Chelsea are committed to a £2bn expansion of Stamford Bridge rather than moving to a new stadium at Earl’s Court, which has now been ruled out.
A decision on the club’s stadium plans is expected to be confirmed by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in the summer, once costs and timeframes are set.
The Chelsea Supporters Trust held a meeting last week, where it was revealed that Earl’s Court was not an option as the owners of the site have no plans to build a football stadium on the land.
Chelsea’s project team is led by managing director Hugh Rosen, who was also in charge when former owner Roman Abramovich drew up his plans for a new stadium.
Meanwhile, Chelsea expects to lose more than £30 million settling disputes with commercial partners. The extraordinary amount was set aside by the club last season as it continues to grapple with legal issues.
Chelsea are planning a potential £2bn expansion of the current Stamford Bridge stadium
Blues owner Todd Boehly will make a final decision on the stadium expansion in the summer
The club must pay £29.8 million to settle disputes with a number of partners – and a further £1,640,000 to settle with an unnamed former director.
Partners, including £40 million a year shirt sponsor Three, and former sleeve sponsor Hyundai, suspended their deals with the Blues last season after Abramovich was hit with sanctions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Demand for Arsenal tickets at The Emirates has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels as they chase their first Premier League title in 19 years, with a domino effect of increasing black market activity and attempts by bot farms to sell available seats online. get hold of.
The club has canceled nearly 2,000 memberships this season alone after it emerged members had bought tickets and then advertised them. Several secondary market websites – some of which are scams – offered seats for up to £1,000 each for Arsenal’s home game against Southampton on Friday. Reselling football tickets is against the law in England under landmark legislation introduced to prevent opposing fans from being in the same areas of a stadium.
Arsenal also recently blocked 500,000 IP addresses linked to suspected bot activity during ticket sales. In other words, touts made numerous online requests for seats using bot farms, and this was one way to stop them.
Brentford’s accounts for 2021-22, their first top-flight season since 1946-47, include notable details that the club withdrew 206 season tickets last season for advertising and offences.
Wolves have withdrawn 93 holders and Liverpool have banned 66 members or season ticket holders for advertising this season, and deactivated more than 2,100 accounts that have not verified their identification.
In January, Brighton ‘cancelled’ 150 tickets for their FA Cup home game against Liverpool, after those tickets were sold mainly to away fans through unofficial online sellers, for up to £250 each.
Ticket prices for the Gunners have skyrocketed this season during their scintillating form
Olympic champion Mo Farah has struck a deal worth around £200,000 to run the last marathon of his stellar career in London on Sunday.
It is clear that the deal consists of participation fees and sponsorship triggers, with the fees not tied to the British hero completing the race.
Farah, 40, has a string of lucrative sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike, Oral-B and Huawei.
London Marathon organizers do not disclose the fees paid to athletes, but hefty performance money is commonplace in “big city” marathons. Farah’s agent Ricky Simms would not confirm the value of any deal.
A sponsorship source said: “Mo’s compensation is pretty hefty, maybe not as much as he made in his prime, but certainly befitting his stature and his appeal for what will be an emotional occasion.”
Race organizers boosted the race’s finances last year after bringing in TCS as title sponsor. We can reveal the deal is worth £10 million a year – a record for the London event. The deal replaced an earlier deal with Virgin worth £8 million a year. New Balance’s deal with the Marathon is worth a further £4 million. Race funds will be further increased in 2024, when the entry fee is increased by 40 per cent from £49.99 to £69.99.
A spokesman said: ‘The entry fee for the London Marathon was last increased in 2019. The new £69.99 entry fee is still significantly lower than the domestic entry fee for all other major international marathons.
For example, the domestic entry fee for Boston is US$225, Chicago is US$230, and New York is US$295.
‘We always work to keep our entrance fees as low as possible to make our events as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.’
Olympic champion Mo Farah has signed a lucrative deal to run the last marathon of his career
Aston Villa hopes to complete two phases of expansion, bringing Villa Park’s capacity to 53,000 before Euro 2028.
Birmingham City Council approved £100 million plans in January for a first phase redevelopment that would see the North Stand demolished to add 7,400 seats, bringing the total capacity to 50,000. But costs will continue to rise.
Villa Park was included in the 10 stadiums proposed to host matches if the UK and Ireland win the race to host Euro 2028.
Although unconfirmed, the club hinted at ‘Phase 2’ in its planning application, with possible minor upgrades being considered for the Doug Ellis and Holte End stands.