Chelsea Football Club: A Complete Rebuild Of Stamford Bridge Has 'little Chance Of Acceptability'

Chelsea Football Club (CFC) has said the complete new-build of its Stamford Bridge home in west London, which would provide a 60,000-seat venue, has "little chance of acceptability".

The Premier League club met with directors of the stadium's owners, Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO), to discuss its ongoing work to explore options for increasing the ground's capacity.

In a presentation to CPO, the club said it had examined whether a 60,000-seat stadium could be built on the existing site, or whether the current venue could be expanded to 55,000 seats.

CFC said in its conclusion that "a complete new build of a 60,000 seat stadium at Stamford Bridge has little chance of acceptability" due to planning and cost restraints. An expansion of Stamford Bridge to accommodate 55,000 seats would also pose challenges due to planning issues and an "unsatisfactory level of return" from incremental revenue.

A CPO spokesperson said: "Like many of our shareholders, we have hoped and felt that there might still be some way to expand the capacity of Stamford Bridge. Having seen the detailed analysis, we all felt that a persuasive case was put that this might no longer be feasible or viable."

Source: leisureopportunities.co.uk