Fans Limit Expectations for Wembley

This week's announcement that England's Wembley Stadium will not be hosting the 2006 FA Cup final has come as no surprise to the majority of football fans. Research by Sports Marketing Surveys reveals that 82% of fans did not expect the stadium to be ready.

Despite its status in some minds as the 'spiritual home' of the game worldwide, only around 44% of fans believe that Wembley will be the best football stadium in the world on its completion, and almost half say they are not convinced that the total construction cost of £757m represents good value for money. A healthy 45% of fans believe that Cardiff's Millennium Stadium is an equally good venue to host the FA Cup final.

Construction company Multiplex are held responsible for the delays by 63%, with far fewer blaming the Football Association.

UK-based Sports Marketing Surveys compiled the study with the help of Sporting Insights, its online research panel of sports fans and participants from 80 countries, which provides fast feedback on client specific topics and tracks trends and patterns within the sports industry.

The agency, established in 1984, is online at sportsmarketingsurveys.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.