Chapter 725 Wembley Stadium Is for Sale

"Theme park?" Yang Cheng murmured.

This idea was beyond Yang Cheng's expectations. Since the end of the war, the earth has been peaceful for nearly a hundred years. Peace means that people's lives are thriving and businesses are flourishing. Still an upward curve.

The development of commerce has led to the rich pockets of the common people. Naturally, the demand for leisure and entertainment has been infinitely magnified. Movies and television, museums, parks, lakes and seas, and tourist attractions all over the world are all listed here.

And theme parks of various sizes and sizes have become areas where major entertainment brands are vying to enter.

Among them, the best-developed ones are naturally the theme parks under the six major Hollywood brands headed by Disney. Relying on the popular movie resources all over the world, they have developed one after another similar amusement parks;

Not only film companies, but car companies like Ferrari have also built a Ferrari theme park in the United Arab Emirates. Although this is the only one in the world, it has a lot of influence.

But looking around the world, it seems that there is no amusement park that is completely football-themed. No, no, to be precise, there is no club that builds an amusement park dedicated to its own brand.

"Do you have any specific plans?" Yang Cheng asked.

"According to our preliminary vision, the park area will be around 3,000-10,000 square meters, and theme parks will be built in commercial centers or iconic locations of first-tier metropolises around the world.

The content of the park will include the team's history, values, players and the club's highlight moments. At the same time, we are also preparing to use the latest interactive technology to bring visitors the best experience, such as VR technology. "

Ian Ayre just briefly introduced a few key words.

"If you want to do it, go big. If you don't have experience, you can cooperate with experienced companies. Anyway, you don't expect to make money. The focus is to promote Liverpool culture and the spirit of the Red Army, and cultivate more Red Army fans. Moreover, Liverpool has Anfield. Enough is enough, there is no need to build another theme park, and it will cause resource overlap and waste.

Aiming at North America and Asia, these two markets are our focus to develop. On the contrary, we don't need to pay more attention to Europe. After all, fans in various countries already have their own loyal objects. "

Yang Cheng doesn't bother to make small troubles, and he can do big things if he wants to. He is not a person with high ambitions and talents, and he has the ability to realize his ideas.

Ian Ayre, however, had a sad face, "If this is the case, the investment budget may be quite high. Among other things, the land prices in first-tier cities in North America and Asia alone are enough to give us headaches for several years."

Yang Cheng rolled his eyes at him, this good-for-nothing guy, "First set the goal of the city, and then consider the budget, New York or Los Angeles in North America, or just build one east and one west at the same time; the capital and Shanghai stock market of country Z in Asia, Seoul, South Korea, RB Tokyo, plan these 5-6 parks in advance, see the effect, and then expand to lower-level cities in the future.”

Looking at Ian Ayre's old face that was almost wrinkled into a toad, he suddenly burst into anger, "Don't worry about money, the new batch of commercial sponsorship contracts will bring us plenty of funds, not to mention that construction projects don't need money. With a one-time investment, parks in North America can be built by distant mountains. South Korea and country Z are also easy to find partners, but Tokyo is not easy to handle, but take your time, and it is impossible to start construction at the same time. Anyway, try to start in 2020 I want to see the opening of Liverpool theme parks in these cities by 20 years."

Yang Cheng has said so, and Ian El can't continue to be depressed, it will annoy Yang Cheng.

"I understand the boss, so I'll go back to the design firm and come up with further plans."

After a pause, Ian said again, "By the way, boss, I heard a piece of news from Richard Scudamore,

The FA are interested in selling Wembley Stadium. "

Yang Cheng was stunned, "Sell Wembley? Are you crazy? Apart from foreigners, the rich businessmen in the UK probably have no interest in that stadium, right?"

Ian Ayre shrugged, "The fact is the same. The FA offered a price of 600 million pounds and gave priority to the purchase rights to the owners of the Premier League teams."

Yang Cheng sneered, "600 million pounds? I'm still a little interested in a 50 percent discount."

As the home ground of the England national team, Wembley, built in 1923, can be said to have witnessed the rise and fall of the entire English football history, and Wembley Stadium is called "the home of football" by fans.

The Old Wembley was the main venue of the 1966 World Cup, where Bobby Moore led the national team to defeat the Federal Republic of Germany 4:2 and took over the Remet Cup from the United States;

Not only that, it also hosts many domestic events in the UK, including the FA Cup final, the Community Shield opener, the League Cup final, etc., and also hosted the Champions League final several times;

As early as 2007, after the FA spent 757 million pounds to refurbish the dilapidated Wembley Stadium, the new Wembley with more than 90,000 seats has not only become the largest stadium in the UK, but also recognized by UEFA. The five-star football stadium, the 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League finals, and the 2012 London Olympic football finals were held here.

The old and new Wembley not only undertakes football matches, but also hosts other entertainment activities, such as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Queen, Paul McCartney, U2, Elton John and other famous musicians Legendary concerts have been held here; it's also the venue for the Challenger Cup rugby and NFL London games.

This iconic stadium that symbolizes British football culture is now about to be sold, and it is likely to be sold to foreigners. I don’t know if drunk British football hooligans will go crazy and attack Wembley Stadium?

Anyway, Yang Cheng thinks the possibility is very high. The British football hooligans are notorious, almost as famous as Italy and Turkey. There is nothing they dare not do.

However, no matter how cheap it is, it is impossible to sell it for the cabbage price of 300 million pounds. Ian Ayer laughed, "Boss, 300 million is impossible, and I guess 500 million is about the same. Listening to Richard's tone on the phone, English The FA seem desperate to get rid of Wembley, so the price should be negotiable."

Yang Cheng wondered, "What's going on? Wembley Stadium should be making money, right?"

Ian Ayre nodded, and then shook his head again, "Boss, you don't know. At that time, the FA borrowed a large amount of money to renovate Wembley. This amount is expected to be fully paid by 2024." Pay off, that is, more than 300 million pounds in debt in 9 years.

Although the national team and the FA Cup bring huge revenues, the FA still faces a huge financial and administrative burden after taking over the new stadium for 8 years. As far as I know, the FA has to renovate the facilities every year. Spend about 20 million pounds on the Internet, and paying all the interest means a loss;

Regardless of the income from additional activities such as NFL games and concerts, even the rent paid by Tottenham Hotspur, which rents Wembley as their home stadium due to the construction of the new stadium next season, will not be enough to ease loan repayments Therefore, the Football Association is "unable to" invest in other projects, such as the promotion of grassroots football.

After all, at the beginning of this year, the government announced that it would continue to cut investment in public facilities, and the first victim to bear the brunt was the football field. "

Yang Cheng nodded thoughtfully. The project of Tottenham's new stadium was undertaken by the British branch of Yuanshan. Naturally, he also knew how to deal with Tottenham's lack of a stadium for the time being.

"So, has anyone proposed an acquisition now?" Yang Cheng believes that there are still people who are willing to take over for Wembley Stadium. After all, Wembley Stadium can still generate profits after getting rid of debts.

Ian Ayre nodded, "Yes, Fulham Club, NFL Jacksonville Jaguars' Pakistani-American rich Shahid Khan made an intention offer of 380 million pounds, but it was toughened by the FA returned.

For Shahid, this is the best way for his Cougars to gain a foothold overseas.

In 2012, the Puma became a regular tenant of Wembley, and will play a regular season in Wembley every season. At the same time, it owns Premier League and NFL clubs, which also makes Shahid a suitable player who can reconcile the interests of several parties in the eyes of the outside world. Candidates. "

"Shahid?" Yang Cheng muttered the name. Originally, he had no interest in Wembley Stadium, but when Ian Al talked about Shahid and his Cougar Club, Yang Cheng made a difference. The main reason is that he thought about buying an NFL team a while ago.

If you also have a rugby team, then Wembley Stadium is inextricably linked to you.

Ian Ayre slapped his thigh, "I almost forgot, the Football Association has also imposed some operational restrictions on buyers who acquire Wembley Stadium, such as sponsors not being able to obtain naming rights, or renaming Wembley Stadium or Wembley Stadium Add cooperative brands to Bulli;

The Football Association can veto any sponsor, and there are several types of companies that are prohibited from being associated with the stadium, including bookmakers, military contractors, adult industries, etc.;

If the FA believes that the buyer is not fulfilling its basic duties, such as ensuring the high quality of the venue, it can step in at any time, activating the buy-back clause under certain conditions;

The new buyer cannot put the stadium in debt, such as using Wembley Stadium as collateral for a loan;

If the buyer sells Wembley to someone with a higher bid, the FA should get a certain share of the profits and so on. "

Seeing Yang Cheng's face getting ugly, Ian Ayre also felt ashamed of the FA's shamelessness, but said, "Of course, in order to protect the interests of buyers, the FA will ensure that important domestic and foreign Events are still taking place at Wembley, such as the FA Cup final or UEFA matches.

In the end, whether the stadium can be sold successfully depends on the 127 members of the council and the creditors of Wembley Stadium. That is to say, whether Wembley can be won or not depends not only on the face of the FA. "

Yang Cheng really wanted to raise a straight middle finger at the head of the FA. If he won't allow this, he won't let that, and then sell wool? Continue to lose money?