If we are paying a substantial figure to expand the capacity we should be demanding a share of the ownership anyway.
The thing is an opportunity has arisen and we would be a fool not to at least look into it. we won't get another opportunity once the council sell it and whoever buys it will never sell it on without making a huge profit. Whatever the council sell it for will be the cheapest it will ever go for and you can bet we would have to pay millions more for it off a private investor.
The council will laugh at a £10M offer because other entities would pay more than double. Better to offer the council to buy out 51% of the stadium. And if we expand then our share increases accordingly.
Well there's a flaw in your reasoning here! If we don't buy it, some commercial enterprise will, and they will have share holders who will want a return on their investment, and that will mean that our commercial rent could double or treble, and we don't want that do we......................
Its not the cost of the stadium that determines the value of the land. That land is worth more with houses built on it - that will determine the true value. Taxpayers won't allow it to be sold to us on the cheap.
I thought that it was not tax payers that payed for the stadium, but a Sports grant from somewhere? Or have I got this wrong....
Once the council sell the liberty then you can forget about expanding as the new owner will control everything and we wont have any say in the matter..
What is its market value? You can't build houses, shops or factories on it, as you can be sure that continued use as a stadium will be a requirement of sale. All you can do is charge the current sporting teams rent to play there. You can forget getting any money from the Ospreys as they don't get any crowds, and as the Swans are realistically the only tenants any prospective owners are likely to get how much do you think they'll be able to charge in rent before the club decides it's cheaper to move? A couple of concerts a year won't pay the bills either. The stadium is not worth very much at all to an outside investor on the open market.
Buying it is a no brainer, as it's a relatively new stadium that should be maintenance free for decades to come, and a commercial mortgage can be a very nice tax vehicle!...................
A huge assumption on your part that the concil has all the say on who can buy it, the management company will be the ones who decide but it will go for market value and that is why my suggestion makes sense.
Well that's fair enough, and if correct can dictate the price somewhat, but a 'couple of concerts a year' would be poor management of the stadium in my view, and I've always thought the stadium has been under used since it's opening!...............
Having worked in the industry for 18 years now, it's very difficult to bring stadium concerts to anywhere outside of Cardiff. You may get the odd show coming but nothing more. With regards to the stadium being sold to another company - be it a foreign owner or UK based, it does become a concern that it would probably be more costly to keep renting. If that does become apparent then maybe it would be worth the club bidding for it.
Which is why it is worth more with houses built on it. The Council own the land, an ex slag heap. There will be no conditions saying it has to be used as a stadium. Phil mentions a grant - there may have been some grant aid but that can always be repaid. The bottom line is that if the Council want to flog it, it may not be to us!
Asset values are interesting playthngs. For example, Cardiff often include their stadium as an asset worth £50m in their accounts, conveniently overlooking the fact that it's only worth that kind of cash as land, rather than as a stadium.
Of course there will. No council with any kind of ambition to be re-elected would essentially kick a city's Premier League football club out of its own stadium. It would be sold as a going concern or not at all. The legal challenges alone if they tried it could run into decades.
Sold as a going concern or not at all? That's a huge assumption. But if it is, why sell it? The obvious answer is to make it more profitable! How many people don't buy stuff at half time due to the qeues? Theres your starting point to improve revenue.
