In an overnight announcement on their website Queens Park Rangers have unveiled plans for a new 40,000 seater stadium as part of a major regeneration project in the Old Oak area in West London.
They state, ‘Queens Park Rangers Football Club and our partners, Stadium Capital Developments, have concluded a letter of collaboration with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham to bring forward an early and very significant private sector investment into the Old Oak Common regeneration area.’
In an overnight announcement on their website Queens Park Rangers have unveiled plans for a new 40,000 seater stadium as part of a major regeneration project in the Old Oak area in West London.
They state, ‘Queens Park Rangers Football Club and our partners, Stadium Capital Developments, have concluded a letter of collaboration with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham to bring forward an early and very significant private sector investment into the Old Oak Common regeneration area.’
The news follows Boris Johnson’s recent announcement that turning Old Oak into a new world-class city quarter is to be one of his main regeneration priorities, and that a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) is to be set up to promote it.
The plan is to develop a 40,000 capacity football stadium at the heart of the regeneration area, and for this to be the catalyst that will eventually bring about the creation of a residential and commercial area covering several hundreds of acres – larger than Canary Wharf – ultimately generating 50,000 jobs and 24,000 homes.
The site is just over a mile north of Loftus Road, the club’s present home. There would be good transport links, especially of the site does become the hub for Crossrail and HS2. QPR are reported to have made a bid of £21m for a site. Stadium construction costs are estimated at £200m. Loftus Road would be converted into more than 500 properties.
The scheme has the provisional title of New Queens Park. The Super Hoops Chairman, Tony Fernandes, told the club’s website: ‘Loftus Road is – and always will be – a special place for the club and our supporters, but we need more than an 18,000 capacity. With no option of expanding here, we have to look elsewhere and we welcome the Mayor’s and Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s commitment to regenerate the area, which includes an option to develop a new stadium at Old Oak as a key catalyst to bring forward redevelopment, cementing our future in this part of West London.’
Sceptics have commented that only in five seasons in the last five years have average home attendances been above 20,000, even when capacity was over 30,000. Presumably it is hoped that the new stadium will boost attendances, but that does not always happen and will rely on Premier League membership. Fernandes says that his first step is to ensure that QPR are a long-term occupant of the top flight like Everton.
However, Tony Fernandes is confident that QPR can sell 40,000 seats because they are building new homes next door. The difficulty is that many of those who move into these homes may already support other London clubs or not be interested in football at all. He also intends to make use of flexible pricing strategies which could boost attendances.
QPR could face a huge fine for declaring huge loses in breach of financial fair play rules, although Fernandes believes (probably rightly) that these rules may be challenged by clubs as unworkable. The Football League rules differ from the UEFA rules in their treatment of stadium costs.