London Mayor Urges Tottenham Hotspur To Build in Haringey

There was a lot of information floating around yesterday about Tottenham Hotspur and the Northumberland Development project. Fortunately, for all of you, we're here to summarize everything and tell you what to think about it. Ok, maybe not the latter, but I heard that's what they do in the commentariate, isn't that right MennoDaddy?

Anyways, yesterday morning Tottenham issued this statement on the Club's website. In that statement Spurs' chairman Daniel Levy states that the club continues to pursue ways to make the Northumberland Development Project a viable option for Tottenham Hotspur. Levy goes on to say the following:

Given recent events, Tottenham needs our concerted efforts to reverse the decline of decades and create a community with hope and prospects of future prosperity. Both local and national government now recognise the important role our new stadium development can play in kick-starting this.The proposed stadium scheme and wider area development has the potential to lever hundreds of millions of pounds worth of much-needed regenerative development to Tottenham.

Now, one might be inclined to wonder what would compel Mr. Levy to issue such a statement given that there hasn't been much movement on the NDP since it was announced way back in 2007. By that I mean there's been small ancillary things happening. There was that whole Olympic Stadium thing and sure there's been planning permissions, but they still haven't broken ground or done anything really important.

So, why did the Club issue this statement? Could it be because London mayor, Boris Johnson, issued Spurs an ultimatum. The city of London is offering £17 million for Spurs to build in Haringey, but they also have to drop their court battle over the Olympic Stadium, something not many of us would be too broken up about.

The Haringey Council would kick in half of the £17 million. The other £8.5 million will come from the Greater London Authority. The £17 million total will be only a small portion of the planned £400 million needed for the new stadium project, which for you non-math majors out there is just a little more than 4%. Johnson went on to say:

The club knows there is no more money available from the public purse and I sincerely hope that they accept the offer we have made. It is not just in the best interests of Tottenham Hotspur and the fans of this great London club, but of the wider north London community.

I didn't really see an ultimatum in the article, but you know how the British press is. Personally, I'm excited that the city of London and the borough of Haringey are willing to partially subsidize Tottenham's new stadium. Granted we're not talking the kind of public subsidies that we normally see in American sports, but it's a start. I would say that most Spurs fans hope that the NDP goes through. Honestly, anything that keeps them in North London would be preferable to the Olympic Stadium option.