It is an all-seater bowl stadium with a capacity of 24,161 and is located close to the M4 motorway and Reading Green Park railway station.

In January 1990, the Taylor Report made all-seater stadiums compulsory in the top two divisions of English football for the 1994–95 season.

[4] The location of a closed landfill, the site was purchased for £1, on the condition that the club develop the A33 relief road.

[5] Construction of the new stadium, which was undertaken by Birse Group,[6] was underway by 1997, and the last competitive match at Elm Park took place on 3 May 1998 against Norwich City, with Reading losing 1–0, having already been relegated to Division Two.

[4] It was opened on 22 August 1998 when Reading beat Luton Town 3–0, with Grant Brebner scoring the first goal at the stadium.

As a result of the sell-out crowds for their first few fixtures of the season, the club announced its intention, in October 2006,[9] to make a planning application to extend the ground to between 37,000 and 38,000 seats.

Reading's relegation from the Premier League in 2008 meant that all expansion plans were put on hold, but were revived when promotion was again achieved in 2012.

[12] Plans to expand the ground were again put on hold after Reading were relegated back to the Football League Championship at the end of the 2012–13 season after a goalless draw at home to QPR on 28 April 2013.

[14] Although in use for all Reading matches, the stand was normally closed for London Irish and only opened in exceptional circumstances where demand required.

Under the terms of their original lease, London Irish only utilised the South Stand for the most popular matches.

However, with the original renegotiation and extension of the lease, the South Stand was used for all London Irish matches with an unreserved seating plan.

Since 2015, with falling attendance at London Irish, the South Stand remained closed for rugby and only opened if required.

On 11 January 2008, it was announced that London Irish had reached an agreement to continue playing home games at the stadium until 2026.

Irish saw their average crowds grow to more than 11,100 after moving to Reading in 2000, holding the record for the biggest rugby union Premiership attendance at a club ground, when 23,709 people saw Irish play Wasps (then London Wasps) on 16 March 2008.

The event featured multiple performers including McFly, Rachel Stevens, Charlotte Church, Bananarama and Melanie C.[24][25] Luciano Pavarotti was due to perform the stadium on 1 July 2006, after being delayed from the 11 June due the singer's neck surgery to repair two vertebrae.

[26] His final public performance was at opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, before his death in 2007 from pancreatic cancer.

The stadium is also used as a hub for pre- and post-event services e.g. public transport terminus and bag drop during the day of the event.

[33] The highest attendance at the stadium was 24,184 (apparently exceeding the stadium's stated capacity) on 17 November 2012 for the Premier League game with Everton beating the previous record of 24,160 set on 16 September 2012 for the Premier League game with Tottenham Hotspur.