BRITAIN: The long-running saga over Wembley stadium in London, traditional home of the FA Cup Final, Britain's most glamorous annual soccer event, went into extra time last night as an announcement on a new stadium was postponed until today.
A mountain of paperwork was blamed for yet another delay in officially firing the starting pistol for the 90,000-seat football and athletics venue. Soccer chiefs, lawyers and bankers spent yesterday studying a complex network of interlocking contracts which have to be finalised before any announcement is made.
It means confirmation of the £750 million sterling (€1.2 billion) redevelopment was put off overnight and was expected today, though one source close to the deal said: "With Wembley, you can never be sure."
The redevelopment cost is on a par with the cost of building and running the ill-fated Millennium Dome and a world record for a national stadium.
The famous Wembley twin towers will be replaced by a "triumphant arch" in the design, which is a joint venture between the company owned by Lord Foster and international architecture firm HOK Sport.
The stadium will also be able to stage athletics by installing a removable platform.
The £750 million cost is understood to include £352 million to build the stadium, £120 million to buy land, £50 million for improving infrastructure, £23 million for demolition, £40 million for development costs and £80 million in financing costs.
The cost of building the government's proposed Abbotstown stadium was estimated, by the development company Campus Stadium Ireland, at €280 million, though others put the figure higher.
The deal will see German bank WestLB make a loan of £426 million towards the project. About £170 million has come from public money, comprising £120 million from the Sport England National Fund and £50 million from the Government and London Development Agency.
Mr Paul Newman, a spokesman for the Football Association, said outside the FA's London headquarters: "There have been no developments today. All the parties are continuing to carry out the necessary work to complete the detailed documentation."
A source close to the work said: "There are literally hundreds of documents that have to be worked through. It is just taking longer than thought."
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was attending the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, said he was "delighted" at the imminent announcement of the stadium.
"It would have been a devastating blow for the whole area of north London if it didn't go ahead," he said, but added: "There were too many people involved, too many ministers coming and going."
Mr Andy Howell, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "On one hand, Wembley needs to move on, but on the other we have got the most expensive stadium in the world."
It has been pointed out that the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff, Wales, where FA Cup Finals have been held since Wembley closed in October 2000, cost only £190 million to build.
Once the Wembley deal is announced, bulldozers are expected to move in almost immediately to demolish the existing stadium, with the new one expected to be ready in early 2006. - (PA)