Chelsea and Arsenal may face fight for Wembley relocation
Chelsea and Arsenal could end up competing to play at Wembley if they pursue plans to redevelop their stadiums over the next few years.
Arsenal are in the middle of a consultation process over whether to expand Emirates Stadium to as much as an 80,000 capacity, which would require the club to temporarily relocate if they pursue the most ambitious option.
Chelsea’s long-standing desire to rebuild Stamford Bridge, meanwhile, has not moved on since Roman Abramovich shelved plans for a new 60,000-seat stadium on the same site after being denied a UK visa seven years ago.
Chelsea’s current ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are exploring whether to commission their own plans to rebuild Stamford Bridge or move to another site in west London, such as Earl’s Court.
The Earl’s Court Development Company, however, which manages the site along with property developers Delancey, has not included a football stadium in its master plan.
Any rebuild of Stamford Bridge would necessitate Chelsea playing elsewhere, with Allianz Stadium in Twickenham their preferred option, despite fears which appear well-founded over opposition from local residents.
Richmond Council last month rejected an application from the Rugby Football Union to stage up to 15 concerts a year at Twickenham and insisted that the existing licence, which permits three gigs each year and only one on a Saturday, would remain in place.
Given these limits it seems inconceivable that Richmond Council would allow Chelsea to move in for up to 30 days a year, the majority of them on weekends, so all roads for both London rivals appear to lead to Wembley.
FA eyes Florida and Kansas for WC bases
The Football Association has identified Fort Lauderdale and Kansas City as its preferred sites for training bases at next year’s World Cup, to which England took another step closer in Latvia last night.
Thomas Tuchel has told the FA that he wants to run a pre-competition training camp in Florida to ensure his players are acclimatised to the extreme heat and humidity they could face during the World Cup, with Inter Miami’s Chase Stadium north of the city the most likely venue.
The German would then like to move England to Kansas for the duration of the tournament, as the city’s central location would reduce the squad’s travel time.
Most of the American stadium venues are accessible via a three-hour flight from Kansas, although travelling to Mexico City and Toronto takes six hours.
The FA is free to arrange a private deal with Inter Miami to use their facilities before the World Cup starts, but in-tournament training bases must be ratified by Fifa.
The world governing body has yet to confirm if teams will be permitted to book one hub or be required to travel throughout the tournament, a decision which may not be made until after the draw in December.
Relevent detail in Uefa overseas games call
Uefa faced the possibility of legal action from its own commercial rights partner, Relevent Sports, had it not given approval for LaLiga and Serie A to move league games to overseas territories in a landmark ruling last week.
In the statement announcing the move, Uefa blamed “the relevant Fifa regulatory framework” for a decision it said it had taken “reluctantly” but in reality it was a fait accompli since last year when it awarded exclusive commercial rights for its men’s club competitions to Relevent from 2027 to 2033.
That TV rights tender was launched this week, with Relevent inviting bids for a four-year deal from the five major European markets: England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany.
Relevent previously took legal action against the United States Soccer Federation and Fifa after the former blocked a request for Barcelona to play Girona in Miami in 2018.
The New York-based agency settled with US Soccer earlier this year after receiving legal advice that it would likely win if the case went to court, a ruling that gave LaLiga and Serie A’s plans renewed momentum.
As a result, Villarreal are due to meet Barcelona in Miami in December, with AC Milan playing Como in Perth next March – and Relevent charged with promoting the US fixture.