Swansea City's update on potential long-term lease of the Liberty Stadium
3rd March
Swans' Chief Operations Officer Chris Pearlman believes club control of the Liberty Stadium will greatly enhance the chance of on-field success, while also benefiting the Ospreys and the city's taxpayers.
The club can confirm that it has already started negotiations with Swansea Council to take over the long-term lease of the stadium from a tripartite agreement with the local authority and the Ospreys.
With a verbal agreement already in place between the Swans and the Ospreys, Pearlman believes all groups seem to see the potential benefit of a new type of arrangement and is hoping for a speedy and positive outcome.
Speaking in this week's Jack Mag, the club's matchday programme for the Premier League clash with Burnley, Pearlman explains: "We thought it important to comment briefly and bring our supporters up to speed on developments.
"From a big picture perspective, our chances for success on the pitch will be greatly enhanced if we are successful off it. In the current Premier League environment, how well clubs maximize their commercial revenue has a direct impact on the quality of the team they can field on a weekly basis.
"As it currently stands, because of the current agreement, Swansea City does not see any direct revenue from the Liberty Stadium's operations. The arrangement currently in place, while perhaps the right one when the stadium opened over ten years ago, does not benefit the taxpayers, nor either club, in the ways that it should."
Pearlman hopes that any new agreement would accomplish three important objectives:
- Allow the Ospreys to continue to play their games at the Liberty under a structure more financially favourable to them moving forward than the current deal would otherwise be.
- Allow the City of Swansea, and its taxpayers, to begin to receive direct revenue from the stadium for the first time ever.
- Provide the Swans the ability to "control our own destiny" and stay competitive with other Premier League clubs by tapping into new revenue streams at the stadium. Stadium control will allow us to more effectively leverage our brand and the global exposure we receive on a weekly basis.
You can read the full details in Saturday's edition of Jack Mag.
