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Bournemouth Announces It Hopes To Leave Vitality Stadium, Find New Home By '20-21

Premier League side Bournemouth announced plans to move from its ground of 106 years and hopes to "have built a new stadium" by the start of the '20-21 season, according to Ben Fisher of the London GUARDIAN. The club released a statement expressing its "frustrations in attempts to buy the current stadium back" from Structadene, a London-based property company, from which Bournemouth currently leases Vitality Stadium. Bournemouth CEO Neill Blake said that the club "feel we have no other option but to find a new site" and is working with Bournemouth Borough Council to "identify a suitable location." Bournemouth has played at its current ground, formerly known as Dean Court, since 1910, but it was sold to Structadene in '05 in a "sale-and-leaseback deal." Bournemouth pays Structadene in the region of £300,000 ($380,600) per year for rent. The statement said, "Firstly we are not going to develop a stadium we do not own and will not be held to ransom over a price to purchase the existing site." Bournemouth Borough Council previously stated it would not welcome a "significantly bigger stadium" in the Kings Park area of the town (GUARDIAN, 12/9). The PA reported Bournemouth Manager Eddie Howe believes the club "must press ahead" with plans for an "emotional" move from Dean Court to realize its Premier League potential. Howe has "graced the club's home ground" as both a player and manager, but believes the club "must trade up on the stadium front to boost finances." Howe: "The stadium is a key factor moving forward. If and when we move it will be an emotional time, but we have to see the bigger picture" (PA, 12/12). The PA reported in a separate piece Bournemouth supporters group Cherries Trust Chair Tony Maycock, who is one of some 6,827 season-ticket holders at the Vitality Stadium, "believes given the testing circumstances," the club was left with "little choice." Maycock: "The (club) statement confirms a lot of rumors that the current owners of the ground are asking too much for what the ground actually is (worth), but they are in a position that if we want to buy the ground, then that is what they want to sell it for. I don't know the exact figure which they are asking. The board have suggested it is too much, then that would imply Structadene have put a very high value on it" (ESPN.com, 12/9).

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