Next season "should be Tottenham’s last at White Hart Lane" after the club was granted planning permission to build the largest club football stadium in London, according to the LONDON TIMES. At a five-and-a-half-hour meeting of Haringey Council that finished at 12:29am, Tottenham was "given the green light to press ahead." The club’s three applications "were passed by majority verdicts" after councilors debated the £400M ($595M) development. The club, which has played at White Hart Lane since 1899, intends "to move into the new 61,000-seat stadium for the 2018-19 season," and the arena will also stage NFL games. Tottenham said that it intends "to play home matches at a different stadium, still to be announced," in the '17-18 season. The new building, "which will be constructed next to the old ground, will eclipse Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, which can seat 60,432 and Chelsea’s proposed redevelopment of Stamford Bridge into a 60,000-seat arena." The plans "must be formally approved by the London Mayor’s office." London Mayor Boris Johnson has "previously expressed his enthusiasm for the project" (LONDON TIMES, 12/17). The London TELEGRAPH reported in a short statement on Twitter, Tottenham said, "Stadium Update: We can announce that Haringey Council's Planning Sub Committee has approved the Club's new stadium proposals." The club originally announced plans to "either expand White Hart Lane or move to a new stadium" in '07. Tottenham "explored the option of moving to the Olympic stadium," but it was announced in '11 that West Ham was the "preferred bidders for the Stratford site" (TELEGRAPH, 12/17). REUTERS' Martyn Herman reported Tottenham's new ground "will be designed to incorporate U.S. National Football League (NFL) games, with a secondary pitch beneath a fully-retractable playing surface." There will also be a "range of leisure facilities within the new development including a cinema and a hotel and 579 affordable homes" (REUTERS, 12/17).
