Tottenham could play Champions League matches at Wembley next season

Regardless of the Premier League title race, Tottenham Hotspur are almost certainly going to be playing in the Champions League next season. However, they may not be playing their home matches at White Hart Lane. According to the Mirror (reporting on a story in the Times that's behind a paywall), Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is in the process of negotiating a deal with the FA to play Champions League home matches at Wembley Stadium, instead of their normal home.

This is a different deal than the one also in negotiations that could see Spurs play all home matches at Wembley during the 2017-18 season, and it comes on the heels of a report yesterday that Spurs were considering demolishing part of the North Stand by Paxton Road to get a jump start on construction of their new stadium.

At full capacity, White Hart Lane only seats 36,000 fans. Should the Paxton Road demolition project go through, that would reduce capacity even further (8,000 seats, according to the Times) and making it even more difficult for Spurs fans to attend coveted Champions League matches. Moving the Champions League games to Wembley, even if they only use the lower and middle tiers, would mean nearly 51k Spurs and opposition fans could watch Spurs play in Europe's biggest club competition. That's a sizable increase.

Fans who remember the Champions League campaign of 2010-11 remember the incredible atmosphere at White Hart Lane during those "glory, glory nights," and there's no question that something will be lost if Spurs play their matches in the national stadium. It's also important to note that the club is still "in talks" about this arrangement and nothing has been finalized. However, this could make a lot of sense, especially if the long-term end result is a new stadium completed on time and a Champions League campaign that has more room for Spurs fans to attend.