£3bn Blues sports quarter is ‘more than just a stadium’
BIRMINGHAM City’s massive new superstadium and Sports Quarter will cost between two and three billion pounds – and chairman Tom Wagner wants it finished within five years.
His firm Knighthead confirmed it had bought the 48-acre Birmingham Wheels site in Bordesley Green from the council this week.
Wagner plans to build a new stadium, training ground and academy facility there and wants his team in their new home by the start of the 2029/30 season.
The regeneration of Bordesley Green and the planned facilities for local people are central to the owners’ ambition to make a positive contribution to people from all backgrounds across the city.
The ambition for the Sports Quarter is for it to become a globally recognisable sporting and entertainment location.
The Blues chairman said: “My timeframe is lunacy but we’d like to get this completed in five years. That is the perfect world if everyone works with us at the same pace we’re willing to work. Five years from August and we could be in.
“I’m going to keep saying that even though it makes everyone around me sweat. A lot of it is outside our control but that’s the goal.”
During a briefing with the press at Blues’ current home St Andrew’s on Tuesday Wagner outlined his grand ambitions for the club he bought last summer. He was even unfazed when asked about the sizeable elephant in the room.
Would relegation to League One – which is a genuine possibility with the first team currently inside the Championship’s bottom three – alter that timescale? “No,” said Wagner. “Not at all.”
Wagner’s due diligence before agreeing to buy his controlling stake in Blues last summer saw him check out a number of new stadium sites. None of them presented Knighthead with the same opportunity as the vacant Wheels site, which is bigger in size and possibilities than anything else the city has to offer.
“My dream was always to have it at the Wheels site but we looked at every single other option available within a reasonable distance of where we sit today at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
“There was no question that the Wheels site and the surrounding area was the best available option by far.”
It will be a wrench for many to leave St Andrew’s, Blues’ home for well over 100 years, but it feels necessary to achieve the lofty targets on Wagner’s agenda.
Explaining what the Sports Quarter will look like, Wagner said: “To understand why we’re doing this you have to get a sense of the whole vision. This isn’t about a stadium, this is about a Sports Quarter so what does that mean? That’s a stadium, that’s a training ground for men’s, women’s and the academy teams in one location.
“It also brings in other entertainment options, all of which are currently being worked out.
“We’ve got lots of inbound inquiries from different organisations that want to play a role. I can see hospitality in there which is hotels, restaurants - there’s a new thing called ‘eatertainment’ where you combine the two things.
“Beyond that, there’s a development broadly within that region where we would hope to encompass some housing on this site (St Andrew’s) depending on what we end up doing here.
“When you look at the fact this site (Wheels) is in walking distance of the city centre, that’s a one-off in European football. No other team has a stadium, an academy, other entertainment venue in a single location within walking distance of the city centre.
“Why have a training ground in the same location? It embeds the club into the local community.
“You have the players there on a daily basis and you have the ability for those who live in the area to walk to the academy.
“Right now, we’re a good distance away so if you’re a first generation immigrant and you’re a keen footballer, that’s a long way to go. It brings us into the heart of Birmingham and a big part of this project from the very beginning was to have Birmingham City Football Club as an embedded part of the city. That’s the vision of the Sports Quarter.”
Wagner is a wealthy man in his own right and has access to billions of pounds through his investment firm Knighthead.
A chunk of their cash will be set aside for the latest step on his Birmingham City project.
“The total cost of the Sports Quarter will be between two and three billion pounds,” he revealed. “I don’t know how quickly we will be able to pursue all of that. The goal is to begin pursuing this right out of the gates.”
This isn’t about a stadium, this is about a Sports Quarter... It also brings in other entertainment options, which are being worked out Tom Wagner