UWE won't rescue Bristol Rovers' stadium dreams if club fails to sell Memorial Ground
By The Bristol Post | Posted: July 30, 2014
Comments (33)
The University of the West of England will not ride to the rescue of Bristol Rovers' stadium dreams if the club fails to sell the Memorial Ground.
The club plans to sell the old stadium to Sainsbury's but some, including local MPs, have voiced concerns the supermarket may pull out.
Fans might be hoping that even if that should happen, the university would still build the stadium, which is to include some teaching facilities.
But UWE Vice Chancellor Steve West has dashed such hopes.
He told the Bristol Post the club was paying for the new stadium, not the university, and buying the land from UWE.
"If Bristol Rovers can't sell the Memorial Ground to Sainsbury's and can't find any other buyer then clearly they don't have the funding to be able to develop the stadium," he said.
"For UWE that would mean we then have however many acres of land to do something else with. It's as simple as that. Would I rather build a stadium than a faculty of business and law? Absolutely not. Our core business is education.
"We are clear. The sale of the old stadium pays for the new stadium and buys the land.
"We would be building the car park because we need the car park, which would happen to the serve the stadium when we are not using it."
Interesting comments fro UWE back in 2014