Birmingham Brummies: Talks begun over possible Alexander Stadium move

The Alexander Stadium was originally built in the mid-1970s

Birmingham Brummies co-owner Nigel Tolley wants to move the team to the "under-used" Alexander Stadium.

The Brummies will return to speedway's Premiership later this week and will stage home meetings at Perry Barr.

But the track is only available for the next two years prior to redevelopment.

The Alexander Stadium - which is only 1.3 miles from Perry Barr - was opened for athletics in 1976 and was used as a venue for the Commonwealth Games, which Birmingham hosted two years ago.

Tolley, who has been speaking to West Midlands Mayor Andy Street about the Alexander Stadium proposal, told BBC WM Sport: "He is all for it.

"We've looked into it and it's perfectly possible. We would then have the best stadium in the country. I should love to see the British Grand Prix being held in Birmingham rather than Cardiff.

"He didn't realise that, with the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, the track is put in there the week before the Grand Prix and then removed afterwards.

"At the moment, it's terrifically underused and that would help out all round."

• Listen to full Nigel Tolley interview by BBC WM's Mike Taylor

Birmingham and Oxford Spires - formerly the Cheetahs - have replaced Wolverhampton Wolves and Peterborough Panthers in this year's top flight.

The Brummies, who are away to Oxford on Thursday, will take on Sheffield Tigers in their first home meeting of the season on 25 March.

But Tolley warned that, because of a pending rent increase for Perry Barr, unless sizeable crowds attend meetings this season, the team may not race in 2025.

"We're looking to the long term. One thing that is for certain is that we are not going to be at Perry Barr in three years' time," he said.

"The greyhounds will probably be moving out at the end of the season and I've been in negotiations with the main leaseholder who will be developing the site, Corbally, and we can have this stadium for the next couple of years.

"But the rent we'll be paying will basically be treble what we're paying at the moment so, if we don't get people in through the gates this year in sufficient numbers, we will not be here racing next year."

One team who will be playing at the Alexander Stadium are the formerly Coventry-based Midlands Hurricanes rugby league team.

They have announced that, from this Sunday, they will be playing games inside the main Alexander Stadium, having for the last two years played at the stadium's warm-up track.

Birmingham Brummies, founded in 1928, last year finished seventh in the second-tier Championship.

Brummies will be without Polish rider Piotr Pawlicki for the first part of the new season because of a leg muscle injury.