Will ‘Ground Sharing’ ever be an option?

With the current hype surrounding the Olympic Stadium, it brings into question the subject of ground sharing and why it could be a valuable and only viable option in the future of the game.

Soon Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United will know if their bids to take control of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford will be accepted. Both clubs are desperate to move grounds in order to expand capacity and increase revenue, thus competing with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.

Neither club can really increase capacity on their current grounds, mainly due to the local councils and planning permission, a common curse that especially affects clubs in the London area. The likes of Queens Park Rangers and Fulham currently have 20,000 – 25,000 capacity stadiums respectively but they have both reached their possible limits for any further expansion. There have been talks in the past for areas in which either club could move to in order to build a new bigger stadium, but it would mean moving out of the Hammersmith & Fulham Borough. Simply, there is very little space in London to build a football stadium.

A section of Spurs fans are against the move to Stratford, seeing as their club will no longer be situated in North London, which would give their rivals Arsenal an upper hand in bragging rights. The irony of this is that Arsenal are not even originally from the north side of London, having been formed in Woolwich (South East London). They’re not the only London side to move from their roots, QPR originate from the Queen’s Park area of London (NW6) but pride themselves of being the only club in West London with a west London postcode (W12) with Chelsea and Fulham being (SW6).

Would a viable option for the future be ground sharing? It’s worked in Italy, especially between fierce rivals like AC and Inter Milan and it can be seen across Europe. If Fulham and QPR both buy land to build a new 50,000 seater stadium in West London and split everything 50/50, it’d benefit both clubs greatly as much as they’d want their own ground but at least it wouldn’t moving to the likes of Surrey or Middlesex.

Would it work if Tottenham and Arsenal shared the Emirates? West Ham and Leyton Orient share the Olympic Stadium and Crystal Palace and Charlton share a stadium in South London. Perhaps there is too much tribalism, history and legacy to start ground sharing for football clubs in this country but with the growing lack of space for new stadiums it makes you wonder that it is only a matter of time.

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