Swansea City buys stadium from local authority

Richard Youle

Swansea Council has agreed to sell the Swansea.com Stadium to Swansea City AFC, although the price paid has not been disclosed.

Council leader Rob Stewart said the deal was worth more than the stadium’s “fair open-market value”.

Cabinet members agreed unanimously to the sale, subject to a detailed heads of terms agreement, at a meeting on July 16 and then moved into private session to discuss a confidential 92-page report.

Cllr Stewart said a sale had previously been considered in 2018 but the council didn’t think it was the right option at the time for various reasons.

He said since then the world of sport and football and how clubs were run and promoted had changed, citing the series documenting the rise of Wrexham football club as an example.

The Swansea Labour leader said the owners of Swansea City wanted to get the club back into the Premier League and invest in the stadium and create a better fan experience. “It’s very difficult for them to do that if they’re not in control of the asset,” he said.

A report before cabinet said: “Following lengthy negotiations, terms and conditions have been tentatively agreed which generate a large purchase price, plus additional contingent fees in the event of promotion as well as retained ticket and hospitality benefits.”

The council spent around £27 million on what was then the Liberty Stadium for the Swans and the Ospreys rugby club. It opened in 2005 and coincided with a hugely successful period for the football team culminating in a seven-year stint in the Premier League between 2011 and 2018.

Cllr Stewart said taxpayers didn’t receive any rent from the stadium until the lease arrangements were changed in 2018 when the Swans became the lead tenant and the Ospreys the sub-tenant.

He said the council didn’t normally like to give up its assets but felt on balance it was the right thing to do on this occasion. He added that the authority would retain planning control for things like new developments in the area around the stadium.

Earlier in the meeting opposition leader Cllr Chris Holley wanted to know how the proposed sale would actually benefit the Swans, particularly on the field of play, and wondered if the club might at some point use the stadium as an asset to borrow against. “This is a substantial asset belonging to the council and the people of Swansea and I think we need an explanation,” he said.

Cllr Stewart said ownership could give investors more confidence to invest in the Swans but he said he wasn’t an expert on how football clubs were run.

Increase income

Swansea City football club confirmed last week it had submitted an offer for the ground and that ownership would create new opportunities to increase income, attract investment and support its long-term ambitions while benefiting the city as a whole.

The club said there had been an independent valuation of the stadium carried out on behalf of the council demonstrating best value for taxpayers. Speaking last Thursday the club’s chief executive Tom Gorringe said: “This is a highly significant moment for Swansea City as, after over two decades playing at the Swansea.com Stadium, we move towards taking outright ownership of the ground.

“Owning the Swansea.com Stadium is of major strategic benefit to the football club, and we look forward to completing the purchase in due course.”

Co-investors in the American-owned club include Real Madrid and Croatia star Luka Modric and hip-hop artist and businessman Snoop Dogg. The Championship side travel to Stoke on August 15 for the first league game of the season.

The Ospreys moved out of the Swanea.com Stadium in 2025 and are due to relocate to their new home at St Helen’s this autumn.

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