Architect Dan Meis has revealed that it would not be impossible to increase the capacity of Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium, but it would be challenging.
Last season the Blues were watched by the biggest average crowds in their entire history. Despite the club's record-breaking trophy drought having now extended into a 32nd year, the switch saw Everton's home capacity increase from 39,414 at Goodison Park to 52,769 on the Mersey waterfront.
Record average attendance
They regularly sold out matches as the average gate for 2025/26 was 52,121, eclipsing their previous best of 51,603 set in the 1962/63 title-winning campaign, the only previous occasion they had topped the 50,000 figure over the course of an entire season.
Speaking on the Royal Blue podcast, Meis who was the architect of Hill Dickinson Stadium, told the ECHO: "If you got back in the time that we were initially talking about capacity, it's one of the most difficult things for owners to wrap their heads around, particularly when it's a popular club and there becomes a backstory of 'we have a waiting list of tickets x years long so we could build an 80,000-seater stadium theoretically' but we were coming from 39,000 and a lot of them were obstructed seats.
Site constraints and design challenges
"So, I was very worried as the worst thing you can do is over-build a stadium. If the crowd is quiet and it doesn't feel like the building is full, it really does affect the play on the pitch.
"I believe that sweet spot was somewhere around where we ended up but there were also real site constraints. We could have probably built it a little bit bigger but not much.
"In fact, I was very worried. I would wake up in the middle of the night and ask my guys to measure it again, it just looked like maybe it wasn't going to fit.
"I originally thought that maybe it would have to go in the other direction. So, there was a site limitation without a doubt but there were so many other pros to building on that site and the fact that we could get to what I really believed was the sweet spot or near it, that was important.
Scarcity and future expansion
"I think fans forget there is real value in the end to scarcity. I know it's hard because that can increase ticket prices but the way teams plan their revenues, everything about it, the economics of the building become so important, knowing they can fill it up all the time."
Asked if the capacity at Hill Dickinson Stadium could be increased, Meis replied: "It would be complicated but it's not impossible. Partly because the way the roof works, it would be difficult to add seats at the back.
"I get asked this a lot, why the cut on the north end, but we were up against the site constraint of the neighbouring property. It's not impossible to add a few thousand seats but it would be very challenging."
