Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has reportedly contacted American billionaire and Fulham owner Shahid Khan about the possibility of playing matches at Craven Cottage while the Blues build a new stadium. Boehly became Chelsea owner at the end of last May and has since splashed the cash to bring in a whole host of superstar players.
According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea are considering building a new stadium that could cost them up to £2billion. And Boehly has informally discussed a groundshare with Khan. One option for the Blues would be to play the majority of Premier League games at Craven Cottage, with category A top-flight matches and Champions League clashes being played at either Wembley or Twickenham.
Fulham are likely to be sympathetic to the request as they were forced to groundshare with QPR at Loftus Road when Craven Cottage was refitted in 2002.
The Blues have also contacted the Rugby Football Union, with the governing body keen to boost the number of non-rugby events at Twickenham to increase their income and help pay for future refurbishments.
Chelsea have plans to bulldoze their current stadium and build a state-of-the-art arena that can hold 60,000 fans. But railway and tube lines, an underground river and an adjacent cemetery will pose problems and could force the club to rotate their pitch 90 degrees.
Meanwhile, spiralling material costs, as well as traffic and noise restrictions will push up the build price. But Boehly does not regard the estimated cost of the development as a problem and has no fixed budget for the project. Chelsea hope to complete their stadium build by 2030, a date that has been described as “optimistic” by independent experts. And the club may have to play away from Stamford Bridge for four years.
Chelsea have been in dismal form under Graham Potter this season and were held to a 2-2 by Everton at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday. Joao Felix opened the scoring for the hosts shortly after the interval, before Abdoulaye Doucoure notched an equaliser with just over 20 minutes remaining.
The Blues nudged ahead once again as Kai Havertz struck from the penalty spot after Reece James had been fouled by James Tarkowski, with Potter’s side appearing to be heading for only their 11th Premier League victory of the season. But Ellis Simms bagged his first Everton goal in the 89th minute as the Toffees secured a share of the spoils.
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