There’s a new Tottenham stadium on the way. Back in March, Tottenham Hotspur announced plans to move into a new 58,000 capacity stadium by mid 2017 (or so we thought). In July we received news that the construction of the new Tottenham stadium, known as the ‘Northumberland Development Project,’ was approved and the project would officially commence.
So much for that. As we reported yesterday, the new stadium project has been delayed and Spurs will have to leave White Hart Lane for the 2017-18 season. What will they do now?
Tottenham will have to play their home games somewhere other than White Hart Lane in 2017-18, and as of now they have no idea where that will be. Tottenham could make a shock move to Milton Keynes while their new stadium is built, says The Sun.
What about a groundshare with Arsenal? Arsene Wenger laughed that idea off:
“Geographically it’s a solution but you understand as well that’s a very sensitive subject,” he said. “I don’t think that will happen.
“Maybe it happened after the war but at the moment I must say I have bigger problems to sort out than that. We have not been questioned about it.”
Spurs have a lot in common with the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball; only from the home stadium standpoint.
Both play in a smaller, cramped, but also quaint and traditional home stadium residing with a residential neighborhood in a very large global metropolis. That’s why you have some overlap between Spurs fans and Cubs fans, Wrigley Field and White Hart Lane are very similar experiences.
For supporters of both, it’s about the gameday atmosphere as much as it’s about the game. Here’s an avid Spurs supporter describing the WHL experience in full. It’s a great podcast and a must listen.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy believes the new Tottenham Stadium, whenever it’s completed, will be a huge boost for the club.
“We have fantastic, strong support,” Levy stated on the team’s official website. “Our current 36,000-seater stadium sells out and the waiting list for season ticket holders is currently in excess of 47,000.
“We have the smallest capacity stadium of any club in the top 20 clubs in Europe, let alone the current top four Premier League clubs.
“We cannot stress strongly enough how critical the new stadium is over the long term to these raised expectations.”
So we’ll see if the new Tottenham stadium is indeed worth the wait.
Paul M. Banks owns and manages The Sports Bank.net, in partnership with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)