Should Councils Invest In Their Football Clubs?

Bandwagon wrote:

The council own both Brickfields and HP, I think? Both are struggling financially so why not sell one off and plough it into a singular venue? Ok very simplistic and would have thought with all the re development going on down Devoport end of city, Brickfields could be valuable land. With Central Park as a sporting hub surely it would placate all of us?

Too logical for Plymouth.

Graham Clark wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Why have they succeeded and we have not, Angry? What is the difference between them and us?

The difference is that both the Liberty Stadium and the KC Stadium were not financed directly by the respective City Councils out of their capital expenditure budget.

The Liberty Stadium was financed by a 350,000ft2 retail park private development. Swansea City Council provided the site. The Vetch Field was then sold for residential development which assisted in the funding of the stadium.

The KC Stadium in Hull was funded by the Council's sale of their holding in the private and unique to Hull, Kingston Communications which ran the telecoms network in the city. The £40m plus raised from the sale was enough to build the stadium on Council owned land. Boothferry Park is now I believe a supermarket site although I don't know if the sale proceeds went to the Council.

Both Council's, working with development partners, had the vision and the availability of pre- financial crash privately generated funding to provide their respective stadiums that subsequently played a major part in both teams securing a position in the Premiership.

The situation at Home Park is rather different. The ill fated HHP demonstrated how difficult it is to attract major private sector retail / food and drink investment on what some may perceive as a secondary location in Central Park. As a result any privately funded options are limited and extremely unlikely to generate the level of profits or funding even to complete a £10m grandstand let alone any additional capacity aspiration. There is no prospect, and rightly so, of the land at Home Park being sold off for development to fund a stadium elsewhere even if the land could be found.

That leaves the club and the Council facing the only realistic option of the Council as freeholder funding a grandstand and the club being required to pay a substantially higher rent to fund it over the leasehold period (25 years plus) to fund it. Whether, the Council, whichever party gains control next week, has the appetite to go down that road in the face of future austerity cuts upon services remains to be seen. A strong economic case for a new grandstand would have to made with an enhanced community use, in conjunction with the Life Centre, at its heart to stand any chance at all. It cannot simply be just a grandstand with some corporate facilities it has to be much more and paly a key role in enabling Central Park to fulfill its potential as the major leisure location in the heart of the city.

Perhaps if the funding came, not out of Council capital expenditure, but an enhanced above market rate of return repayment of a loan out of Council reserves, it may have a chance. However, with construction costs rising at a conservative 10% a year, even in the south west, the £10m grandstand will soon become an £11m unless aspirations are accordingly readjusted. The clock is ticking and not even the potential euphoria of a promotion will necessarily enhance the likelihood of the ground being completed, unless of course a well wedged 'sugar daddy' appears on the seen and is prepared to fund the ride  .... but that would be a very different story!

How about a brand new stadium within the recently-announced enterprise zone using a TIF scheme to fund with all associated facilities mixed use? (tongue only slightly in cheek)

Bandwagon wrote:

The council own both Brickfields and HP, I think? Both are struggling financially so why not sell one off and plough it into a singular venue? Ok very simplistic and would have thought with all the re development going on down Devoport end of city, Brickfields could be valuable land. With Central Park as a sporting hub surely it would placate all of us?

I recall you muting this idea before and my response to that is still much the same.. but to recap Albion in its current state would be better off moving into the devonport rec till they sort themselves out, resolve their finances and are ready to move up the leagues again with fan backing. A bigger flashy stadium move would fall dead and cost them more and probably kill them.

Angry.

Agree that the current of Albion means they would drown at HP but a move there would be logical if they want to get serious about reaching top flight riches. The University are keen on Brickfields as well

BTW The condemned main stand at The Rec is being pulled down this summer. There are plans for a £3.5M replacement but I've not heard if MoD have signed off budget.

I can never understand the eagerness of some to share our stadium with a rugby team that seems to be consistently on the verge of being bankrupt. Having a co-tenant that is likely to go belly up on us seems to be the last thing we would ever want, not only that, they ruin the pitch while doing it!

Angry wrote:

Bandwagon wrote:

The council own both Brickfields and HP, I think? Both are struggling financially so why not sell one off and plough it into a singular venue? Ok very simplistic and would have thought with all the re development going on down Devoport end of city, Brickfields could be valuable land. With Central Park as a sporting hub surely it would placate all of us?

I recall you muting this idea before and my response to that is still much the same.. but to recap Albion in its current state would be better off moving into the devonport rec till they sort themselves out, resolve their finances and are ready to move up the leagues again with fan backing. A bigger flashy stadium move would fall dead and cost them more and probably kill them.

No problem, we all have our opinions!!

green_genie wrote:

Angry.

Agree that the current of Albion means they would drown at HP but a move there would be logical if they want to get serious about reaching top flight riches. The University are keen on Brickfields as well

BTW The condemned main stand at The Rec is being pulled down this summer. There are plans for a £3.5M replacement but I've not heard if MoD have signed off budget.

they will never reach the top flight as the premiership is being locked.

Angry wrote:

green_genie wrote:

Angry.

Agree that the current of Albion means they would drown at HP but a move there would be logical if they want to get serious about reaching top flight riches. The University are keen on Brickfields as well

BTW The condemned main stand at The Rec is being pulled down this summer. There are plans for a £3.5M replacement but I've not heard if MoD have signed off budget.

they will never reach the top flight as the premiership is being locked.

Supposed to be temporary, but the Wasps move proves Rugby is losing it's principles at top level.

green_genie wrote:

Angry wrote:

green_genie wrote:

Angry.

Agree that the current of Albion means they would drown at HP but a move there would be logical if they want to get serious about reaching top flight riches. The University are keen on Brickfields as well

BTW The condemned main stand at The Rec is being pulled down this summer. There are plans for a £3.5M replacement but I've not heard if MoD have signed off budget.

they will never reach the top flight as the premiership is being locked.

Supposed to be temporary, but the Wasps move proves Rugby is losing it's principles at top level.

Its Temporary for now with the league being extended to 14 i believe. The gulf in class between the leagues is as big as the atlantic and its growing as we see every year with the odd exception mainly Exeter with the same teams going up and going down. It will take more than 3-4 years that the premiership is locked for any championship club to close the gap in that time to justify the RFU opening it again.

Its the RFU's wish to have an elite league they are not interested beyond it so albion and Pirates are screwed.