Swansea City: Liberty Stadium expansion will be 'careful' says Chris Pearlman

Swansea City appointed Chris Pearlman as chief operating officer in October 2016

Swansea City will be "careful" in their expansion of the Liberty Stadium, chief operating officer Chris Pearlman says.

The Swans took control of the ground from Swansea council last week, which means they can sell naming rights and grow the 21,000 capacity in "phases".

Pearlman says they will not asset-strip the stadium, adding that the lease will benefit the club, council and Ospreys, who also play at the Liberty.

"It's access to new revenue streams," said Pearlman.

"With the second smallest stadium in the Premier League, our matchday revenues are half or even one third of West Ham's.

"They sell three times as many tickets as we do. We're talking about tens of millions of pounds each year. We're not going to go for 45,000 extra seats but if we can add another 5,000-10,000, that's real money.

"And that money has a big impact on the club. The more money we can generate, the more money we can reinvest in the playing side.

"Part of that is going to be from naming rights, but we are also looking at a phased approach.

"If the research says we could look at add 10,000 seats, we are not going to do that on the first go around, we might add 3,000 to 4,000 initially and then another similar amount.

"We are not that far along in the process but we will be cautious and careful in how we approach it, but we want to explore it and there should be a lot more detail over the next two or three months once we have the consultant reports which will give us a clearer picture."

Swansea council built the £27m Liberty Stadium with Swansea City and rugby side Ospreys paying a nominal rent to play there since 2005.

However, after an agreement before Christmas, operational control has been handed over to the Swans.

Steve Kaplan (left) and Jason Levien bought a controlling stake of 68% in Swansea City in July 2016

When Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien led an American consortium's takeover of the club in 2016, they highlighted expanding the Liberty Stadium as one of their priorities.

Pearlman believes Kaplan and Levien's business experience and Swansea's decision to lease rather than buy the stadium will benefit plans for expansion.

"It was a better deal for the club, it gives us the opportunity to look forward at a possible expansion, which is great," he added.

"We view the expansion in the same way as anything else the club has done. We will only do it in a way where we know we can afford it in terms of the revenue we anticipate we will receive based upon the added seats and hospitality.

"Their [Kaplan and Levien's] involvement makes financing an expansion a little more seamless and can be done with more comfort and greater expertise."

Wary of relegation

Swansea's revival under new manager Carlos Carvalhal has seen them climb up to 16th place in the Premier League table, a point clear of the bottom three.

This the third successive season the Swans have been embroiled in a battle to avoid relegation, and Pearlman admits dropping down to the Championship could mean delaying plans to expand the Liberty Stadium.

"It's a tough one, honestly. I would say we would not look to do it right away, but I am not positive that is the case," he said.

"It's difficult because revenues from TV go down considerably, if stadium revenue becomes more important and a greater proportion of your overall income then having a bigger stadium with more seats in could help as it does for the likes of Aston Villa and Leeds in the Championship.

"For us, we want to be in a position where we make the most of any revenues regardless of the league we are in but it becomes even more important if we are not in the Premier League.

"It's a tricky one, you could quite rightly ask how many seats we would sell for many of our Championship games? Would we sell it out at 20,000, or 25,000 or 30,000?

"The answer is probably not so we would have to be very cautious with that equation."

'Ospreys delighted'

The Liberty Stadium is usually less than half full for matches involving rugby team Ospreys

Under the terms of the deal which sees Swansea City take control of the Liberty Stadium, Ospreys will continue to play at the venue.

The rugby side welcomed the deal, saying it provides "clarity and certainty on both future income and expenditure".

"I think it's a very fair deal for the Ospreys," said Pearlman.

"They have a long-term licence to play at the Liberty and they are paying a fee for that licence.

"They also have responsibility for their own match day costs.

"This honestly is a very fair deal, a very good deal for everybody. A good deal for the football club, it's a really good deal for the council and it's a good deal for the Ospreys."

'Supporters' Trust kept abreast of details'

Uniquely in the Premier League, Swansea City's board of directors includes a fans' representative.

The Swansea City Supporters' Trust owns a 21.1% share in the club and Pearlman says its members were "supportive" about the Liberty Stadium lease.

Although the Trusy was not directly involved in negotiations, it is satisfied it was informed about the deal's details.

"The Trust has been kept abreast of the main elements of the deal although much of that detail has to remain confidential," the Trust said in a statement. "It has not been directly involved in the negotiations.

"They reflect the main elements of the deal as we understand it but we are undertaking a more detailed legal examination to ensure there are no areas of concern to us.

"A successful football club is very much key to making this lease acquisition a positive move and our expectation is that that the increased revenue from commercial operations will be invested for the ongoing development of Swansea City FC."

'No contact from MP'

Before the deal for the stadium was finalised, Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi wrote a letter to Swansea council leader Rob Stewart after speaking to members of the recently-formed Swansea City Supporters' Alliance group.

On 1 February, Ms Antoniazzi wrote: "There is concern that the financially motivated actions of the new owners of Swansea City Football Club may not be in the best interests of the supporters of Swansea City, and by extension residents of the city.

"It is the view of the Swansea City Supporters' Alliance that Swansea Council should be cautious engaging with the current owners until it is established that it is not their intention to strip and sell the assets for the benefit of the consortium of 27 venture capitalists that now own the majority of the club's shares."

However, Swansea City said their owners have no intention of doing so and reiterated the deal is beneficial to the club, the Ospreys and the council.

Asked if Ms Antoniazzi had been in touch with the club, Pearlman said: "I have not heard anything on that."

On the subject of concerns the club could "sell the assets", the American added: "There are no plans to do that."