April 1 – Plymouth Argyle claim to have boosted their chances of securing the funding needed to turn Home Park into a 46,000-seater World Cup venue if England host the 2018 tournament after shareholders voted to sell the stadium to a newly-formed property company for £7.5 million.
But some fans have claimed that it means the club will lose control of its biggest asset.
Under the scheme, the football team will become a priority tenant of the new company, who will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Argyle’s holding company and pay it a rent to use Home Park, one of the 17 venues chosen by England 2018 officials a potential World Cup stadium.
Plymouth chairman Sir Roy Gardner said: “If we want to go forward with the upgrade to the stadium and develop it to be World Cup compliant we have to take an action that will enable us to interest potential investors.
“This can only be done by putting this asset into a separate company.
“The club will have priority rights of use of the ground and pay a market rent.”
The deal is similar to that operated by other clubs around the country, including Premier League Hull City, whose application to be a World Cup venue if England’s bid to host the 2018 tournament is successful was rejected.
The deal will now need approval from the Football League, but if this is received the Home Park stadium will pass to the new company Home Park Properties Limited (HPPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Plymouth Argyle Football Company (Holdings) Limited.
The figure of £7.5 million, a sum reached by an independent firm of property valuers, is substantially higher than the £2.7 million Argyle paid for the ground in December when they brought it off Plymouth City Council.
The club plan to release more details next week of the redevelopment of Home Park, including building a 5,000-seater arena and conference centre with leisure facilities.
Sir Roy said: “The hub of that activity is that the football team continues to thrive and be successful.
“The club must be successful in order to sell the venue for other activities.”
The club, who lost £2.8 million last year, are currently second from bottom of the Championship and facing relegation to League One.
But Sir Roy claimed that the ground improvements would help Plymouth establish itself among the top clubs in England.
Plymouth, the most southern and western club league club in Britain, is the largest city in the country never to played in the top flight of English football.
He said: ”We will bring Premier League football to Plymouth and become a pre-eminent sports and leisure destination.”
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