ENGLAND MAY BE forced to relocate from Allianz Stadium to Milton Keynes or Birmingham because of licence restrictions over staging concerts, according to Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney.
The RFU views major events such as Beyonce concerts as a key revenue stream to help fund the planned £663million redevelopment of Twickenham, which is due to start in 2027.
However, Richmond upon Thames Council imposes limitations on the number of non-sporting events that can be held at the 82,000-capacity ground, which is almost exclusively used for rugby purposes including hosting all home fixtures for the England men’s team.
The local authority will not currently permit more than three a year with a maximum crowd of 55,000 in attendance – prompting Sweeney to issue his threat to move the home of English rugby from the site it has occupied since 1909.
“There are plenty of places that would like to have us. Birmingham and Milton Keynes would love to have us there,” Sweeney told the Business of Sport podcast.
“Part of the renovation from 2027 means we are in discussions with Richmond borough council to stage more non-rugby events. For us, it is three and we are only allowed one on a Friday.
“We have had the Rolling Stones. We could have had Beyonce but she wanted three nights and we are only allowed two nights consecutively.
“We are saying that if we are going to invest £600million into the Allianz — and we have a study which shows how much economic value it contributes to the borough — you are going to have to work with us in terms of an increase in the number of events we can stage in order to monetise the stadium.
“It would be a tough call for us. It would be very difficult. I don’t know how we would justify the investment in the stadium if we can’t get the increase in the event licences.”
The RFU revealed last year that it looked at moving to Wembley and a greenfield site in the Birmingham area before opting to remain at Twickenham and upgrade the existing stadium.
What utter tripe from a guy who is totally inept at his job. The cheek of him to have so little respect for the fans as to threaten this to accommodate Beyonce concerts. Does he not realise he’s running a sporting organisation, where pure profit isn’t the end goal.
@Patrick Breen: empty threats. He’s just trying it on. I live a couple of miles from Twickenham/stoop but if he thinks I’m travelling all the way to Brum to watch that tripe, think again…
@Patrick Breen: that’s an interesting take, reminds me of Ed Sheeran concerts in Thomond and Munster having to relocate in order to play a match.
@Patrick Breen: wouldnt say hes inept, before investing £600m wants guarantees that the stadium host enough to repay it, and not be stuck with a large debt they cant pay off. He knows how much Twickenham brings into the brough, and can play hardball, with the council.
@QuinsStoop: I’ve a funny feeling he’ll have no problems replacing your seats
They’d be better off building a new stadium further out. Don’t make the mistake Ireland did. The Aviva is hugely disappointing as a national stadium. It looks unfinished and is a nightmare to access not to mention poor capacity for a national stadium.
@anthony davoren: I disagree with this. There are alot of problems with the aviva, but the one good thing is the location, within a short walk of city centre. Twickenham and Stade de France are too far out in residential and industrial areas respectively. The IRFU should have moved Lansdowne RFC out to accommodate an 80k stadium exactly where it is. The problem was that when planning started in the late 1990s, nobody envisaged how popular rugby would become. Even the first game at the aviva failed to sell out at the current capacity. The demand for tickets is a phenomenon of the last 10 years and the IRFU would have been ridiculed for building an 80k if it was empty every week.
I’ve heard rumours of a big money offer from France ;-)
It was a mistake by the irfu to build such a small stadium in that location?
@brian o’leary: The IRFU can’t really afford to build a larger stadium in south west London
@Kevin Ryan: :) I wasn’t suggesting that they did….
@brian o’leary: The Aviva is a joke of a stadium, easily the worst of all the stadia in the six nations. We never think big in this country, although fair play to the GAA for having the foresight to built an 82k capacity stadium. They should have built Stadium Ireland back in Bertie’s time, but as usual politics got in the way. No we are stuck with a 50k stadium that can never be developed.
@The Firestarter: fully agree. Always do things ass backwards here.
@brian o’leary: They wanted to build bigger but objectors stuck their oars in. QED.