Wasps/Worcester

And just where are they getting the money for all this?

Apparently the hotel will contribute £7m

According to Knight Frank outside London you need on average a 165 room hotel to generate £7m in revenue. That is taking their average Total Revenue per room from their 2022 report and doing some arithmetic.

That is roughly the same size as the hotel at Twickenham.

To get a Gross Profit of £7m, you are looking at a 480 room hotel.

And we are still only talking gross profit.

Event spaces are there as a way to sell hotel rooms - they generally do not contribute much to total revenue.

Didn't it?

What an absolute bunch of fantasists. The only thing that they have going for them is that they are unlikely to ever get relegated from the Championship, no matter how bad (just look at London Scottish a.k.a. Harlequins 2nds).

I don't think this plan is good enough for The Apprentice, let alone Dragon's Den! That said, it may be good enough for the RFU Council. 

Talking to some one earlier they mentioned the Kassam Stadium potentially would become available if Oxford United manage to secure an alternative ground. 

Food for thought and a lot quicker and cheaper than building from scratch plus the potential to build on the empty space behind one goal.

Will they have to prove 

1/ They have at least 30 players registered, without being either DR,loan or England academy registered

2/ They have paid all " rugby debts in full" before they can pay a penny to new squad

3/ They have use of ground for at least 2 seasons 

4/ The have at least £400k in cash in the bank on 1st August to cover costs for upcoming season.

As well as another 200 hoops that had to be jumped through and given 6 weeks notice to comply!

Or does that only happen if your sponsor leaves the RFU hanging for £2m because they did not do their due diligence on the company they had on the front of their international shirts and needed a scapegoat, before they brushed the loss under the carpet!

Because there are a couple of lawyers looking very closely at the outcome of this, under the unfair treatment of one member club and favouring another! 

A former Oxfordshire resident writes...

Not quite - it was going to be Stratfield Brake but both OUFC and the County Council had overlooked the fact that some of the land was on very long term lease to (from memory) Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council - who, not wanting a stadium on Stratfield Brake, said they wouldn't be surrendering it. The City Council had been very keen on the deal - any suggestion that that was because it wasn't within their boundaries is pure mischief making...

So... planning is now focused on Frieze Way, which has the added bonus (from OUFC's pov) of not needing any of the enabling provision of new facilities to existing sports clubs. 

That being said, it's further complicated by OUFC wanting it, Oxfordshire County Council wanting it, Oxford City Council wanting it, but the land sitting in Cherwell District Council (as planning authority). It's also in the Green Belt, at a particularly narrow point, and would essentially join up Oxford and Kidlington. This is going to get very messy, and probably eventually have to be decided by the Secretary of State. Brighton all over again. 

Meanwhile, over at the Kassam Stadium, the owner is unlikely to want to sell to another sports team, given the scale of Oxford's unmet housing need, the gridlock from the surrounding council's no longer willing to take Oxford's need while Oxford refuses to develop brownfield land, and the money that he can make putting houses on what is an enormous site. A sports team coming in and wanting a stadium when Oxford is struggling to provide one for the professional sports team it's got* - so two stadiums - is unlikely to get a look in. 

Potentially they could go in with OUFC, but OUFC have got billionaire owners, so why they would need to do that, when they have no financial need and they're already not going to have as much land to develop for other things at Friee Way as they would at Stratfield Brake, is another question.

*long story short, it took years to move Oxford Utd from the Manor Ground to what became the Kassam, then their saviour sold the club but kept the stadium, and their lease runs out in a couple of years. Hence OUFC's desperation to find anywhere they can build a third stadium in 30 years, while most of the city, not being big football fans, either don't care, don't want it on their doorstep, or don't understand what's wrong with the one they've got....

Oxford is probably not an easier nut to crack.