Sunderland are weighing up their options as they seek to capitalise on their recent success

Sunderland's interim CEO Tom Burwell says fans will continue to notice improvements to the Stadium of Light experience while the club weighs up the possibility of a future expansion.

With demand for seats on Wearside soaring over the last 12 months, Burwell has previously confirmed that the club are considering an expansion. However, they are balancing the potential benefits against the significant building costs in the current climate, and no decision is expected in the immediate future. Burwell is currently overseeing a multi-year capital investment programme into the Stadium of Light, with more upgrades in the works this summer.

Burwell says the club is also keen to maximise the opportunities presented by the new Keel Crossing, with Sunderland currently behind many of their Premier League rivals in driving revenues from the stadium away from matchday.

"I think there's two parts to that," Burwell said.

"I think the impact that it had on the entire fanbase as they walked in and saw the changes last summer helped the momentum as we launched the season. You know, what makes this place so special and what makes our community so special is it has the ability to be a game changer for us. There will be changes like that again this summer, which will be noticed at all levels and it will help the fan engagement, fan experience. Some of them are smaller and cuter and not as expensive as they were last year, but they will have a tangible impact visually as you walk through the door.

"And then to sort of offer commercial context long term, we're incredibly fortunate to be in a city stadium that because of the new bridge is no longer adjacent to the city, it is part of the city. We have to explore all options, not only on a match day about how we turn this into a continuous revenue driver, 365 days a year. There are clubs who we are competing with that if you walked into their stadium today, they are making money. And we're quite quiet, right? So we have to ensure that we've got the right things in place for doing so.

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Sunderland ‘exploring’ potential expansion options

“And then to reference match day, I think we'll always be exploring," Burwell added.

"We're fortunate that we've got a great relationship with the council, which means that exploring these things are legitimate. And whether that is the inventory that's made up across premium assets, whether that is exploring more seats, all of those things are to be explored but they are medium term challenges. I will give you some context - we know we have a 15,000 person waiting list on general admission tickets. We've got 54 boxes here and I've got a 45 box waiting list on premium boxes. But the other side of that is, as you know, dark days sometimes come, right? So I'd hope that we'd have those waiting lists on the good days and [this is what we have to weigh up]."

At a recent meeting with the Sunderland supporter collective, Burwell confirmed that expanding the Stadium of Light could potentially cost the club £250 million.

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