SFA to discuss future of Hampden as major stadium at board meeting

The future of historic Hampden Park as a major football stadium is at stake. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

The 20-year deal that sees the SFA rent the ground from its owners, Scotland’s oldest senior club Queen’s Park, is due to expire in two years’ time, with a strong push to move internationals and big cup games to other venues.

There has been substantial lobbying by Scottish Rugby on behalf of its stadium, BT Murrayfield, with Celtic and Rangers also keen to use their grounds to keep high-profile games in Glasgow.

Hampden has long been criticised for poor sight lines and inadequate supporting transport links. However, it will not just be the experience for the paying supporter or the emotional attachment to the 114-year history of the ground that are the key issues.

Finance will come into the equation as the SFA would need to come up with a way of generating income without having privileged access to a 52,000-capacity stadium.

At present, the SFA makes more money in sub-rental income from the ground than it pays to lease Hampden. That could be a factor, as could be the loss of various substantial revenue streams.

Discussions between Queen’s Park and the SFA have taken place, but the amateur club were alarmed by the reporting of an annual rental figure of £800,000 and a claim by SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan that it would cost “many, many millions of pounds” to stay for another 20-year term.

Queen’s Park opted to stray from their traditional conservative approach by issuing a public statement which skirted around their business dealings with the SFA. They said: “A confidentiality clause prohibits us from making public the rental amount, however we can say it is much, much less than £800K per annum.”

A check of the accounts provided by Queen’s to their members for the year ending December 2016 showed that the actual rental figure was £308,907.

The £800,000 figure was the original annual amount paid by the SFA in 2000 and that included a £600,000 portion used to reduce the debts incurred when the stadium was refurbished in the late 1990s.

That indebtedness was due to run until 2020, but it was eliminated in 2014 with the extra amount, which is presently circa £500,000 as the rental is index linked, now being sent by the SFA to its wholly-owned subsidiary Hampden Park Limited (HPL) who manage the ground on a daily basis.

The reduced payment to Queen’s is more than matched by the rental HPL charges the SPFL, the Scottish Football Museum, the Hampden Sports Injury Clinic and others for office space.

If the SFA decides to move games away from Mount Florida, the departure of its administration offices on the  sixth floor, as well as other tenants would undoubtedly follow.

A different financial model would be required to replace that income, while Queen’s Park would be left with the huge problem of trying to keep Hampden going on gates of 500.

There would also be a need for the SFA to replace income such as that from the three concerts that Ed Sheeran is playing at the ground next June as well as other things such as naming rights for the stands.