Villa Park Redevelopment

[tomd2103]

Villa Park included in the final 10 grounds submitted for the Euro 2028 bid

Final list of grounds:

Wembley (London)
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
Villa Park (B6)
Everton Stadium / Bramley-Moore Docks (Liverpool)
The Emptihad Stadium (Manchester)
St James' Park (Newcastle)
Aviva Stadium (Dublin)
Casement Park (Belfast)
Hampden Park (Glasgow)
Millennium Stadium (Cardiff)

It's a pretty sensible list.  Murrayfield would have made more sense than Hampden park both capacity and quality wise, but I guess the Scottish FA prefer to play at Hampden.  Casement is also tiny and possibly should have given way to another Scottish ground? 

I guess they feel they have to have a Northern Ireland stadium, and that's the biggest. It also exceeds the minimum 30K capacity required by UEFA.

Would have to have a NI one wouldn't they if it's a joint UK & Rep. of Ireland bid?  It was on TV earlier that it will be 35,000 after being redeveloped, but I thought the minimum capacity to be a venue was 50,000?

[chrisw1]

They don't have to have a NI one if they don't have a stadium to host it in.  Surely this weakens the bid as a whole as it's clearly not big enough when there's probably a dozen alternatives elsewhere?

[PeterWithe]

They don't have to have a NI one if they don't have a stadium to host it in.  Surely this weakens the bid as a whole as it's clearly not big enough when there's probably a dozen alternatives elsewhere?

I'd guess that politically, a venue in NI is an absolute necessity if there is one in Dublin, however small it is.

[Villa Lew]

Apart from of course Wembley, of the 10 venues Villa Park is the only other ground, which was also a venue for the 66 World Cup, the others were White City, Old Trafford, Hillsborough, Goodison Park, Roker Park and Ayresome Park.

[Risso]

30K for the Euros apparently.

[ChicagoLion]

30K for the Euros apparently.

£?

[algy]

They don't have to have a NI one if they don't have a stadium to host it in.  Surely this weakens the bid as a whole as it's clearly not big enough when there's probably a dozen alternatives elsewhere?

I'd guess a key selling point for it might be that it'll mean there'll be a newly redeveloped stadium in NI that wouldn't happen without the Euros. So hosting benefits are spread in a sustainable way to 3 nations who realistically could never host the event (Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales) and 1 which could do it at a pinch but it wouldn't be particularly sustainable (Scotland might just about be able to host it alone, though you'd end up doing some far less sensible redevelopments than Casement Park).

[eamonn]

Will Ireland qualify as co-hosts? It's the only feckin' way we will 

[pauliewalnuts]

The NI stadium will be about legacy of the tournament.

[Des Little]

The NI stadium will be about legacy of the tournament.

In other words, a St Andrews for the Norn Irish within a decade.

[FatSam]

Will Ireland qualify as co-hosts? It's the only feckin' way we will 

I seem to remember hearing that as there are effectively five co-hosts they wouldn’t automatically qualify.

[London Villan]

I wonder if the development will be based on the bid winning, which in turn will give the city access to money to upgrade Witton Station... there has been no news on that.

[Des Little]

Be interesting to see guests from all across Europe standing in a mile long queue for the train at Aston.

[saunders_heroes]

Be interesting to see guests from all across Europe standing in a mile long queue for the train at Aston.

No doubt there’ll be trains every 5 minutes during the Euros.

[Smirker]

Apart from of course Wembley, of the 10 venues Villa Park is the only other ground, which was also a venue for the 66 World Cup, the others were White City, Old Trafford, Hillsborough, Goodison Park, Roker Park and Ayresome Park.

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