Tottenham One Step Closer to Groundsharing Wembley

Slowly but surely, Tottenham are closing in on a potential Wembley groundshare with Chelsea.

Yesterday, The Sun reported that Tottenham would rival Chelsea’s bid of £20 million to groundshare Wembley Stadium. The fee has since increased by £5 million when news first broke of Tottenham still trying to use Wembley as a temporary home while their new stadium would be built adjacent to White Hart Lane.

Previously, Chelsea were set to pay £15 million in an exclusive deal, but with Tottenham matching the Blues’ first offer, Chelsea increased it to it’s current bid of £20 million. And once again, Spurs have matched it.

At this point, it’s become apparent that both clubs want to remain in London and use Wembley Stadium as a temporary home. And according to the Daily Mail, there are a few rules to adhere by if the Blues and Spurs are to play at Wembley.

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Under the terms of an agreement with Brent Council, Wembley is limited to 37 “major” events each year. But there could be an unlimited number of matches that could be staged at Wembley so long as the attendance falls under 50,000 spectators.

Because Wembley holds up to 90,000 seats, in order to meet the desired number of fans inside the stadium, Wembley would have to shut off it’s top tier and close off 40,000 seats. This would in turn give both Chelsea and Tottenham 50,000 supporters to have for their home fixtures. Which is already more than enough at Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane as is.

Since the Football Association has already begun the process of limiting the number of events that will be staged in Wembley Stadium for the foreseeable future, it’s a good bet that a deal is set to be agreed upon.

Of course, there are still deals in place to stage yearly NFL and England international matches. As well as the League Cup and FA Cup finals. But other than those important events, the calendar will have enough room to host two London clubs for the 2017-18 season.

As for money, where would Tottenham get it, if this groundshare is finalized?

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For starters, the majority would be coming from Andros Townsend’s sale. Receiving £12 million for Townsend who barely featured this season was a shrewd piece of business by Daniel Levy.

The rest will be a mix of either Daniel Levy’s money, loans and permanent transfers of players before the winter transfer window closed, gaining entry into the Champions League and a new TV deal when the Premier Leaague agreed on a six-year contract extension with NBC Sports through the 2021-2022 season.

Although Tottenham won’t get a lot of money back with loans for Emmanuel Adebayor (Crystal Palace), Federico Fazio (Sevilla) and Alex Pritchard (West Bromwich Albion). Not to mention permanent deals for Shaq Coulthirst (Peterborough United), Kenneth McEvoy (York City) and Miloš Veljković (Werder Bremen). Being able to get some relief in their wage book, one way or another, is always welcome.

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Now if Crystal Palace doesn’t help Tottenham in subsidizing Emmanuel Adebayor’s £100,000-per-week wages after signing the 31-year-old Togo international. Then that’s a big blow, because a part of that money could be used to help fund one season’s worth of playing at Wembley Stadium.

If money proves to be too tight for whatever reason and Chelsea decides to pay a ludicrous amount to stop Tottenham from grounsharing, then the only other option is moving to Milton Keynes and playing in Stadium:mk, the home of MK Dons.