Disappointed isn't the word!!!

Quote: Hatfield tiger "Some points that i think have been missed are as followsthe whole GH at this point in time. However stadiums can be built and therefore be paid for in stages. The minimum criteria was a 10,000 capacity which is all under cover with seats. The proposed GH stadium is 13,000 meaning that three stands could be built with out the forth being complete until funds are available. This is roughly 3/4 of the cost which is circa £9m. £5m from the ground (the contract signed was for £6.9m and was undervalued in the eyes of many at the time - land has fallen roughly 40-30% meaning £5m is not to bad estimate) £2m from the council £1m already put in from Waystone re initial development of the plateau and then £1m from naming rights. This does not sound to far fetched to me.

The NM proposal was to be financed by the sale of the units i believe i.e. the developer would incur the cost of the stadium from profits generated from the remainder of the development. Question is where would the £20m come from.

Yorkcourt certainly don’t have those funds knocking around spare. Answer - from deposits prehaps for the warehousing? Question back is - will those deposits actually cover £20m. If not then from the sale of units? Would you pay £xm upfront for a warehouse that is yet to be built and which you know full well know is actually going to fund a stadium to begin with. I would not given there is adequate warehousing already empty in the area.

This means Yorkcourt would have to fund it from bank loans - i think you would agree not the easiest thing to do currently.

Given the above one may argue that funding issues would exist over the current plans.

I do not intend to gloat or anything like that but as you will see from the above these are serious comments'"

Good post and in some respects your figures look ok, but the land value makes no difference because I suspect you will not and never own the land at GH... you will have a long term lease deal on the land... exactly like the community trust on the Newmarket stadium BTW.

Also, your view on Yorkcourt (same goes for Waystone BTW), developments of this size and how they are funded lacks knowledge (I am not having a go for not knowing BTW... unless you work in this field, most people don't understand the business model) of how they are funded and ultimate make money and profit. These guys are it for the reasonably long term and are looking to make a return for their investors over maybe 25+ years and the whole site itself would take at least 5 years to fill and more likely 10 years. They don't borrow money but gain investment for the development from banks, insurance and most importantly pension funds. So while it might cost them (well, actually their investment partners) money to build the stadium in the short term the long term value of the land, which they will retain ownership of, and the wider development will start to deliver profit as it is developed. With interest rates very low, if you are a pension fund and looking for a low risk investment to tie money up for 25 years plus with an almost guaranteed better return than giving it to a bank, then this type of investment is a great deal!