The first-ever home game for Luton Town in the Premier League is upon us as the former National League side has finally put together the needed adjustments at their stadium to meet the requirements of the league.
The majority of the changes related to the media area, as there was not enough room for the many Premier League camera and punditry lines across the world to fit into Kenilworth Road.
Contrary to popular belief, the delayed home games for Luton was not related to capacity, but as one of the smallest grounds in the league’s history, let’s take a look at the smallest stadiums in Premier League history.
Luton’s Kenilworth Road is indeed the smallest ground in Premier League history, however, it isn’t their 10,356 capacity that has forced a delay to them playing games there, as there are no rules relating to capacity.
13 weeks of hard-work later…We opened our new Bobbers stand! 🙌#COYH pic.twitter.com/JIa6Uasjj2— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) August 30, 2023
13 weeks of hard-work later…We opened our new Bobbers stand! 🙌#COYH pic.twitter.com/JIa6Uasjj2
The postponed match with Burnley last week was due to it not fitting into Premier League regulations for media teams and other factors.
Kenilworth Road is plonked in the middle of a housing area and some of the stands at the ground are even wedged in between two houses, as fans even have to travel past gardens to get into the stadium.
Bournemouth faced a lot of criticism from fans when they refused to use their wealthy playoff prize money to revamp the stadium and up its capacity.
In what is the club’s second stint in the Premier League, the Vitality Stadium was the smallest stadium in Premier League history when it first came into the league back in 2016 until Luton joined this campaign.
It’s incredible to think that Oldham Athletic was once a Premier League team, as the Owls now ply their trade in the National League almost 30 years on from their last Premier League season.
Oldham were part of the inaugural Premier League year, and as a result, Boundary Park remained the smallest ground in the competition’s history with a capacity of 13,559 up until Bournemouth entered the league in the Premier League's 24th season.
Swindon Town are another team many fans may be surprised to learn were in the Premier League once upon a time, and their County Ground was just below Oldham's stadium in the list of smallest-ever at the time.
They now play in League Two and are still at the Country Ground where their previous Premier League capacity of 14,700 has moved up to 15,547.