PSV has once again taken a major step towards realising its long-cherished ambition to significantly expand the Philips Stadium to a capacity of 55,000 spectators. The Mayor and Aldermen of Eindhoven approved a new zoning plan this week and are now putting the matter before the city council. Several key agreements were unveiled this week, including a deal running until 2077 (!). Councillor Stijn Steenbakkers of Eindhoven City Council said this week that the new zoning plan did not necessarily need to go before the city council. “But because it is such a politically sensitive and major issue, we decided to do so anyway,” he explained. In mid-December, the city council will also vote on a second PSV-related proposal, which involves long-term financial agreements between the city and the reigning national champions regarding the Philips Stadium. One particularly notable proposed arrangement in that package of agreements is that PSV will be granted a long-term lease on the land beneath the stadium and De Herdgang until as late as 2077. Fifteen years ago, an agreement was concluded between PSV and the council running until 2051, and the plan is to extend this by 26 years in a few months’ time. The ground rent payment is fixed until the expiry date in 2077 and amounts to a total of 2,655,000 euros per year, some 200,000 euros more than at present. “That figure was determined by the valuations to be in line with market rates,” said PSV’s managing director Marcel Brands, who pointed out that this does not yet mean the renovation of the Philips Stadium is 100 per cent certain. “The financing still needs to be fully secured. In addition, we are putting the finishing touches to the designs and, consequently, the exact costs we intend to incur.” PSV has previously stated that the cost of the entire operation amounts to around 400 million euros. PSV intends to finance roughly half of this sum from its own resources and through partners. The other half must be raised externally: around 200 million euros, therefore. “We are still in discussions with several parties on this matter,” said Brands. “We are trying to finance the situation in such a way that it does not come at the expense of football. That is, and always will be, our core business. Above all, we want to be a successful football club that wins trophies.” PSV’s plan is still to give the final go-ahead for the massive refurbishment of the Philips Stadium towards the end of this year. If the city council gives its approval on 15 December, PSV has finalised the funding and all the details for the design of the new Philips Stadium have been finalised, construction can begin from mid-May 2027.   submitted by   /u/Roller95 [link]   [comments]