New stadium is a long-term plan for Lincoln City
Lincoln City FC chairman Bob Dorrian said the club is looking into the possibility of moving from Sincil Bank to a new stadium in the near future.
After finding stability under manager David Holdsworth, the club is now looking at ways to increase revenue and attract new investors.
Speaking on BBC Lincolnshire’s Saturday Sport, he said: “We are still very serious about it but we have got a long way to go yet.”
The idea of Lincoln City moving from The 12th Imp Sincil Bank Stadium isn’t a new one; the concept was first voiced before the club’s relegation to the Blue Square Premier League.
The chairman highlighted the impact a new ground has had at nearby Chesterfield. Their move in 2010 to a brand new 10,379-capacity b2net Stadium has provided revenue from a multitude of sources.
At Chesterfields’s old ground, Saltergate, the club only generated income on the days where a match was played at the stadium. Now the b2net Stadium provides a place for year-round revenue.
Chairman Dorrian said that Chesterfield made £1.2 million from catering at their new ground in the first year, compared to last season at Saltergate, where they made just £140,000. For a club at that level, £1.2 million is a substantial sum. For a club at Lincoln City’s level the effects would be much more significant.
However, Bob Dorrian was realistic when talking about the prospect of a move, saying that it was all part of a long-term plan: “We hope to have a new ground in the next 4 to 5 years.”
Sincil Bank has been the Imps’ home since 1895.
Finding the site for a new ground in Lincoln is the next stage of the process, with plans shifting towards a site on Tritton Road.
Last year Dorrian put forward a £9 million move to a new complex which would be utilised as a centre for the community seven days a week, with restaurants, hotels and meeting facilities that would all add to the club’s commercial revenues.
It’s likely that much like Chesterfield’s b2net stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, the new Lincoln stadium would be named after a sponsor.
Dorrian admitted that the “football club alone couldn’t afford to the build the ground,” saying that a partnership with one or two different organisations would be needed. Possible sponsors would include the University of Lincoln or the Lincolnshire Co-operative.
— A version of this story first appeared in The Linc.
