27 Apr 2018
FA confirms plans to sell Wembley to Fulham owner Shahid Khan
BY Tom Walker
The Football Association (FA) has confirmed that it's considering selling England's national stadium, Wembley, to entrepreneur Shahid Khan.
It is understood Khan – the owner of Fulham Football Club and the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise – would pay around £600m (US$828m, €685.6m) for the stadium, while the FA would continue to run the Club Wembley hospitality business.
Khan also confirmed the plans, saying that the stadium would act as the "London home" for the Jaguars – and that there were no plans to relocate Fulham FC from its current Craven Cottage stadium.
The Jaguars have played regular season home games at Wembley Stadium in each of the past five NFL seasons – as part of the NFL London series – and will continue to do so at least through the 2020 season.
"The games the Jaguars play at Wembley are essential to the financial stability of the Jaguars in Jacksonville, which is one of the smallest markets in the NFL," Khan said.
"If my ownership interests were to include Wembley Stadium, it would protect the Jaguars’ position in London at a time when other NFL teams are understandably becoming more interested in this great city.
"And the stronger the Jaguars are in London, the more stable and promising the Jaguars’ future will be in Jacksonville.
"If the deal is successful, Wembley Stadium would return to private ownership and The Football Association would be able to focus on its core mission of developing players with the best player developers and facilities anywhere in the game, thanks in part to the vast financial benefit that would result from the transaction."
Opened in 2007, the 90,000-seat stadium cost around £757m (US$1.04bn, €865m) to build and The FA still owes around £113m to public bodies, such as Sport England and the DCMS, which helped pay for the venue.
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