Sports
Birmingham Could Play Alongside New Team at ‘The Powerhouse’
Birmingham City are showing interest in becoming part of the new Prem Rugby franchise.
The top-flight of English rugby is mulling over a re-organisation and the ambitious Second City club sees any change as a chance to advance plans for its £2.5bn sports’ quarter.
Birmingham are drawing up plans for a new 62,000-capacity stadium as the flagship of its development, near to Eastside.
And they see rugby union as one potential revenue stream that is worth pursuing as it seeks to turn the arena, one that has already been named ‘The Powerhouse,’ into a 365-day-a-year operation.
Birmingham Have Made Enquiries
Tentative enquires have been made as English rugby considers whether Prem Rugby, the top division, will become a closed-franchise league.
A huge geographical hole exists in the West Midlands for a club to fill that space.
The region does not have top-flight representation in the sport – and hasn’t for some time. Both Moseley and Coventry were of significant national interest over 40 years ago.
Rugby is going through a transformation with the English top division engaging investment bank Raine and accountancy firm Deloitte to undertake a review and suggest funding opportunities.
A 27 percent chunk of the commercial rights was sold off several years ago to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and new cash is needed to prop up the top division.
Three clubs – including Wasps, London Irish and Worcester Warriors – have filed for bankruptcy in the last few years and the closed-shop franchise idea is aimed at building a solid platform, avoiding any financial rollercoaster that has dogged the sport at club level in England for years.
Birmingham Eyeing Multi-Sport Venue
Birmingham want to turn ‘The Powerhouse’ into a multi-sport venue.
They have already signalled their intention to offer the stadium as a permanent home for the Lionesses.
This would make practical sense as it would be the nearest stadium to St George’s Park capable of housing more than 60,000 spectators.
And Birmingham’s American owners, Knighthead Capital, have already taken a 49 percent stake in the Hundred franchise, the Birmingham Phoenix, who are based at Edgbaston.
The stadium is also being constructed with the NFL in mind, to boot.
The NFL’s rules stipulate that any game must be played in an arena that is capable of housing 60,000 spectators.
While any rugby union clash is unlikely to pull in anything like those numbers, Birmingham will see this as a further opportunity to maximise the revenue from a stadium which will be the flagship development in the sports’ quarter.
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