Todd Boehly Chelsea Stamford BridgeGetty/GOAL
Gill Clark

Chelsea stadium latest: Blues expected to unveil plans for £2 billion Stamford Bridge renovation soon as Todd Boehly holds talks with Fulham over potential ground-share agreement

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Chelsea are finalising plans to redevelop their stadium and increase the capacity at Stamford Bridge to 60,000 but a rebuild could take seven years.

  • Chelsea want to redevelop stadium
  • Work expected to take years
  • Blues could ground-share with Fulham

WHAT HAPPENED? Chelsea Pitch Owners have issued a statement on the future of Stamford Bridge and expect an announcement on the club's plans for the stadium soon. The Blues are believed to be considering a £2 billion ($2.4bn) expansion, which would increased the capacity to 60,000, but have been warned such a plan would likely take seven years to complete. The team would also need to find a new home for several years as work is not due to start until 2026.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The Blues could ground-share while work is ongoing, with owner Todd Boehly having already held "informal talks" with neighbours Fulham over using Craven Cottage, according to the Daily Mail. However, Craven Cottage's capacity is only 27,500 which would hurt Chelsea's revenue streams. Other potential venues include Wembley and Twickenham. Tottenham played at Wembley for two seasons recently as work was carried out to redevelop White Hart Lane.

WHAT THEY SAID?: "CPO has not yet been informed of any decision made by the Club on its future plans for the stadium. We believe their decision is due to be finalised shortly, having worked through all the available options," read the statement.

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"Board members may choose to make their own views clear on the process but cannot of course do so until there is a proposal, and its detail can be properly considered. As we understand it, although the purchase of the Stoll site has been agreed, it will be some considerable time before the site can be vacated. 

"In addition, a new planning application would be required, even though some of that work was done during the earlier project under Roman Abramovich. Once an application has been approved, estimates on the time required for demolition and rebuild vary from four years up to as much as seven years, during which time the Club would need to relocate its home games."

IN THREE PHOTOS:

Chelsea Stamford Bridge Getty Images Todd BoehlyGettyCraven Cottage Getty Images

WHAT NEXT? Chelsea are back at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with Brentford the visitors in the Premier League.

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