When Luton Town made it to the Premier League, the first talking point about the fairytale run was the state of their stadium. Kenilworth Road didn’t look like the cream of League One standards, let alone the Premier League. Sure enough, Luton Town had to spend close to £10 million to meet the Premier League stadium requirements.
However, now the news has arrived that construction of Luton Town’s new stand and some stadium upgrades have forced them to postpone their first home game of the season against Burnley.
Here’s all you need to know about the postponement, the progress of their stadium upgrade, and what happens next-
Postponement of the game
Luton Town released a statement on their website informing that The Hatters‘ first home game of the Premier League season, against Burnley on August 19th, has been postponed for now.
This is to provide a “free weekend” so that the construction work, which, according to the club, is already ahead of schedule, gets more time to finish.
Gary Sweet, the Chief Executive of Luton Town called the decision “regrettable” but thanked the Premier League and Burnley for their help in arriving at “this practical decision”.
If Luton Town are not drawn at home in the League Cup, their first home game will now be against West Han United on August 1.
Luton Town new stand and stadium upgrade
It is worth noting that their stadium already meets the minimum Premier League stadium requirements.
However, the issue that needs ironing out, and has needed it since their promotion was confirmed, is the lack of upgrades to meet broadcasting and media requirements.
As the most followed football league in the world, the Premier League has a lot of media responsibilities. A media box, space for equipment behind the camera, open areas for player and manager interaction, and other such amenities have a certain standard required of them that Kenilworth Road Stadium does not meet as yet.
Luton Town are already planning a move to a new stadium soon but till then, close to £10 million has been spent to get their current home up to the standards.
The club stresses that the construction work is going ahead of schedule but “can’t provide guarantees” that any unforeseen issue won’t cause any delay, impacting upon scheduled games at home.
Therefore, everyone involved thought it best that it was worth waiting for the stadium upgrades to become fully operational before Luton Town host a home game.
Kenilworth Stadium is now the smallest stadium in the Premier League by capacity so a raucous atmosphere can be expected whenever it gets to host its first Premier League game.