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Wembley: Shahid Khan withdraws 'divisive' offer to buy national stadium from FA [Update Post #26]

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http://www.espn.com/soccer/england/...buy-wembley;-nfl-backs-shad-khan-as-new-owner

The Football Association (FA) of England has announced it has received an offer to buy Wembley Stadium, with the NFL backing Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan as the potential new owner.

The FA said in a statement: "We can confirm that the FA has received an offer to buy Wembley Stadium."

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The NFL said in a statement: "We are very happy for Shad Khan and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"The potential purchase of Wembley Stadium is a further powerful sign of their commitment to the UK and their vision to help us grow the sport.

"Having stadium options in London has always been critical to the NFL and, in tandem with our 10-year partnership with Tottenham Hotspur, this new relationship would allow for even greater flexibility in scheduling future NFL games in London."

The London Evening Standard reported that a £500 million bid was being put before the full FA board on Thursday and that an outline agreement between Khan and FA chief executive Martin Glenn is already in place.

In a statement on Fulham's website Khan outlined why the offer is in the interest of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the England national team.

"It was revealed today that I have made an offer to purchase Wembley Stadium from The Football Association. To everyone in the Fulham Family, I wanted you to be among the first to hear the news, directly from me, and share a bit of background," he wrote.

"As you likely know, in addition to the privilege of serving as chairman of Fulham Football Club, I am also owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League in the U.S. The Jaguars have played regular season home games at Wembley Stadium in each of the past five NFL seasons 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. 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.

"As important, 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.

"I trust many if not most of you are also supporters of the England national teams, so I hope you welcome the potential of this becoming a reality. Always know Wembley would be home to the England national teams, and that we would strive every day of the year to be the best possible steward for a venue that is iconic and beloved here and throughout the world.

"No matter what the outcome of our offer may be, I want to emphatically state to you that none of this will have any effect on my commitment to your club."

It also reports that the money raised would be ring-fenced for investment in grass-roots programmes.

The stadium opened in 2007 and has an official capacity of 90,000.
 
If FA can spend those money at grassroot level then this might be a good idea?
 
It seems a good move for his NFL team as Wembley attracts a lot of UK American Football fans but im not sure if this is in the interest of English football. I was in the stadium last Sunday, it's state of the art and very easy to enter and exit. Clubs such as Spurs and Chelsea(soon) use Wembley as their home stadium while they build their own stadiums, so im not sure if this will make it tougher for English clubs in the future.
 
If FA can spend those money at grassroot level then this might be a good idea?

FA are already by some distance the richest board in football. This wouldnt make any difference. The fact they're even considering selling it is a damning indictment of the state of modern football. Wembley has unimaginable cultural and social value to the UK I imagine, to ship it off to the NFL would be an absolute disgrace.

That aside I really like Craven Cottage as a stadium and it would be a huge shame to watch it bulldozed so another team can play in a soulless half empty superstadium to please the corporate fatcats.
 
It'd be pretty cool if Shad bought it. The mayor of London and the owner of Wembley would both be of Pakistani descent lol.
 
Amazing if that happens. Good to hear Pakistanis doing well.
 
It seems a good move for his NFL team as Wembley attracts a lot of UK American Football fans but im not sure if this is in the interest of English football. I was in the stadium last Sunday, it's state of the art and very easy to enter and exit. Clubs such as Spurs and Chelsea(soon) use Wembley as their home stadium while they build their own stadiums, so im not sure if this will make it tougher for English clubs in the future.

Well it seems his American football team will have priority. So if the Jaguars are due to play at Wembley England will have to play elsehwere. Im not sure about this, on the one hand it would be good for England to play at other grounds but England should have a national stadium.
 
He's my best friends uncle. The richest Pakistani in the world I believe
 
How popular is the NFL in the U.K? I feel that when the NFL advertises its U.K games here in the U.S, it exaggerates the interest level in the U.K, or are they games actually gaining popularity there? What other sport in the U.K or elsewhere would be a good comparison as a frame of reference?
 
Shahid Khan to buy Wembley staduim

Fulham owner Shahid Khan is set to buy Wembley stadium in a few weeks. He has supposedly made an offer of £900 million to buy the iconic stadium. Pak can play future Tests and one days at Wembley whenever they tour:fizz

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43910691
 
Pak can play future Tests and one days at Wembley whenever they tour:fizz

I sincerely hope Pakistan won't have to play its tests and one days in a football stadium :warner

That said, is English football faring so badly that they have to sell such a iconic stadium?
 
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wembley: Shahid Khan wants to host World Cup and Super Bowl at stadium <a href="https://t.co/uGr8M3xHAa">https://t.co/uGr8M3xHAa</a></p>— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/991070281287589888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Can't see the Superbowl happening ever.

There's already outrage still from some people when the home crowd here loses a regular season (group stage) game.
 
The iconic Wembley Stadium, known as the home of English soccer, could be sold to U.S. billionaire Shahid Khan for 600 million pounds ($790.4 million) — if the deal gets full support within the Football Association of England, according to the Financial Times.

The association and Khan have agreed to a deal "in recent days," the FT reported on Wednesday, citing several people familiar with the matter. The sale needs approval from the association's 10-member board on Thursday to proceed, but a small number of members have yet to indicate support, according to the report.

While the deal makes economic sense, some board members "may be voting with pure emotion" to prevent the sale from going through, according to the FT report.

The association didn't immediately reply to CNBC's request for comment. The FT reported that the association declined to comment.

Khan has been in talks to buy Wembley Stadiumfrom the association since April. The Pakistani-American billionaire owns West London soccer side Fulham and the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL football team.


https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/26/eng...e-shahid-khan-to-buy-wembley-stadium--ft.html
 
If it doesn't go ahead, and he's got this surplus of cash, he can always add to the $1000 he's already donated to help build the dams.

Pakistan Zindabad.
 
If it doesn't go ahead, and he's got this surplus of cash, he can always add to the $1000 he's already donated to help build the dams.

Pakistan Zindabad.

Lol, I was thinking that also
 
Wembley Stadium sale to Shahid Khan backed by FA board

The proposed £600m sale of Wembley Stadium has been unanimously backed by the Football Association's board.

It will now be considered by the 127-member FA Council on 11 October, with its views likely to impact on the board's final decision.

FA chiefs say money from the sale to Fulham owner Shahid Khan could help transform community facilities.

But the plan has been called "ridiculous" by former England player Gary Neville.

In a statement, an FA spokesperson said: "The sale of Wembley Stadium, the negotiated protections and an outlined plan to invest £600m into football community facilities, were presented and discussed at the FA board meeting today.

"Following on from this discussion, the FA board has agreed to take the presentation to the FA Council to get its input now that the full facts are known."

More to follow.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45665700
 
FA are already by some distance the richest board in football. This wouldnt make any difference. The fact they're even considering selling it is a damning indictment of the state of modern football. Wembley has unimaginable cultural and social value to the UK I imagine, to ship it off to the NFL would be an absolute disgrace.

That aside I really like Craven Cottage as a stadium and it would be a huge shame to watch it bulldozed so another team can play in a soulless half empty superstadium to please the corporate fatcats.

I agree with this, at the same time am not sure if it's good for football as well
 
Love Shahid Khan - top bloke he is.

Comon Shahid bring Pakistan cricket to Wembley stadium - we need to move out of the UAE :ashwin
 
Farcical stuff this. Everywhere you look in modern sport you see crippling greed. FA are complete sellouts and I can guarantee the board members who approve this are in line for a nice cash windfall for their support. Wembley, the home of football, home to an NFL franchise and a Fulham team who wont sell 30,000 seats while Craven Cottage is torn down. Jokeshop
 
FA are already by some distance the richest board in football. This wouldnt make any difference. The fact they're even considering selling it is a damning indictment of the state of modern football. Wembley has unimaginable cultural and social value to the UK I imagine, to ship it off to the NFL would be an absolute disgrace.

That aside I really like Craven Cottage as a stadium and it would be a huge shame to watch it bulldozed so another team can play in a soulless half empty superstadium to please the corporate fatcats.

I understand where you are coming from, but if Tottenham can move to Wembley, why not Fulham? Chelsea and Man City used to attract barely 30k supporters before foreign billionaires bought their way to the title through dubiously earned family funds. This doesn't seem that different to me.
 
I understand where you are coming from, but if Tottenham can move to Wembley, why not Fulham? Chelsea and Man City used to attract barely 30k supporters before foreign billionaires bought their way to the title through dubiously earned family funds. This doesn't seem that different to me.

I like Fulham FWIW, and their current ground so nothing against them. Point is Spurs have a vastly larger fanbase and the move is temporary while their new stadium is built.

Look at West Ham for what happens when a London club with an historic ground sells its soul. Fulhams ground sits 26000, why move into somewhere with nearly 100k of seats :))
 
I like Fulham FWIW, and their current ground so nothing against them. Point is Spurs have a vastly larger fanbase and the move is temporary while their new stadium is built.

Look at West Ham for what happens when a London club with an historic ground sells its soul. Fulhams ground sits 26000, why move into somewhere with nearly 100k of seats :))

I don't think Khans gonna move Fulham there, there so many other ways he could make money off of Wembley. The stadium hosts so many concerts and events every year.
 
Probe launched into Wembley Sale
The Football Association is investigating a series of claims, including one of "systemic corruption" related to the proposed sale of Wembley, made by Fulham's former assistant director of football Craig Kline.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee chairman Damian Collins MP has also confirmed to Sky Sports News he is aware of the allegations and that they have also been reported to the police.

Fulham owner Shahid Khan's £600m offer to buy Wembley stadium has been referred to the FA Council for voting on October 24, after it was passed by the FA board almost a fortnight ago.
 
Wembley: Shahid Khan withdraws 'divisive' offer to buy national stadium from FA

Fulham owner Shahid Khan has withdrawn his offer to buy Wembley Stadium from the Football Association after the plan became "divisive".

Khan had offered £600m for the national stadium, with the FA retaining the Club Wembley hospitality rights, which it valued at £250m to £300m.

The move was "more divisive than expected", said FA chief Martin Glenn.

Khan has not ruled out making another bid in future if there is more support from FA Council members.

The FA had said it would invest the proceeds of the sale into improving grassroots football facilities.

Sports Minister Tracey Crouch told the BBC she was "very disappointed" by the decision, calling the offer "a huge opportunity to boost funding into the development and maintenance of artificial and grass pitches up and down the country".

FA executives made a presentation to the FA Council last week about why they were backing the sale to Khan, and the 127 council members were scheduled to vote on the proposed sale on 24 October.

But a senior FA source told BBC Sport that the board believed the odds were slightly against the purchase being backed, given the strong objections of some councillors to the home of English football being sold off.

FA chief executive Glenn said Khan had believed his offer "would be well received by all football stakeholders".

However, Glenn added: "At a recent meeting with Mr Khan he expressed to us that, without stronger support from within the game, his offer is being seen as more divisive than it was anticipated to be and he has decided to withdraw his proposal.

"Wembley Stadium is an iconic venue that is revered around the world and it will continue to thrive under the ownership and direction of the FA."

Khan said he wanted "to do right by everyone in a manner that strengthens the English game and brings people together, not divides them".

He added: "Unfortunately, given where we are today, I've concluded that the outcome of a vote next week would be far from sufficient in expressing the broad support favoured by the FA chairman to sell Wembley Stadium.

"Until a time when it is evident there is an unmistakable directive from the FA to explore and close a sale, I am respectfully withdrawing my offer to purchase Wembley Stadium."

Khan, who also owns the NFL American football team the Jacksonville Jaguars, added: "Our commitment to London would have been amplified and strengthened with the certainty of officially making Wembley Stadium an annual host to Jaguars or other NFL games."

The FA had pledged to keep showpiece events, such as most England internationals and the FA Cup final, at the stadium under a pre-agreed hire fee.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45893325
 
Im happy this deal hasn't gone through.

Wembley stadium cost nearly £800 million and yet it was valued at only £300M and to be sold for £600 million? No property in London would decrease in value, the whole thing was a joke. It's the most iconic football stadium in the world and should always remain the property of English football.
 
Pleased that this has fallen through. No one said it openly, but there were undertones of disquiet at the prospect of an American Pakistani owning Wembley stadium and using it as a staging ground for his American football team. The British public don't understand that game and it has never took off. Wembley itself is iconic as England's traditional home of football, it has already lost some of it's lustre with regular Premier clubs using it as their home ground. I read an article which describes Wembley as a white elephant in today's Times. Khan probably dodged a bullet and did himself a favour by withdrawing.
 
Wembley will host the 2023 Champions League final.

European football's governing body Uefa also confirmed St Petersburg in Russia and Munich in Germany as venues for the finals in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Wembley hosted the Champions League final in 2011 and 2013 and will stage seven games at Euro 2020.

The 2023 final will take place during Wembley's centenary year, with the original Empire Stadium having opened in April 1923.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49815581
 
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