Stefan Borson: Chelsea are ‘back to the drawing board’ after stadium latest
Chelsea are still considering their stadium plans following years of debate over the best option moving forward.
The Blues’ future stadium plans were understood to be a key issue for Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake Capital when they bought the club in May 2022.
Chelsea are considering plans to leave Stamford Bridge or expand their existing stadium, with Earl’s Court viewed as a possible location for a new facility.
BBC Sport’s journalist Nizaar Kinsella reported on 13 October expanding Stamford Bridge currently looks to be the most likely option for Chelsea.
It comes after Boehly previously revealed it could be 2042 before Chelsea can build a new stadium.
Chelsea facing ‘very complicated’ stadium decision
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Chelsea are almost “back to the drawing board” after a decade of considering their stadium plans.
Chelsea’s board are now facing a “massive headache” as they decide on the best option moving forward.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “The situation with Chelsea’s stadium is a very expensive, complicated situation. That’s why it’s already taken maybe 10 years so far, maybe more.
“There have been multiple plans, ideas, some spending. They’ve probably spent quite a bit on planning discussions, and yet here we are almost back to the drawing board.
“Then there’s the question of what sort of capacity Chelsea need if they’re going to persist with very high pricing because right now due to the pricing there are quite a few seating options at the club. There is a limit.”
Stamford Bridge is currently the 11th-largest stadium in the Premier League, with a capacity of 40,173.
Nottingham Forest issue emerges after stadium plans revealed
Chelsea are not the only Premier League club considering their stadium plans, with Nottingham Forest looking to expand the City Ground.
“All of these clubs around the country who are building new stadiums, there is a limit to what people are going to spend,” said Borson.
“If you look at even Nottingham Forest, and you look at some of their prices for the Europa League and what that means for the seats that are available, I’ve been looking at some of the pre-sales for the Porto game. There are loads and loads of seats because it looks like they’ve overpriced it.
“The same question is going to happen at City. City have got maybe let’s say 8,000 more seats. Those seats are going to come online later this season or into next season. It’s about 15 per cent more seats. That’s a lot of additional supply, and the question is, is there sufficient demand every week?
“There obviously is for the biggest games, right? We know that. They can sell out City vs Liverpool, City vs Real Madrid, City vs United. These games you can sell.
“We’re not talking about those, but there are 10 or 15 games a season that aren’t like that, so I just wonder generally around the league about whether there is demand for all of these new seats that people are putting in if people are going to persist at the pricing levels that they want to push.”
Chelsea will now look to come to a decision on their stadium plans after seeing several of their Premier League rivals add more seats at their grounds.
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