The FA have received a massive cash offer to take Wembley Stadium off their hands, as per the Evening Standard.
Apparently, an “audacious” £800million offer has been slapped down on the table by Fulham owner Shahid Khan, the American business who also owns the Jacksonvilla Jaguars NFL team.
Khan has reportedly struck an “outline agreement” with FA chief executive Martin Glenn which may well end up seeing the Home of English Football® transferred into foreign ownership for the first time ever.
Breaking: FA confirm to BBC Sport they have received an offer to sell Wembley Stadium.
Matter discussed at FA board meeting today.
BBC Sport understands deal could be valued at £800m. £500m for stadium +£300m for The FA to keep the Club Wembley debenture and hospitality business.— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) April 26, 2018
Of course, the most obvious explanation isn’t that Khan is planning to move Fulham out of Craven Cottage and into Wembley, but rather to stage even more NFL matches at the 90,000-seater stadium or maybe even launch his own London-based franchise.
We can only assume that the FA are extremely tempted, given they’d more or less be making their money back (the new Wembley was completed in 2007 at a cost of very nearly £800million) and will be free from the burden of running their vast white elephant.