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Tottenham Hotspur are up for sale, according to the Mirror. But any sale will not come cheap. Owner Joe Lewis has placed a £1 billion price tag on the club.
It is no surprise that Lewis may be looking to sell. He is 77 years old and was not in the football business because he loved the sport so much and wanted to see Tottenham rise to greatness. It was always an investment for Lewis, and it's been a magnificent investment for him. The Englishman bought the club for £22 million in 2001 andhe very well could make a £900 million profit on Tottenham.
The report indicates that Lewis has been open to a sale for years, but it has been at that £1 billion price tag. The Premier League's new TV deal makes that number more realistic and it wouldn't be a surprise if eventually someone stumped up the money to buy the team at that figure. To this point, nobody has.
It will be tough for Lewis to sell the team for £1 billion right now. Spurs are on the outside looking in when it comes to the Champions League, meaning they don't have that income, nor is it likely that they will anytime soon. Tottenham don't have the money to compete with the Premier League's top five -- look at their wage bills for proof -- but their new stadium could change that.
And that new stadium could hold the key to any change in Spurs' ownership. If Tottenham actually get the go-ahead on the new stadium and the construction is underway, any prospective new owner will be buying into a club that has much greater potential, and that potential will be real instead of possible. It changes the club's future revenue streams, financial growth and ability to compete in the league, as well as Europe.
Of course, this is assuming the Mirror's report is true. There is no indication that it is, but then again, there is no indication that it isn't. Regardless, odds are that Spurs will be up for sale in the near future, if not now. It makes sense that Lewis would look to sell, and a £1 billion price tag makes sense for an owner that has a club that could take off, but doesn't have any reason to sell immediately.