English rugby league club Castleford Tigers is expected to move into its new Five Towns Park stadium by 2020.
Steve Gill, the Super League club’s chief executive, said the club would leave its current Wheldon Road home in three years, after 90 years at the ground.
The £135m (€156m/$168m) Five Towns Park development, which includes retail and leisure facilities, was granted final approval in September 2015.
“There has been a lot of work gone in,” Gill told the BBC’s Super League Show. “The plans were drawn up four years ago, millions of pounds have already been invested, and I think by 2020 we’ll be in our new stadium.”
The 11,775-capacity Wheldon Road (pictured) is known for its intimate atmosphere but the ground lacks modern facilities. It is hoped the move will help Castleford expand its commercial offering.
“We see ourselves as a top-four side in the making now,” Gill said. “We can get to the new ground and get the revenue in from hospitality by opening 365 days a year. That’s what been holding us back.
“I don’t want to go from this place, we’ve probably got another 30-40 games before we move. I want everybody to enjoy it and soak it in because when we do leave here there won’t be a dry eye in the house.”
Castleford has never finished in the top three in the Super League, and its most recent major honour came when winning the Challenge Cup in 1986.
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