Now Saracens to set up home in Regent’s Park

Chris Jones
12 May 2010

Saracens are in discussions to play at Regent's Park, turning it into a temporary 10,000-seat home.

The club broke the mould by staging four matches at Wembley this term and have held meetings with the Royal Parks Agency about using the central London site.

Saracens want to play two games and a Sevens tournament in one of the most famous green areas in Britain next season as part of an ambitious bid to turn a predicted £3million operating loss into a profit in the next three years.

The club attract less than 10,000 for regular home games at Vicarage Road but pulled in more than four times that amount for each of the Wembley games and hope to build on that interest with their latest unique venture.

Sarries chief executive Edward Griffiths said: “We've looked at using venues where people would never have thought of staging matches, including Regent's Park. We've had talks with the Royal Parks Agency about putting up a 10,000-seat stadium and the major barrier that has to be overcome is the cost of doing that for a three-week period. We would want to make it a stadium that could be also used for a community Sevens tournament.”

Griffiths also explained how Horse Guards Parade — which will stage the beach volleyball at the 2012 London Olympics — could one day host rugby.
He said: “Because there are talks about playing rugby on new generation artificial pitches, there is no reason why we couldn't create at pitch on Horse Guards Parade, which looks like a perfect venue for rugby.

“Being nomadic is not an ideal situation when you are selling season tickets but we are not ruling out anything, although linking up with Fulham at Craven Cottage is not on the menu.”

Sarries are committed to one more year as tenants at Watford but are already exploring new venues for matches as they celebrate lucrative new sponsorship deals.

Sarries today unveiled a new shirt for next season after announcing a £500,000 two-year contract with Garmin, the personal satellite navigation provider, and sports brand Nike.

Sarries have also signed a deal with Virgin Atlantic and Griffiths added: “These deals prove we are having significant success. We'd hope to be in a break even point in the next three years and there are two key elements — developing the brand to attract sponsors and to improve our stadium situation, accepting we are committed to another year at Vicarage Road.”

Griffiths insisted the club needed to break even, despite the financial cushion provided by their wealthy South African backers, who own 50 per cent of the club. He said: “We should be making money, not losing it.”