‘Birmingham would love to have us’ – RFU chief hints at new home for England rugby

Birmingham has been touted as a potential home for England’s rugby team if the national governing chooses to leave Twickenham.

Rugby Football Union (RFU) chief executive Billy Sweeney has hinted a move from English rugby’s long-standing headquarters could be a possibility because of licensing restrictions preventing more events being held at the stadium.

Although the RFU committed to plans for a £660m redevelopment of Twickenham, it needs to raise revenue by hosting more concerts and non-rugby events.

However, the London venue is only permitted to host three non-rugby events a year and only two on consecutive nights with a limited capacity of 55,000.

Sweeney claims Twickenham – now known as the Allianz Stadium - missed out on staging Beyonce concerts last summer.

By contrast, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium can host 30 non-football events per year and Wembley 32.

Sweeney told the Business of Sport podcast: “There are plenty of places that would like to have us. Birmingham and Milton Keynes would love to have us there.

“Part of the renovation from 2027 means we are in discussions with Richmond borough council to stage more non-rugby events. For us it is three and we are only allowed one on a Friday.

“We have had the Rolling Stones. We could have had Beyonce but she wanted three nights and we are only allowed two nights consecutively.

“We are saying that if we are going to invest £600million into the Allianz — and we have a study which shows how much economic value it contributes to the borough — you are going to have to work with us in terms of an increase in the number of events we can stage in order to monetise the stadium.

“It would be a tough call for us. It would be very difficult. I don’t know how we would justify the investment in the stadium if we can’t get the increase in the event licences.”