Chelsea hold talks over multi-club stadium agreement ahead of Stamford Bridge redevelopment
Chelsea are pursuing agreements with a number of stadium owners across London as they seek a temporary home to enable them to remodel Stamford Bridge, 90min understands.
The Blues began planning a redevelopment of Stamford Bridge towards the end of Roman Abramovich's time as owner but planning permission for work on the site expired without any changes.
Now under the ownership of the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital group, Chelsea are once again looking to redevelop their stadium and have agreed to keep it on its current land, rather than building an entirely new venue away from Stamford Bridge.
Doing so comes with some obvious complications. Chelsea would be unable to play at their usual home for a number of seasons while the work was completed, and sources have confirmed to 90min that the Blues are exploring a number of possible options.
Chelsea officials have spoken to a number of clubs, including both Fulham and MK Dons, about the possibility of sharing their stadiums.
Talks have even been held with the owners of both Wembley and Twickenham, the home of England's rugby team, about possibly staging a number of high-profile fixtures, similar to Tottenham's agreement with Wembley for Champions League games following their move from White Hart Lane.
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Officials are well aware that agreements with more than one organisation will be needed to ensure there are no problems with overlapping fixtures.
Last year, co-owner and director Jonathan Goldstein gave fans an insight into what the future holds for Stamford Bridge.
“The fact people need to be aware of is that there is no existing planning permission on the site," he told Bloomberg in October 2022. "There was planning permission but it lapsed. We have to start again so we are at the beginning of that process.
“There are still alternatives: you either redevelop the existing stadium or you take it down and build a new one on the site.
“We are very tied to Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) are part of that process, so we are going through our own education process. We will then consult with fans, local authorities.
"Currently, we are really focused on understanding the locality, what we’ve got at Stamford Bridge and maximise the opportunity and excitement for the fans.”
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