The more you learn about this new stadium project the more doubts you have.
The old WHL was an atmospheric ground which needed more capacity but did Spurs really need to build a state of the art 1 billion pound stadium just to get 25,000 more seats?
This only gives you about 30m extra income per annum - about what you receive for qualifying for CL or put another way, about one fifth of the current TV deal for the top clubs.
They could have rebuilt the old WHL by creating bigger stands where they were.
Total investment would have been 250/300 m.
Gonna be some players on the move
- The new stadium will account for some £60m extra income per annum, all revenue streams considered.
- It won't cost £1 billion. The cost for the entire Northumberland Development Project (stadium, supermarket, school, offices, medical centre, museum and groundworks for the hotel, extreme sports centre and 500+ new homes) will be in the region of £850m, including some £160m in land acquisition costs. Some £250m of the overall project has already been paid for with the club's money. Much of the remainder is enabling development that will further help to reduce borrowing.
- Redeveloping the old WHL piecemeal would have limited final capacity to little over 50K.
- Undoubtedly there will be players on the move. But not because Spurs will need to sell. With the new stadium, improved TV and sponsorship deals etc, Spurs' income will rise to around £400m per annum without factoring in possible CL income. That will be more than adequate to service and repay the debt within a comparatively short period.
Lucky Spurs get to play one and a half seasons in the national stadium which has been paid for by all football fans.
Lucky, how? Spurs paid Wembley a king's ransom for one season at Wembley, plus four European games the season before. That's just a commercial deal. Nothing lucky about it. It benefited the FA as much as it benefited Spurs. Certainly, Spurs were no more lucky to have briefly made Wembley their home than your club was to have taken the City of Manchester Stadium as their home. Both were ultimately commercial deals.
And while some public money did contribute to the construction of Wembley, the vast majority was paid for by the FA. So not directly paid for by "all fans".
