Rovers agree Keepmoat lease deal

DONCASTER Rovers is set to agree a deal with Doncaster Council which will see it take day-to-day control of the Keepmoat Stadium.

The football club will pay the council £100,000 per year, rising with inflation, in return for a 99-year lease on the ground.

In the six years since it opened the council has operated the stadium through a management company which has built up losses of £2.1m when it was supposed to be generating an annual surplus of £300,000.

A report to be considered by Doncaster councillors next week blames the losses on higher than expected wages and lower than expected income from the stadium’s five-a-side, gym, conferencing and events operations.

It warns that despite cost reductions the management company is still forecast to lose “between £200k and £400k per year”.

Doncaster Rovers are currently paying £281,000 per year to use the stadium and while the new payment will be lower it will take over responsibility for its management and maintenance.

The council will make little from the deal in the first nine years as it will pay Doncaster Rovers £90,000 per year from the existing naming rights contract.

However the authority expects to net a £60,000 annual surplus once that contract has expired.

Senior councillors will be asked to approve the agreement on Wednesday.