At the end of the current season, White Hart Lane will be demolished after 118 years.
With work to be completed on their new 61,559 stadium,
which will sit partly on the existing site, Tottenham
Hotspur will play next season’s home games at Wembley, with a prospective moving-in date
of August 2018.
The road to the new ground has been littered with complication.
Having first identified the Wingate industrial estate as a suitable venue for
expansion in early 2008, the initial projection - according to
designs submitted at the end of that year - was for the club to inhabit their new home
in readiness for the 2012/13 season.
By the Autumn of 2010, the reaction to a revised application had thrown the planning off course.
With the necessary appeasement of objections adding a potential £20m to the project’s
budget and Transport for London’s failure to reach
an acceptable compromise over the redevelopment of
Tottenham Hale station, chairman Daniel Levy began to formalise his interest in the future
Olympic Stadium.
Though viewed at the time as a means of creating pressure on Haringey Council, Tottenham still
submitted a full proposal, which called for the almost complete demolition of the stadium,
its replacement with a purpose-built 61,559 seater
venue, and a side promise to renovate the Crystal
Palace athletic stadium.
By 2013, however, West Ham United had been awarded the tenancy and attention was, again,
solely focused on north London.
One of the key obstructions to redevelopment in Tottenham’s traditional home had, alongside
travel concerns and Haringey council’s insistence
on the construction of new, affordable housing, being the
impact on local businesses within the high street area.
By late 2013, however, no doubt fearing loss of the club’s revenue and its theoretical
rejuvenation of a deprived community, they had softened
their stance and according to The Guardian’s David Conn, Spurs’s contribution “towards
transport and other community improvements” had shrunk
from over £16m to under £1m.
By that point, Tottenham had also nearly completed their purchase of all properties within their
intended constructed area.
One remained: Archway Sheet Metal Works, whose owners contested
the job creation statistics offered by the club and subsequently resisted the Compulsory
Purchase Order served against them.
In March 2015, however, the High Court ruled against Archway’s challenge, enforcing their
land’s sale.
In 2015, the club negotiated a partnership with the NFL, agreeing a deal to host overseas
game for up to 10 years.
In September of that year, Tottenham revealed their new stadium design,
incorporating NFL-dedicated facilities, and its plans were approved by Haringey Council
in December.
Work officially began in 2016 and, in July, part of White Hart Lane’s existing north
stand was demolished to allow construction to continue
alongside the working stadium.
The final design incorporates a 17,000 single-tier stand, a retractable pitch, and the largest
capacity of any club stadium in London.
Facilities inside will also include a micro-brewery, an in-house bakery
and the longest working bar in the UK.
According to an announcement made in February 2017,
opulent hospitality packages will also provide a view of the players’ tunnel through one-directional
glass and seats behind the dug-out.​ Tickets begin at £9,500 and must be bought
in pairs.
Membership of the H Club, the highest level of
hospitality, begins at £15,000 and, like the tunnel tickets, includes a £30,000 membership
fee.
A larger ground was long considered imperative to the team’s future, with the existing
capacity of White Hart Lane dwarfed by a new generation
of modern grounds capable of providing more substantial ticketing income.
At present, Tottenham receive less than half £90-£100m received by
Arsenal and Manchester United over the course of a season.
In retaliation, 7,000 seats within its successor will be dedicated to corporate hospitality
and the club is also actively seeking a naming rights partner, both to offset the £750m
cost of construction and to replicate similar deals struck in
the Premier League by Etihad and Emirates Airlines.
The new stadium will open in August 2018, with Spurs confirming in late April that they
will exercise their option to play home games at Wembley
during the 2017/18 season.
When its turnstiles begin to swing, the hope will be that it both facilities
and represents the level of ambition which Tottenham
have coveted since the start of the Premier League era