Gloucestershire County Cricket Club are looking at opportunities into selling their home ground, since 1889, the Bristol County Ground as they looked to become more competitive and sustainable for a long period of time.
With Nevil Road being located near the centre of Bristol, the potential of expanding and improving the facilities, on the pitch and off for the fans and their experience at the venue, is very minimal with the club hoping to cash in on the value of the 134-year-old home of the club.
“The option to relocate to a larger site would allow us to build a stadium capable of delivering better first-class international and overall cricket experience, alongside a much greater range of diverse and sustainable revenue streams – all designed to give us the financial sustainability we need to thrive as a first-class county.”
The club say that the possibility of relocating to a bigger venue would allow them to enter the next stage of the club’s story and thrive in the future as they try to adjust with the modernisation of cricket.
Some reports suggest that when the club does decide to put the Nevil Road facilities up for sale, the club could rake in anything between £20 to £40 million from developers, with the money being used on their new ground which would be a much larger complex that then would allow for more revenue streams than are currently available at the County Ground.
The club’s first choice location for the preferred amount of growth of Cricket in the region is in South Gloucestershire close to the M4 by Bristol. The goal for the new venue is to host all Gloucestershire home games, potentially a new Hundred franchise as private investment in the competition seems likely within in the next half dozen years plus more international fixtures, especially for the 2030 T20 World Cup which is being hosted across England, Ireland and Scotland.
Chairman David Jones commentated on the announcement, saying that “this is a significant turning point for cricket in Gloucestershire and Bristol as we look to secure the club’s long-term future in an ever-changing sporting world. As well as delivering for our members the modern and low carbon facilities they deserve in order to showcase an ever-wider range of world class events here in the Southwest, we are keen to continue our active role in the community to widen participation and inspire the next generation of sports women and men.”
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