Council agrees Swansea.com Stadium sale to Swans

Swansea Council have agreed to sell Swansea.com Stadium to Swansea City, with the football club saying it will safeguard their future.

The Championship side have been in discussions with the council over the proposed purchase of the venue, their home since its opening in 2005.

The local authority built the £27m stadium, with the Swans taking operational control of the ground in 2018.

Council leader Rob Stewart said the sale price would be in excess of a "fair open-market value".

A report put before cabinet said: "Following lengthy negotiations, terms and conditions have been tentatively agreed which generate a large purchase price, plus additional contingent fees in the event of promotion, as well as retained ticket and hospitality benefits."

The Swans say the purchase of the stadium will create opportunities to increase income and attract investment.

Labour councillor Stewart said the owners of Swansea City - whose investors in the American-owned club include Real Madrid and Croatia star Luka Modric and hip-hop musician and businessman Snoop Dogg - wanted to get the club back into the Premier League and invest in the stadium and create a better fan experience.

"It's very difficult for them (the football club) to do that if they're not in control of the asset," Stewart said.

Originally known as the Liberty Stadium after construction, the venue initially provided a modern ground for both the city's football club and the Ospreys rugby union team.

Its opening in 2005 and coincided with a hugely successful period for Swansea City, culminating in a seven-year stint in the Premier League between 2011 and 2018.

Stewart said taxpayers did not receive any rent from the stadium until the lease arrangements were changed in 2018, when the Swans became the lead tenant and Ospreys the sub-tenant.

He said the council did not normally like to give up its assets, but felt on balance it was the right thing to do on this occasion, adding the authority would retain planning control for things like new developments in the area around the stadium.

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Earlier in the meeting, opposition leader Chris Holley wanted to know how the proposed sale would actually benefit the Swans, particularly on the field of play, and wondered if the club might at some point use the stadium as an asset to borrow against.

"This is a substantial asset belonging to the council and the people of Swansea and I think we need an explanation," he said.

Stewart said ownership could give investors more confidence to invest in the Swans but he said he was not an expert on how football clubs were run.

Speaking in the days before the council agreed the stadium sale, Swansea City chief executive Tom Gorringe said: "This is a highly significant moment for Swansea City as, after over two decades playing at the Swansea.com Stadium, we move towards taking outright ownership of the ground.

"Owning the Swansea.com Stadium is of major strategic benefit to the football club, and we look forward to completing the purchase in due course."

Swansea have been the sole occupants of the Swansea.com Stadium since Ospreys relocated in 2025, playing temporarily in Bridgend while development of the sports ground at St Helen's in the south of Swansea took place.

The football club took over the running of the Swansea.com Stadium eight years ago, in a move they said put the club "firmly in control of its own destiny".

But Swansea have said "it makes sense operationally and financially" to buy the stadium and "hold the asset in its own right".

"This is a move that will safeguard the future of the club, and we want to thank the representatives of the council for their assistance and professionalism in helping us reach this point," the Swans said in a previous statement.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service contributed to this story.