team - which holds 69,000 people and with the indoor arena Staples Centre - home to the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers basketball teams - which holds 37,000 spectators. He has also been involved in a number of other projects relating to Baseball and Football stadiums.
Meis is currently working on new stadium projects for both Everton and Roma, and is in the middle of designing a similar stadium expansion at AFC Bournemouth.
He is just one of many people who are being consulted about the supposed expansion, but the fact the club have approached such a high-profile architect suggests how serious Leicester City are in redeveloping the King Power Stadium.
Leicester will look to follow in the footsteps of other Premier League sides who have also redeveloped parts of their stadiums.
Last year, Liverpool added a further two tiers to their Main Stand which increased the capacity of Anfield to 60,000, and the previous year Manchester City added a further tier to their South Stand which has increased the capacity of the Etihad Stadium to around 55,000.