It's Domed I Tell You! (Wembley (London))

Member Name: opinions4u

Product:	Wembley (London)
Date:	15/05/03 (527 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fabulous new stadium

Disadvantages: The finances do not stand up

I would tell you about the facilities of Wembley Stadium, but in their wisdom, somebody knocked it down.

Three years on, and the construction of a brand-new stadium on the site of the old one has commenced. No Twin Towers. No white horse. And no sign of Bobby Moore.

So, why do we need a new Wembley?

Well, the old one was, simply, pants. My five visits to the Mecca of English football all ended in defeat for my teams (courtesy of David Elleray on two occasions, but that?s another story), but even in the mid eighties this was a stadium on its last legs. The view from 25% of the seating was obstructed, the toilet facilities were inadequate and the parking arrangements around the ground were non-existent.

So, the decision was taken to destroy the old stadium, including the historic Twin Towers, and give the nation something to be proud of.

We have on offer and under construction a £757m masterpiece which promises to be the best stadium anywhere on the planet. Well, as it will cost twice the amount of new stadia in Cardiff, Paris and Sydney put together, it had better be bloody good!

What will it do?

Well, it will be primarily a football venue. No room for the greyhounds or speedway that occasionally shared the old stadium. Certainly no room for athletics, as the decision has been taken to get the fans closer to the pitch than at the old stadium. On a point of principle, I support this. I am a football fan, and as such anything that helps build an atmosphere of excitement is a good thing. Huge gaps between supporters and pitches diminish the passion a football ground can generate.

The capacity of the new stadium will be 90,000. About time too. This is 12,000 more than the old Wembley. The more people who can attend the big games the better. These 90,000 people will also be able to urinate in the luxury of "more toilets under one roof than any other building in the world".
You read it here first!

We will get a lovely iconic arc, lighting up the night sky above this centre of English football. Presumably not at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon in May though.

So, what is wrong with the plan of more seats, closer to the pitch, with a better view for all?

My first concern is the corporate market. The interest on the financing of this project will be £40m a year. If interest rates double, the whole project could collapse. To ensure that this is not the case, 17,000 of the seats in this new stadium have already been allocated to the corporate market. In other words, 11 times the old level of 1,500. Effectively reducing the real capacity by 3,500.

The corporate market themselves are being asked to pay over £200,000 a year for 20 seats. If you are genuinely interested in watching 5 home England games, the FA Cup and Worthington Cup Final and 3 play off finals, that works out at £1,000 per person per match. Is the market there? Does England v Liechtenstein and Lincoln v Bournemouth mean that much to you and your business? Will your shareholders allow you to increase your cost base and do this?

I have, in that 17,000 figure, classed some allocation to individuals who can pay £3,900 to book a ticket for every game for 10 years. Plus an annual fee of £1,350. That totals £17,400 or £174 per match. But your seat is guaranteed! Even if the less exciting fixtures interest you, do you really think that 17,000 people will pay between £174 to £1,000 per game?

Anybody who has ever attended an event at Wembley Stadium knows that it is slow going from the end of the M1 in to the heart of Brent. Any London fan who has had to travel to Manchester for an FA Cup semi final will know that railway capacity in this country is also inadequate for moving large numbers of football supporters. So I am amazed that the new Wembley will only have 3,000 parking spaces. In the unlikely event that every ca
r has 4 passengers, this still leaves 78,000 people having to get to Wembley by other means. Walking from Merseyside is unlikely (I will avoid any Liverpool jokes at this point). The trains cannot cope and while the underground is handy, the capacity of the tube is not big enough. And do you really envisage the corporates who paid £210,000 a year for their box travelling on the tube alongside proper fans? I don't. They would want to drive (or be driven) and park.

I would love a national stadium that the nation can be proud of. I would, despite being from the North, love Wembley to be the home of that stadium, as it looks like being (I simply cannot reconcile the idea of going to Birmingham for the Cup Final if a national stadium was built there). But as ever with this great nation, we have allowed political correctness get in the way of accommodating the motorist. We have set over ambitious targets for the revenue that can be generated by the corporate sector and how many England friendly internationals can attract a full house?

The project may build us the stadium. It may indeed be a wonderful place to watch the beautiful game. But, I promise, the finances do not add up and this project will fail. Hopefully after completion of the building work! And with huge losses to the foreign banks financing it.

Is this the new Dome? No. I find 22 men running after a ball a lot more interesting. But it is a financial folly.

Summary: