How Birmingham City's stunning new 60,000 capacity stadium could look - according to intriguing AI designs
Plans are at an early stage for a new 60,000-seater Birmingham City stadium, so we asked AI to come up with some concepts.
Blues chairman Tom Wagner is determined to well and truly get Birmingham on the rise again and one of the ways he hopes to achieve that is by building a new multi-sport stadium, not only to captivate Bluenoses but to transform prospects for the entire city.
Chris Davies and his team are doing a great job of re-energising the fanbase with their performances on the field with Birmingham currently leading League One by six points with two games in hand. Blues have also booked a ticket to Wembley with the Vertu Trophy final coming up against either Wrexham or Peterborough in April.
St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park has also undergone some major transformations. From a fresh lick of paint throughout to an incredible new fanzone and an improved matchday experience, the feel-good factor has certainly returned. The relegation to the third tier weirdly helped, too, with victories most weeks lifting the mood exponentially.
But how about a new stadium? How would that change things? Quite a lot, you’d suppose. Knighthead, the US company overseeing Blues with Wagner at the helm, have already bought the 48-acre former Birmingham Wheels site in Bordesley and have begun the process of regenerating the plot. The idea is to have a 60,000-seater stadium with extra sporting facilities, shops and homes on the site.
The initial plans have been welcomed by the government and Wagner has promised up to 8,400 new jobs, encouraging further investment in the east of Birmingham. But what might the new stadium look like? As of yet, there are no official plans drawn up so - out of excitement really - we thought we’d ask artificial intelligence to come up with some ideas.
How Birmingham’s new 60,000-seater stadium could look
Meet Grok, our AI tool of choice for this experiment. Built into X (formerly Twitter), the robot can come up with an answer for pretty much anything you ask – and it can also draw up images from scratch with very few prompts. For the purpose of this article, we asked Grok: “Create some images of a new-look and modern stadium for Birmingham City FC with 60,000 seats”. Here’s what it came up with.
The first photo generated will certainly raise a few eyebrows. You’ve certainly hit the mark with the blue theme and the size, Mr Grok, but we’re not too sure about this shape you’re going with. Why’s the stand height changing halfway along the pitch widthways is one immediate question. The other is why from this angle it kind of looks like a wannabe Etihad. At least it wouldn’t be as empty.
A second look doesn’t exactly improve things. For starters, where has the lovely, luscious green grass gone? And where has the roof suddenly come from on the lower side? Pick one or the another, Grok! Jokes aside, at least the fans would be close to the pitch. One concern with new stadiums is always losing soul, but this would allow Blues to keep the noise near the players.
Staying true to the first photo but from the opposite side, credit has to go to Grok for this stunning angle. Is it the Birmingham skyline? Well, no. Maybe Mr Wagner has a whole new city in his plans as well as a new stadium? In fairness, we never asked Grok to incorporate the current city into its designs, so it’s not done too bad of a job here.
This angle is... imaginative, let’s put it that way. A huge, open-plan concourse with fans able to stand and watch from behind the scenes is an interesting idea. How well it would work logistically is another matter, but the intention is pretty cool at least. Just imagine how loud the pre-match renditions of ‘Keep Right On’ could sound from these terraces.
Last but not least, Grok has even dreamed up a new Jude Bellingham mural for Blues fans to pose with! The Real Madrid superstar may not have spent long with Blues as a senior professional but his mark on the club has been profound, and it continues to be all these years on. Bellingham already has a mural outside St Andrew’s - alongside the late great Trevor Francis - so similar near the new ground would be superb.
What do you make of these concepts? Let us know in the comment section below.