Birmingham reveals plans for new stadium

The Premier League club made a presentation for its new multi-purpose Sports Village in a meeting held with Birmingham council. The presentation follows a long period of detailed talks between some of the city's most famous sporting personalities, the city council and US casino operator Las Vegas Sands (LVS) - owner of the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The core of the project will be the construction of a 55,000-seater stadium designed to be the only four-sport arena in the country. This will be located within a 59-acre site in Saltley with facilities for basketball, tennis and indoor football.

LVS, the club’s partner if the government allows a casino license to go ahead, would finance the GBP 300m project, from revenue derived from the sale of the club’s St Andrew's home, and from a grant by the city council. The stadium will become the new home of the club and will be able to stage Test match cricket, music events, and the complex may also bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The project is expected to generate on-going annual income for the City Council, which will share in revenue from football, cricket, athletics and other major sporting and cultural events that the Stadium could accommodate. “We need to ensure that Birmingham has the funding necessary to ensure that those parts of our City which are suffering from deprivation are revitalized. The award of the regional casino license will be based on clear regeneration criteria and the site of “Wheels Park”, one of the areas of highest unemployment in the country has a clear and unqualified need – the greatest, I believe, in Birmingham and the surrounding area,” Karren Brady, the club chief executive commented to media.

The project is already being opposed by the Muslim community as gambling is forbidden in Islam. The planed location is in the middle of a neighborhood mainly inhabited by the Muslim community. Councilor Daliwar Khan told media: "We are not at all happy with the plans. Because of the implications on the religion, it is likely many fans will stop going to matches." If the club decides to put the community's wishes first and exclude the casino in its project, it is would lose the GBP 217m investment granted by LVS.