Arsenal Ladies have agreed on a deal with Boreham Wood that will see them play their home games at Meadow Lane until 2027.
As part of the agreement, Arsenal, with backing from the Premier League, have contributed funds to help with the refurbishment of the stadium.
Speaking about the arrangement club secretary David Miles stated: “We’re delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with Boreham Wood and are pleased to be able to contribute to these improvements.
“The facilities at Meadow Park have always been good, and with the major refurbishment of the facility now taking place, they will soon be even better.”
Boreham Wood chairman Danny Hunter told his club’s website: “This long-term partnership and a grant from the Premier League, through the FSIF (Football Stadia Improvement Fund), have helped us to undertake an incredible range of Premier League-type ground improvements.”
Tim Stillman, our resident expert on all things Arsenal Ladies, also reports that the decision to sign a long-term deal with Boreham Wood wasn’t the club’s first choice.
“Arsenal had seriously explored the option of opening their own bespoke stadium for the Ladies and the Youth teams in Hertfordshire, similar to the Academy Stadium that Manchester City boast for their women’s and junior teams,” he said.
“Ivan Gazidis even mentioned the plans in the 2015 AGM. However, these plans seem to be on hold at least for the time being.
“Arsenal will invest in an upgrade in facilities at Meadow Park, having already contributed to the cost of a new Desso pitch at Boreham Wood and will also pay for a new dugout. Other upgrades are likely to surface more gradually over the course of the agreement.”
What’s going on? A year or two ago Arsenal announced that they were going to finance a purpose built new stadium for Arsenal Ladies.
Genuine question, what’s wrong with using the emirates? Too big? Staffing costs?
Quite a few things. Pitch, too big and the girls don’t really like playing in a cavernous empty stadium, also there are often fixture clashes between the men’s and women’s teams.
They were, they had a site too. It’s fallen through but not sure why.
Actually, this is the first thing the Club has done in ages that makes sense,
It’s the least the club can do after their result in the NLD. I’m disappointed not to have read about their 10-0 win on Arseblog.
Have to say I’m a tad disappointed by this. I think I’ve commented before about Meadow Park not being the easiest place to get to for Arsenal’s huge inner city fanbase, and I think the club are really limiting their potential growth by staying in Borehamwood.
The women’s game is in a crucial period of growth with increased coverage and the shift back to a winter season it really needs to be capturing the more casual and younger supporters. I fear that won’t happen in our current stadium.