Spurs to tap fans for new stadium funds

Tottenham plan to tap their fans and shareholders for the funds required to build a proposed new 60,000-seat stadium close to their existing home at White Hart Lane, the club indicated Thursday.

Despite reporting stagnant revenues for the last six months of last year, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said he was confident the club was well-placed to proceed with its ambitious plans for a new stadium and training ground.

Levy said an application for planning permission for the new stadium and a related housing, retail and leisure development would be made in the “next few months” while work on the 60-acre training ground, at Enfield on the outskirts of London, would start next month.

Spurs were able to record pre-tax profits of 39.8 million pounds for the period but that was only because of what Levy termed the “regrettable” sale of key players, including Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, who has since returned to the club.

The impact of the economic downturn was reflected in a decline in income from merchandising, although overall revenue, at 54.9 million pounds, was up fractionally from the figure of 54.5 million for the last six months of 2007.

Levy said he was “mindful” of the current economic environment, “from which noone can consider themselves immune” but voiced confidence that Spurs could finance their plans.

The club has now acquired 85 percent of the land required for the Northumberland Development Project, as the scheme to build the new stadium is known.

Levy admitted that the full cost of the proposed development was yet to be calculated but indicated that a proportion could be met through the advance sale of rights to seats in the new stadium and by the issue of new shares.

“We are looking at a deal with a US-based seat rights partner to look at ways in which we can offer long term affordable deals to fans who want to commit to the new stadium and their seat position within that stadium at an early stage,” Levy said.

He added that the credit crunch made it more likely that Spurs would seek to raise funds from shareholders rather than going to the banks, as north London rivals Arsenal did to meet the 400-million-pound cost of building their Emirates Stadium.

“As we continue to assess the contributions to the scheme, we obtain more clarity on the funding gap which will have to be financed,” Levy said. “An equity issue is one such possibility, particularly when debt markets are currently so illiquid.”

Tottenham will also hope to raise capital by selling naming rights to the new stadium in advance of construction.

Although White Hart Lane is full for almost every match, its 36,000 capacity restricts Tottenham’s ability to generate match-day revenues on the scale of rivals like Arsenal, who can host 60,000 fans at the Emirates, and Manchester United, whose Old Trafford ground holds 76,000.

Spurs are confident that, with 22,000 people on their season-ticket waiting list, they could regularly fill a much bigger stadium, while falling land and construction costs in London could also make it easier to get it built.