Women’s football was one area they were looking at extending once they’ve got their feet under the door. They definitely want to use it more for big events like concerts but I heard that from the last lot and all the stadium got out of them was a TV in the corner and plans for the entire block under the East stand to be a bar and fans area.

I don’t follow football at all and have no idea what crowds City, Arsenal, Chelsea etc get for women’s football but I suspect it ain’t a lot and more than likely at the moment they may well be cash negative to these clubs.

Women's football isn't a sport that's really backed by fans of football. It seems to be a specific group who just follow the women's game. a lot of family.

If you look on twitter when Sky advertise or try to promote it, it gets a lot of negative comments from football fans.

It’s the money behind it, like all things, they’ll be after accessing. A bit like United suddenly having an interest again.

Wigan RL should have there own stadium. I enjoy my away days at the JJB however a club the size of Wigan shouldnt be dictated to by another sport. I dont know what free spaces you have in and around Wigan but its also the cost of the land which is expensive aswell as the build costs. Without Tesco i doubt ourselves and Saints would have got new stadiums.

Develop the Robin Park stadium fit for both clubs with a 16,000 +capacity .
Knock all the stands down at the DW apart from the West stand and put the running track there still be able to use West Stand for conventions ,weddings etc. Corporate facilities when athletics are on .

Yep. Knock down a perfectly good stadium and build one right next door. Makes perfectly good business sense.

If we’re taking realistic ways to improve the stadium, I would hope the bit of talk about safe standing for the football comes off. The ground is too big for both clubs most weeks but I guess a safe standing section would drop the capacity a bit and the general feel would be much better.

Pointless discussing any ideas of a new ground because it’s a nine starter. The only need ground we may end up in is Leigh or Bolton IMO.

Here he is, RLfans very own death eater sucking the positivity out of the post.

Sorry you're absolutely right. It definitely makes financial sense to buy OSJ a new ground and build a second stadium in Wigan. Just add the £20m onto the losses we are already making, then add the stadium running costs onto those losses too. Are we building a train station at the ground as well by the way? Because Orrell train station to Orrell St James is the same distance as Wigan Wallgate to the DW. Just add that onto the losses too.

Of course Latics would still be effectively deciding when we play as there isn't a chance in hell that the police would allow us to play on the same day, they don't even let Bolton and Latics play on the same day, but at least it won't get boggy and we can have cherry and white seats, makes it all worth it.

Where's the 20million plus coming from ?

I'll leave the Hundred or other so problems until you've answered this one
(PS - The longer answer to this question has been done a million times - I'm just not what the purpose of constantly raising this is, how does it help?).

The answer is for all three parties to sit around the table and agree a reasonable and fair deal for the use of the stadium.

Absolutely, but all the parties have to buy into it. I have zero doubt in my mind that IL is well ahead of us in this regard. The question is, does the latest Latics guy want to get around the table?

Based off what we've heard and read recently, the guy doesn't seem that interested.

As a side note, does the club still open a bar at Robin Park prior to games? The amount of people you see streaming out of the south stand bar before kick-off is something the club should be looking to target. Personally, I don't get to the ground early but if I had to choose where to have a pre match pint I'd pick RP (if it's open that is).

Serious question. How close are we to this happening? Is it going to happen at all?

Some of the comments on this thread, probably my own included, are illogical, but I think we're all just sick and weary of the endless sagas surrounding the DW stadium. At a time when we should be discussing Wigan and how we might progress at a time of underachievement, yet again equally big issues are stemming from a completely different club in a completely different sport which for many of us holds no interest whatsoever.

I so wish the powers-that-be could get this thing sorted to everyone's satisfaction. Realistically, how hard can it be?

The clubs don't have to share training facilities, they don't play on the same days, most of the time they don't even play at the same time of year. And they're not even rivals apart from in the imagination of certain idiots. There should be no problem making this mutually beneficial arrangement work. Yet every time a new football boss arrives, Wigan seem to go through this period of uncertainty, not knowing whether he'll be helpful or hostile.

I know that we're stuck there for the time being. There's no way to just leave and play somewhere else. And building our own stadium is not even permitted at present, even if we could afford it. But the ongoing situation with the DW is getting really frustrating.