Chelsea continue to weigh up their stadium options as they entertain the prospect of rebuilding Stamford Bridge – which would leave them needing a temporary home with Twickenham keen to have them
Chelsea face the prospect of having to play at a temporary home for up to seven years with England Rugby keen on hosting them. The RFU are open to allowing the Blues to use Twickenham as a makeshift base for several seasons.
The Premier League side could be needing somewhere to play for up to seven years if they chose to build a new 60,000-capacity stadium on the site of Stamford Bridge. The Blues hierarchy are still weighing up their options with the possibility of building a stadium in Earl’s Court also being discussed.
If they did that then no groundshare agreement would be needed, but talk continues over them staying at their current Kings Road base and rebuilding Stamford Bridge.
If so they would need to find a new place to call home with the RFU keen to have them at Twickenham, but they fear that Richmond upon Thames borough council would block the move, reports The Times.
The financial struggles within rugby are well documented but housing Chelsea would bring in some much needed revenue for the RFU, who are looking for ways to further make use of their Twickenham venue. Last year they posted record losses and are struggling to break even over its four-year cycle. They are desperate to increase their revenue from non-rugby events to fund a £650million redevelopment of the stadium.
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Tottenham are the most recent example of a club who had to find a temporary home. They paid the FA £15m a year to rent Wembley at a reduced capacity between 2017 and 2019 while their new state-of-the-art stadium was being built on the site of White Hart Lane.
Chelsea first made a request to play at the home of rugby in 2014. The RFU were interested at the time but the proposal was never accelerated. Hosting football at Twickenham would be allowed within the RFU’s event licence, but would need support from the council because of additional transport and policing measures.
The RFU and Twickenham have previously hosted NFL and rugby league’s Challenge Cup final with the chief executive keen on adding football to that list, especially given the figures involved.
Bill Sweeney said: “The licence would allow it to happen. It would be a big financial number but Richmond would definitely want a conversation about it.”
The RFU is already in discussons with Richmond upon Thames borough council about expanding its licence from three to 15 non-sporting events per year, which would allow it to compete with Wembley, Tottenham and the London Stadium for concerts amid on going threats that they will leave Twickenham and house England Rugby elsewhere in the country.
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