Chelsea: Club bid for Battersea site for new stadium

English Premier League side Chelsea FC, who are in the final of the UEFA Champions League, have bid for the Battersea Power Station site as they have been looking at options for a new bigger stadium then their current home Stamford Bridge in Southwest London for years.

Earlier the Blues had been looking at the Earls Court exhibition centre, here an article of mine about it from November 2010 ( FC Chelsea: Bye Bye Stamford Bridge? ) with now the Battersea Power Station site a more likely location for a new 60,000 seater capacity stadium, if the club is able to buy the property which is not too far away from their current location.

Chelsea's problem is that Stamford Bridge, their home since 1905, has a capacity of just under 42,000 which is only the eighth largest by capacity venue in the English Premiership. The club losses millions in revenues due to this fact.

But Chelsea have other problems as well then any move could run into opposition from fans, then Stamford Bridge is owned by the Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO), a group of fans who acquired the freehold in 1993 to protect the ground from developers and last year they did not want to sell the ground back to their club.

Announcing a bid for the 39-acre site with property development partner Almacantar, the club said they had not made a final decision to leave Stamford Bridge and that they were not the only party interested in the site. However, Chelsea set out ambitious plans for a new ground that would incorporate the power station's key features.

And that they hope besides the price for the plot would give them a new home in the future.

FC Chelsea: Bye Bye Stamford Bridge?

Last week I missed the chance to watch a live game at FC Chelsea's home ground Stamford Bridge due to the tube strike and in a few years time the venue might not be the home of the Blues anymore. Speculations have once more come up in London that Chelsea could build a new 60,000 seater stadium at what is now the Earls Court exhibition centre.

But why are Chelsea considering to move elsewhere? Stamford Bridge in southwest London has been the home of Chelsea FC for over a hundred years, but to compete at the top level in the English Premier League and also the UEFA Champions League the club needs a bigger and better stadium. Stamford Bridge currently can hold up to 42,000 spectators, which is way too small for a club of the size and ambition of Chelsea FC.

Let's look at their rivals. Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium can hold 76,000; the Emirates Stadium of Arsenal has a capacity of 60,000; while FC Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs are working on plans for new and bigger stadiums. The advantage of size simply means extra revenue for the clubs plus also better facilities in the case of the Emirates, which is only four years old. And this is a gap which Chelsea needs to reduce and eventually close. The only problem is that Stamford Bridge cannot be expanded further as it is on Fulham Road with no expansion possibilities around the ground, parking being always a problem.

And getting a suitable plot in west/southwest London is difficult to impossible. So the Earls Court exhibition centre looks the best potential option for the club to fulfil their dreams of a 60,000 seater stadium with all modern amenities integrated into the facility.

This is only becoming possible as the Earls Court exhibition centre is likely to be demolished by its owners to create new housing with up to 8,000 flats. But in the centre of the property there is space for a sports arena and there Chelsea could build their new home, only a few kilometres away from Stamford Bridge. If the stadium will become a reality will have to be seen as there is local opposition to the plans of the owners Capital and Counties plus Chelsea haven't official said anything in public, but the plans aren't new and could be relooked at by the club.