Salford stadium deal due to complete next week
Salford City Council’s cabinet will finally ratify the takeover of the Salford Community Stadium, currently known as the AJ Bell stadium, in a deal that will secure the long term future of Sale Sharks rugby union club and the Salford Red Devils Rugby League club.
As reported on TheBusinessDesk.com in February, a deal has been agreed to complete the buyout from Peel, all now is a formal and official decision from the council’s cabinet at a scheduled meeting on 3 September.
Salford city mayor, Paul Dennett said: “We think it’s in our best interest to acquire the company so the city council is solely responsible for the stadium as well as the regeneration of that land around the stadium.
“It’s about jobs and regenerating that part of the city, something we committed to all those years ago.”
Both Sale Sharks and Salford Red Devils are unhappy with the terms of their tenancy, which in Salford’s case threatened their tenure at the highest level of Super League.
TheBusinessDesk.com understands the value of the stadium is around £12m, and that the Council are spending in the region of £6m to buy Peel’s share of the stadium.
The buyout would also see the council take on a £29.7m debt as well as £1.7m share equity in the company that runs the venue but Dennett said the was already held on the council’s accounts.
Full ownership will give the council full control of the stadium including car parking areas and training pitches, and the potential to develop the land around the site, close to the Trafford Centre and visible from the M60 at Barton Bridge.
Salford’s socialist Mayor Paul Dennett had faced opposition from the small Conservative group on the council who called in the decision to support the Red Devils, but sees it as a civic amenity that is better in public hands.
After “painstaking” discussions, in February Dennett said the deal will bring £29m of social value to Salford, the Mayor claimed: “We’ll be able to recommit to deliver the initial vision of a community stadium for the city and its people. The future will be grounded in a new sports & leisure and rugby strategy, with links to activity, culture and health and wellbeing and fair access and opportunities. These benefits will go far beyond activities on the pitch, with full development of the site creating an anticipated 790 new jobs, delivering £28million worth of social value and attracting £65 million of private sector investment.”
