Cavenagh backed to bring in builders to Ibrox amid crazy Rangers fan demand
Andrew Cavenagh has visited Ibrox multiple times as he closes in on a deal to buy Rangers Football Club alongside 49ers Enterprises.
Rangers are on the verge of having new American owners with Cavenagh, who owns the billion-dollar insurance firm ParetoHealth, is leading the way alongside 49ers Enterprises president Paraag Marathe.
The 49ers also own Leeds United, who are back in the Premier League and have already confirmed major plans to improve their infrastructure in the near future.
Leeds are planning to raise Elland Road’s capacity to 53,000 after Leeds City Council approved the modernisation and expansion of the historic English stadium.
There’s now a suggestion that similar plans could be in place at Ibrox.
Rangers new owners back to expand Ibrox capacity
Rangers have a huge waiting list for season tickets, meaning that expanding the capacity of Ibrox is a good idea because there’s no doubt that seats will be sold.
Daily Record journalist Michael Gannon admits that there have been a lot of poor attendances at Ibrox lately, but that’s largely down to season ticket holders not attending during Rangers’ worst run of home form in history.
“There has to be a case for increasing the capacity,” Gannon wrote on the Daily Record website on 17 May.
“This might not be the best time to bring it up, given there have been plenty of empty seats of late. At least those seats were already bought and paid for.
| Stadium | Club | Capacity |
| 1. Celtic Park | Celtic | 60,832 |
| 2. Ibrox | Rangers | 50,987 |
| 3. Pittodrie | Aberdeen | 20,866 |
| 4. Easter Road | Hibernian | 20,250 |
| 5. Tynecastle | Hearts | 19,852 |
“And that’s the key. There’s a big demand from fans to watch their side – and that’s even when they are honking.
“Fair play to them. These supporters have had to put up with more than most.
“It’s part of the reason Andrew Cavenagh and his 49ers pals are getting involved. If this is the support they get when they are not very good, just imagine what it would be like if they crack it.
“And that’s where Ibrox comes in. The Americans already have Leeds United on the books and plan to extend Elland Road.
“It’s natural Rangers fans see that and think the builders could be sent around Govan pretty soon.
“It would make sense.
“You just have to look across the city at Celtic and see what their extra 10,000 seats does for the coffers. It’s worth £3-4million a year extra and more if you chuck in a European run.”
Ibrox expansion to be part of bigger plan for Cavenagh and 49ers
Rangers have a huge global fan base.
Previous owners and stakeholders have probably overlooked that, pandering more towards the locals and their views rather than looking at the bigger picture.
Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises will no doubt do that and scenes like what we saw against Celtic, with fans throwing objects onto the pitch and tasteless tifos, should become a thing of the past to draw in a wider audience and allow more fans to come to games.
Honestly, it’s not ideal to see matchday atmospheres becoming saturated by tourists visiting Ibrox. However, that’s unlikely to happen to Rangers at the level it has done south of the border with teams like Manchester United and Liverpool in recent years.
Rangers’ stadium isn’t big enough for them.
Celtic’s probably isn’t big enough for them, either.
In order to reach the next level, both clubs need to start thinking bigger and start looking above some of the prehistoric values that the Old Firm has been built on.
The Americans will hopefully do that and turn Rangers into a dominant force once again.