Tom Brady unveils stunning new ‘home’ as huge project is taking shape: “Wow!”

“Wow.” That was Jude Bellingham’s reaction when he saw what will become, from 2030, Birmingham City’s new and spectacular home.

It is an unapologetically American-style project worth its weight in gold. The unveiling of the Birmingham City Powerhouse Stadium – set to hold 62,000 fans, far beyond the 29,409 capacity of St Andrew’s – comes with a price tag of £1.2bn ($1.36bn). No wonder the Real Madrid star, whose recent visit to his boyhood club during the international break was no coincidence, was left stunned.

His face in the launch video says everything about the scale of the ambition.

But Bellingham wasn’t the only familiar figure in the dramatic video the Blues used to present the project. Tom Brady, the club’s co-owner, makes an appearance from Miami. The launch took place at the Digbeth Loc studios in central Birmingham, also home to the production of the hit series Peaky Blinders. That explains why Paul Anderson, who plays Arthur Shelby Jr., unrolls the blueprints of the new stadium alongside Bellingham – and why Steven Knight, the show’s creator, has been a major influence on the project. The club is leaning heavily on local identity to drive a global statement.

Tom Wagner, the club’s chairman, said the Birmingham City Powerhouse Stadium “will change this city forever. We are putting the city and the club on a path toward greatness. It will be a place where the best in the world will want to perform.” That list, of course, includes Bellingham. Wagner didn’t hide his hope that once the stadium opens in 2030, the Real Madrid midfielder will return “home” to play as a local in the Powerhouse. His vision casts Bellingham as both symbol and future cornerstone.

“Jude is the best player on the planet right now and we haven’t come close to seeing his full potential,” Wagner said in the promotional video, which he personally persuaded the midfielder to join. “Not just as a player, but in what he can bring to the community, in what he can do as a leader.

“If we can provide him with a platform to reach his full potential, it will be a great story. A great story for Birmingham, a great story for England and a great story of coming home.”It is as much an emotional pitch as a sporting one.

The Powerhouse Stadium will sit on a vast plot valued between £2.5bn and £3bn. The wider complex will include housing, shops, offices, hotels and other leisure facilities, designed for year-round use. Beyond hosting Birmingham City’s home games, it is expected to stage NFL and rugby fixtures, as well as concerts and major entertainment events. The goal is clear: to create a 365-day economic engine.

The new ground, equipped with a retractable roof and movable pitches in the style of the Bernabéu, will be crowned by 12 striking chimneys paying tribute to the city’s industrial heritage. These structures will not only help channel the sound from the stands but will serve as entry gates and house the tallest bar in Birmingham. The stadium will be visible from nearly 40 miles away. Its design aims to blend symbolism, spectacle and revenue in equal measure.

As Birmingham City put it in their presentation, “this stadium will be the beating heart of Birmingham.” On the pitch, the gap with their fierce rivals, Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, remains enormous – the Blues sit 11th in the Championship after their promotion and the financial injection from Knighthead Capital – but their American backers are determined to disrupt the established order. “The stadium draws inspiration from the proud legacy of the West Midlands. A legacy of industry, ingenuity and growth,” Wagner concluded. “I believe those same qualities can create a new era of success and prosperity, on and off the field, for the local communities that have been deprived of opportunities for far too long.” The message is unmistakable: this is about more than football.