stadium

Newcastle's home stadium is the sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium[85] which has been their home since the merger of East End and West End in 1891, though football was first played there in 1880. At the turn of the 20th century the ground could hold 30,000, but this was soon expanded to 60,000.[86] However, the ground was altered little in the next 70 years, and by the 1980s was looking dated.

The Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 prompted renovation, but progress was slow due to financial difficulties. The takeover of the club by Sir John Hall in 1992 resolved these difficulties, and the stadium was redeveloped to comply with the Taylor Report. In the mid-1990s, the club wished to build a new ground in the nearby Leazes Park, however these plans were quashed. In response to this, the club expanded St. James' Park further. Following the completion of the construction in 2000, St James' Park became the club ground with the second highest capacity in England with 52,387 seats,[87] behind Manchester United's Old Trafford. It later became the third highest capacity after the completion of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Following Newcastle's relegation to the Championship in May 2009 it became the largest home stadium of a club playing outside the top flight of English football.

Two stands, the Sir John Hall stand and the Milburn stand, have two tiers and are of cantilever construction, whereas the East Stand and the Gallowgate End are roughly half as high, and each have a single tier. This can make the stadium look quite lopsided. The Leazes End was traditionally home to Newcastle's most vociferous supporters, until it was pulled down and replaced with a smaller, roofless terrace, and the 'singing section' was moved to the Gallowgate End. In recent years, a fan based group named Toon Ultras to assemble in Level 7 of the Sir John Hall Stand to attempt to "Bring Back The Noise" which supporters feel was lost when the club expanded the stadium and split fans to cater for executive boxes.

It was announced on 2 April 2007 that the club intended to submit plans for a new £300 million development that would increase the stadium's capacity to at least 60,000.[88] However, the council who owns the land where St James' Park stands on declined any further plans for expansion and also a possible move to the town moor. Complaints regarding the size of the Sir John Hall stand and Milburn stand may have led to this decision not to allow any unnecessary expansion. These plans were abandoned after the takeover of the club by Mike Ashley.

After a second failed attempt to sell the club, Ashley announced that the club would look to lease the naming rights to St James' Park in the hope of increasing revenue.[50] After protests, the club clarified that this would not involve the loss of the name St James' Park altogether.[89] Pending the announcement of an official sponsor, the stadium was temporarily renamed sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium until the end of the 2009–10 season, to showcase the potential rights package, however this has remained the stadium's official name throughout the 2010-11 season. Local supporters still refer to it as St James' Park.