Wigan Warriors • Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid
Cruncher wrote:
He may have no alternative if we don't want to lose our home-base.
We have a great HQ next door, but it only has a training pitch attached.
I agree that it would be a huge cost, but surely a guy like IL would have the capability to put together a group of ambitious businessmen? You're right, the DW is a massive white elephant, but it's seemed underused for many years to me. It was only Whelan's vanity about his precious pitch - which mostly turned to mud the moment Latics got onto it, anyway - that prevented it being rented out for rock concerts and the like. In addition, I'm sure that a lot more could be done with its corporate facilities.
I'm not pretending, by the way, that Wigan Warriors playing there alone is a potential solution. I don't believe it is. But Latics' fate is no longer in their own hands. I wonder ... are there any NW Premier League clubs whose junior teams would like to share in a great playing facility?
As stated elsewhere, the stadium isn't as much a white elephant as made out IMO. £1.5 million loss appears stark, but when you look into it, approx.500k of those loses are accounting rather than real losses - depreciation on an asset valued at 22m in the accounts. So real, tangible losses are circa £1m. Not bad when you think a) its been hugely underutilised and poorly run and b) has not sold any naming rights since 2018. Still the DW, whelan last paid for it in 2018.
Most stadium naming rights sell for around half a mil per year, so do that, run it properly with a couple of concerts and business events like Warrington and Leeds do, a loss making facility soon becomes an additional source of income.
Im sure a NW premier league club would be interested in sharing - don't widnes have liverpool reserves for example and united at Leigh etc. Theres lots of options, but keeping latics going is beneficial for all parties. If a deal could be done which secured the stadium AND finds a third party to keep the football club in business, that is what it really needs. If leneghan paid 3mil for the stadium, the football club could probably be bought for a pound, all you need is someone who'll take on the losses - has to be the way forward IMO.
DW is probably too costly for us or latics to run alone.
Statistics: Posted by afootingmiracle21-12 — Wed Jan 06, 2021 2:58 pm — Replies 784 — Views 71077