about moving to the Twickenham stadium for a
season while Stamford Bridge is redeveloped.
The Rugby Football Union have confirmed they
have already held initial talks with Chelsea but
stressed they are at a very early stage.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the RFU said: "We
are regularly contacted by a variety of organisations,
within and outside sport, on a wide range of
opportunities concerning the use of what we believe
is a world-class stadium.
"We have had an inquiry from Chelsea FC but have
not had any discussions of any substance.
"While we don't comment on any specific
confidential conversations, each request is taken on
its merit, assessing a variety of factors, such as the
effect on the pitch, availability, transport and local
considerations and other important implications."
Chelsea seem to have abandoned their long-held
dream of building a new stadium on a new site in
London in favour of redeveloping their Stamford
Bridge complex.
Development
Earlier this year Roman Abramovich's club
announced plans to redevelop the Bridge and a
study commissioned by the Russian billionaire is
looking at ways to bump its capacity up from 41,623
to 60,000.
That capacity would help them meet UEFA's
financial fairplay regulations. The club is looking at
different options, including acquiring land
neighbouring the existing Stamford Bridge stadium.
A Chelsea spokesman told the Sunday Times:
"We're investigating different scenarios as part of
the consultation process we started earlier this year,
but have had no discussions of substance so far."
The 82,000-seat Twickenham stadium, home to
England's rugby union team, has never hosted
football matches but rugby league has been played
there, as have rock concerts.
If Chelsea were to play there for a season, it could
not be before 2016-17 because Twickenham, in
south-west London, will be hosting the Rugby
World Cup in September and October next year.
The Football Association at one point had hoped to
include Twickenham in its bid to host the 2018
Football World Cup but the RFU opted not to get
involved.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.