Man City's £300m bargain amid eyewatering Old Trafford and Newcastle United costs

It's not often you can label something costing £300million a bargain.

But Manchester City's North Stand redevelopment is beginning to look a wise investment as rival Premier League clubs contemplate extending their own stadiums or building new ones.

City have begun construction on the North Stand and while it is only adding 6,000 seats - a relatively small figure for such a pricey outlay - it will also include a fan zone, restaurants, a museum, a new club shop and a 400-bed hotel. In modern football, the commercial opportunities outside the ground can be as important as the bums on seats inside.

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City's revenue has soared in recent years, helped by incredible success on the pitch, and their decision to expand the stadium will raise the capacity from 53,400 to nearly 62,000 spectators. It moves the Etihad into conversations for hosting major finals - only one stadium with a capacity less than 60,000 has been selected to host a Champions League and the European Championship finals since new regulations were introduced in 2006.

Newcastle United have been in the headlines this week as they weigh up whether to extend St James' Park or commit to a new stadium. The Telegraph reported building work to extend by a further 10,000 seats could top £1billion and be at least £800million, considerably more than the City project. And while every case is different, and Newcastle are hampered somewhat by their city centre location and stadium footprint, it paints a picture of the relative cost of such major building work.

Meanwhile, across Manchester, United are faced with a bill that could top £2billion for a new stadium, the favoured option amid club chiefs as they seek to improve Old Trafford.

Clearly the blueprint is different - a whole stadium is almost certain to cost more than a rebuild. The club are in the process of conducting substantial engagement with fans, community members, local authorities and the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force before settling on the masterplan design. Old Trafford will not form part of that exercise and its design will begin once the club has decided on the development options.

Senior United figures have travelled to Madrid and Barcelona for fact-finding missions to gauge the processes Real Madrid and Barcelona went through to enhance the Bernabeu and Camp Nou. It is understood officials at Madrid advised United to proceed with a new-build option rather than redeveloping Old Trafford. Regeneration of the Bernabeu cost £2.4bn.

As the Manchester Evening News has previously reported, redeveloping Old Trafford would be more time-consuming and the cost could be similar to building a new stadium. United could rebuild the stadium without having to play elsewhere.