Liverpool City Council has given Liverpool FC more time to decide whether the club will renovate Anfield or construct an entirely new stadium in Stanley Park.
The club was initially supposed to announce in July whether or not it intended to follow through on the already granted 999-year lease for Stanley Park, however there has not yet been a decision.
LFC's ownership, Fenway Sports Group, is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to expanding match-day attendances and revenues, as the two options of either renovating Anfield or building a new ground in Stanley Park both present financial and logistical obstacles.
When faced with a similar dilemma after purchasing the Boston Red Sox in 2002, FSG successfully expanded and renovated Fenway Park, the oldest park in Major League Baseball, located in one of Boston's densest areas.
However, the desired increases to Anfield are larger in scope than those successfully undertaken at Fenway, and, furthermore, the residential areas surrounding Anfield present a major stumbling block for any expansion attempts.
On the other hand, constructing an entirely new stadium in Stanley Park seems to have less logistical road blocks, but this option presents more severe financial limitations, as acknowledged by principal owner John W. Henry while speaking to The Daily Telegraph.
"If Anfield cannot be expanded, a new stadium is a wonderful choice. But the fact is we already have 45,000 seats. If a new stadium is constructed with 60,000 seats, you've spent an incredible sum of money to add just 15,000 seats," Henry said.
"If the cost is £300m for an extra 15,000 seats, that doesn't make any sense at all. Liverpool isn't London, you can't charge £1 million for a long-term club seat. And concession revenues per seat aren't that much different at Emirates from Anfield.
"That's why the search is on currently for a naming-rights partner. And that could very well happen."
Liverpool supporters will be buoyed by the news that Henry and club chairman Tom Werner recently traveled to Germany to study the Allianz Arena, home to both FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munich, arguably the most impressive recently constructed soccer stadium.
With ownership shooting down the option of a ground share with neighbors/rivals Everton, securing a naming-rights partner will likely prove to be the deciding factor in choosing between renovation and construction.
