The Tees Valley mayor, Ben Houchen, has made suggestions for the location of a future arena in the region. He listed Teesside Park and Middlehaven as good locations, following the lights going out on a £70m proposal for a 5000 seater in Redcar.
In September, it was reported that the ambitious plans for a new arena on the site of the former Coatham/Redcar Bowl had ended in failure. Redcar & Cleveland Council had previously granted Coatham Arena Limited, formed by a group of local businessmen, a six-month extension to take up a 125-year long lease on the land – but it recently emerged that the option expired in September.
Following the news, Mayor Houchen was asked for his thoughts during his monthly appearance on BBC Radio Tees. He said: “I think we do need an arena”, later describing the situation in Coatham as “disappointing”. He highlighted how Middlesbrough already has the capacity to host “big” events, such as The Killers and Take That. Darlington Arena, meanwhile, has hosted Olly Murs and Tom Jones.
Mayor Houchen said he didn’t think that the area necessarily needed to accommodate the “giant” stuff with arena and stadium capacity already in the Tees Valley, adding: “There is space for 5-10,000 seater – when we say arena, I actually don’t want to replicate what they’ve got in Newcastle… there are different things we can do.
“There have been some exploratory ideas, but the cost of them are extortionate, they’re hundreds of millions of pounds these things, and they always overrun. And then the question is what differentiates us from another area, because even if you built it – let’s say we had one today, a lot of the promoters that put on a lot of these events already have set agreements in place with other areas around the country.”
He highlighted other arenas in Newcastle and Leeds, which would leave promoters asking what the unique selling point in Teesside is, as people are already prepared to travel to other places. “There’s a commercial angle to it”, Mayor Houchen highlighted.
The mayor said plans were at the “early stages”, and “years and years” away from materialising. He emphasised that any potential arena would need to stack up financially.
When pressed whether Redcar was the right location or if somewhere more central would be preferable, the mayor said it would be for the investor to decide, but mentioned Teesside Park’s potential, on the proviso that the road infrastructure would be improved.
The mayor went on to say: “The other place that I think is crying out for an arena is Middlehaven, to create a cluster next to the football club, there’s some development going on at the other end.
“We’ve got the redevelopment of the train station – having an arena on Middlehaven would feel nice to me.”
