Dundee could be in new stadium by 2025, says managing director John Nelms
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Dundee owner and managing director John Nelms wants the club to be playing in their new Camperdown stadium as early as 2025.
The American also admitted the club's proposed new 12,500-seater stadium, which will replace Dens Park, will cost £10m more than originally thought.
Dundee released a new concept image for the Camperdown Stadium Development project last week, with Nelms adding he wanted construction to begin in the late summer of 2024.
However, Nelms admitted the timeline is "extremely tight" and might not happen.
Speaking to BBC Scotland ahead of Dundee's 1-0 loss to Celtic, Nelms said: " We're moving as fast as we can. I've always given a number which is unbelievably tight, which is the summer of 2025.
"You're looking at some time after that, but I'll continue to push for summer 2025 for us to be kicking the ball in anger.
"I'd like the works to start in 2024 - probably late summer, early fall is when we'd like to get going."
The campus, around 10 minutes away from the current stadium, would include a safe standing area in the home end and state-of-the-art LED screens, with plans to also use the venue as a music venue.
"It's going to cost a lot, I can't tell you exactly how much. We're in the planning stages. It's about £10m more than when we started. With the investment we have, the equity and the facilities afforded to us, we think we can make it work.
"We're definitely going to make it happen. We've spent a lot of money and effort so far. It's something we envisioned in 2016 and, with Covid and a downturn in the economy, there's been a lot of hurdles in our way. It's something we think we really need."
Dundee released the new concept image of the Camperdown Stadium Development project last week
Dens Park has been the home of Dundee since 1899 and has become increasingly expensive to keep running, with recent estimations suggesting it is costing the club £250,000 a season.
"This old girl has done us a turn, she's been around for over 100 years," Nelms said. "It's hard now to give a 21st century entertainment product in this building. It's unfortunate, but it's the natural evolution of what happens.
"We're saying 'here's what coming'. We have an enormous amount of planning to do but we feel confident we'll get it done."
Nelms thinks the new site is ideal for access.
"It's a mile-and-a-half as the crow flies, right on the Kingsway, good ingress, good egress, you don't have to bring all the buses into a neighbourhood," he added. "The land lends itself to a development like that."
The planned campus won't just host the new stadium either, with Nelms revealing the entire club will be moving down the road.
"We're looking at two different sites for training facilities. The whole club will be based at the training facility and the stadium will be transient on matchdays.
"As things have gone on, we've added other elements to the project to feed the stadium itself. Housing, hotels, other elements that will feed that animal.
"I've been working on it a long time. We've got a good team around us, development partners, contractors. Our guy, the last building he built was the Last Vegas Raiders stadium. It's a little smaller budget, but we're confident based on that."