The board of the English Football Association has today (Thursday) announced that the sale of Wembley Stadium will be presented to the FA Council next month.
The sale of Wembley to US billionaire Shahid Khan was discussed by the FA Board today, with the negotiated protections and an outlined plan to invest £600m (€673.6m/$786.2m) into football community facilities having also been presented at the meeting.
An FA spokesperson said that the FA Board has now agreed to take the presentation to the FA Council to get its input “now that the full facts are known”. According to the Press Association, the proposal will be put to the FA Council on October 11. The deal is worth £600m in cash and £300m in future revenue from Wembley’s hospitality business.
Khan owns English Premier League football club Fulham and NFL American football team the Jacksonville Jaguars. He submitted an offer for Wembley back in April, and negotiations have since been held over the terms of the deal.
There had reportedly been concerns over whether the offer would be backed by the FA Board’s three national game representatives, which represent the amateur side of the sport. However these concerns appear to have been allayed during today’s meeting.
Sky News reported earlier this week that the outline deal voted on today included a clause that would allow the FA to buy back Wembley for as little as £100m if the stadium was downgraded as a host venue by UEFA.
The concessions agreed to by Khan, whose Jaguars team hold a multi-year deal to play NFL games at Wembley, are also said to include a profit-share arrangement if he sold Wembley on for a profit.
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