Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium has finally opened, almost a full season behind schedule.
The new £1bn venue is the most expensive stadium ever built in the UK. It has a capacity of 62,062 making it the 3rd largest in England (behind Wembley Stadium and Old Trafford). It is the largest club ground in London.
The ground was originally due to open in August 2018, in time for the 2018/2019 Premier League season. However, delays in construction led to it opening 7 months behind scheduled.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is built on the site of their old (and much loved) White Hart Lane ground and features 2 massive screens (one at each end of the ground) and wifi throughout - great if you want to catch up with the latest soccer betting news on soccerbetting365.com.
A number of limited capacity warm-up events took place at the stadium throughout March, most notably a Tottenham XI taking on Inter Milan. The first competitive game took place on Sunday 24th April as Spurs beat Southampton 3-1 in the U18 Premier League. The match took place in front of 28,987 fans, with Spurs' youngster J'Neil Bennett scoring the first goal at the stadium.
The first Premier League game took place on Wednesday 3rd April with Spurs beating Crystal Palace 2-0 in a London derby in front of a crowd of 59,215.
Spurs' first defeat at that stadium came at the hands of local rivals West Ham who won 1-0 on April 27th thanks to a Michail Antonio goal.
Imaginatively titled the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs new ground is up there with the equally well-named Cardiff City Stadium... it must have taken the PR department a long time to come up with those names.
The name is only temporary though, with the club hoping to sell the naming rights to the stadium in the near future. This would give the club a boost in revenue - Emirates paid Arsenal £200m for a shirt and ground sponsorship deal in 2018, and Manchester City get £10m/year from Etihad's sponsorship of their stadium.
The new stadium won't be used exclusively for football though. A smart retractable pitch means that the ground can (literally) be opened up to host NFL games and pop concerts. In fact, Tottenham Hotspur stadium will host up to 16 non-football events per year including one match per year for Saracens rugby union club.
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