Sale Sharks set for groundshare with Salford City Reds

by HammerofThunor Tue 03 Apr 2012, 7:42 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17461665

Moving to a new stadium has got to be good. 12000 capacity that could be increased to 20000 with development. The new stadium would be slightly closer to Sale than Stockport.

To Sale fans, is this a good move?

Sale Sharks are poised to announce a deal that will see them groundshare with Super League side Salford City Reds from next season.
Sale will leave Edgeley Park in Stockport, where they currently play, for the new City of Salford Stadium in Barton, which has a capacity of 12,000.
The deal is expected to be announced at a news conference on Wednesday.
The Sharks moved to Edgeley Park in the summer of 2003 from their original home at Heywood Road.
The move saw a merger with Stockport County, who were then in the Football League but now play in the Blue Square Bet Premier, as owner Brian Kennedy took over both clubs.
Premiership stadium capacities
Bath (Recreation Ground) - 12,300
Exeter Chiefs (Sandy Park) - 10,744
Gloucester (Kingsholm) - 16,500
Harlequins (Stoop) - 14,816
Leicester Tigers (Welford Road) - 24,000
London Irish (Madejski) - 24,161
London Wasps (Adams Park) - 10,516
Newcastle Falcons (Kingston Park) - 10,200
Northampton Saints (Franklin's Gardens) - 13,600
Sale Sharks (Edgeley Park) - 10,852
Saracens (Vicarage Road) - 19,920
Worcester Warriors (Sixways) - 12,068
Kennedy later relinquished his interest in County, and although there have been rumours the football club may leave their home of 110 years, chairman Lord Snape said earlier this year they wanted to remain at the ground.
Both Sale and Salford have previously spoken about the possibility of the move, with Reds chairman John Wilkinson and Sale co-owner Kennedy wanting the groundshare to go ahead.
Salford moved into their new £26m home at the start of the new Super League season, although crowds have been lower than anticipated.
They are currently attracting attendances of about 6,000, around 2,000 down on the club's expectations at the start of the year.
Although the City of Salford Stadium was scaled down from initial plans, the capacity can be increased from 12,000 to 20,000 with further development.

by **LondonTiger** Tue 03 Apr 2012, 9:31 pm

I think it is a great move for the Sharks (and Reds).

Closer to Sale is not strictly relevant, especially as Diamond wants to drop the Sale name and appeal to the wider NW.

The new stadium is a purpose built rugby stadium.
It is the right sort of size and can expand.
Joint-ownership may have some problems - but much less than sharing with a footie club as there is much reduced overlap in seasons.

by DaveM Tue 03 Apr 2012, 11:47 pm

Possibly a good move, although I believe much harder to get to by public transport. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the crowds.

Still, another move forward in terms of quality of stadia for AP sides. With Sarries moving all that is really needed is for Wasps to move back to London and for Bath to rebuild.

by HQ matt Wed 04 Apr 2012, 10:16 am

sounds like a good move with a stadium that can matches the ambitions of the club.

by formerly known as Sam Wed 04 Apr 2012, 10:32 am

If they can make the ground accesible to the current fans and bring in some more local support then it has to be a good thing. The old ground is a mess and sharing with the football team was causing a lot of friction between fans and boards.

by beshocked Wed 04 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

DaveM you forgot London Irish. They need to move too.

In regards to this groundshare who is the dominant club?

I personally am not a big fan of groundshares but we'll see.

I think it's a really poor move by Sale if they lose the Sale from their name.

There's already the Sharks anyway - they are the South African side.

Losing Sale from the name in my opinion would completely wreck the brand identity as the name has been that way since 1861.

by Mr Tom Wed 04 Apr 2012, 10:51 am

It`s a good move yes as Edgeley Park is well a dump.

Only problem I can see is the new ground is in the middle of nowhere.

by formerly known as Sam Wed 04 Apr 2012, 11:13 am

I think it's a really poor move by Sale if they lose the Sale from their name

I don't think that has anything to do with the move, it's more of a poassible rebranding exercise to try and get more people from the local area to support the club.

DaveM you forgot London Irish. They need to move too

They do but it's not as urgent as the need of Sarries, Wasps and Sale. Sarries and Wasps are getting rubbish crowds and hence losing out on revenue because of their grounds they need to change that. LI can get decentish numbers in and don't have the finances to build elsewhere so are stuck but stuck in a half decent stadium (only issue is it's a football one). Sale needed to get out of a wreck of a ground where they were fighting for game day agreements with Stockport to a ground which will be theirs for 6 months of the year.

by Cumbrian Wed 04 Apr 2012, 12:15 pm

Regarding the ground share ownership stuff. I might be wrong, but I don't think either club will own the ground. They will both be leasing it from Salford City Council. I like the isea of the move in theory, but it has caused a lot of discord on the Sale unoffy site because of the access issues.

by DaveM Wed 04 Apr 2012, 3:14 pm

If Wasps move back to London I think LI should stay where they are. It's a decent ground and they'll have the entire Thames Valley as a catchment. The main problem is the stadium is so large that even decent crowds look small.

by **LondonTiger** Wed 04 Apr 2012, 3:46 pm

beshocked wrote:Losing Sale from the name in my opinion would completely wreck the brand identity as the name has been that way since 1861.

When the professional arm of the club moved from Sale, it was probably more damaging to any identity. Also the brief period when they called themselves Manchester Sale. Seeing as the amateur arm of the club still exists, in Sale and there is no plan to move it - the identity of the Club is safe. Steve Diamond has just proposed that the pro team which will be in Salford should represent the whole area not just "a leafy Cheshire village". Members are being asked to vote on the proposal.

by Kingshu Wed 04 Apr 2012, 4:28 pm

Can Sale just drop sale form the name?

As Sharks would already be a registered rugby brandname for the SA team.

If they wanted to drop the Sale part they would eith have to add something instead like Northeast Sharks, or drop both Sale and sharks.

The rugby acamady is called the Jets (after west side storey) could the professional just be called the Jets? how would this go down?

by **LondonTiger** Wed 04 Apr 2012, 4:40 pm

I doubt they are legally prevented from calling themselves the Sharks - but could be wrong.

by Kingshu Wed 04 Apr 2012, 4:46 pm

I think they are, when professionalism took hold Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht had to add rugby to the end of their names and change from the provinicial badges to the stylised badges they use today so they owned the symbols and brandnames for merchandising etc.

I'm sure the Sharks have done the same to their brandname, to stop counterfitting etc, don't think they would be happy if an English club tried to compete with their branding.

Mind you I'm not an expert, could be wrong.

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