Aviva Premiership
Saracens rule out permanent Wembley move
ESPNscrum Staff
October 16, 2010
Premiership rugby at Wembley Stadium, Saracens v Northampton Saints, Guinness Premiership, Wembley Stadium, England, September 12, 2009
Saracens will not move to Wembley stadium on a permanent basis © Getty Images
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Teams: Saracens

Saracens have ruled out the possibility of moving to Wembley or the new Olympic stadium as they continue to considering their future stadium arrangements.

The Watford-based club must decide whether to stay at their current home Vicarage Road beyond this season after Watford activated the break clause in the two club's agreement, which was due to run until 2017, in May. Saracens currently pay Watford £489,000 a year to use the stadium but Watford want to charge more.

Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths says the club is considering its options but ruled out a move to the new Olympic stadium and Wembley, where they play Leinster in the Heineken Cup on Saturday.

Griffiths told BBC Three Counties: "Wembley is owned by the Football Association so I don't think we'd ever play every match at Wembley. The Olympic Stadium's not suitable as a 25,000-seater stadium in a team sport.

"There's a permanent athletics track which means you're quite far from the action. We're looking for a stadium that's smaller to be our home stadium, where we can develop some kind of scarcity.

However Griffiths remains keen to use the Wembley stadium for big occasions. "We'd certainly like a situation where we play two, three or four games a year at Wembley," he said. "We enjoy the stadium, the stadium enjoys us. Our next objective is to break into the upper tier and start getting crowds of 60 to 70,000."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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