Shahid Khan hopes Wembley purchase will happen before Community Shield
Khan wants his Jacksonville Jaguars team to have more control over London
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Your support makes all the difference.Shahid Khan hopes to have purchased Wembley Stadium by the time of the Community Shield in August after making the Football Association an £800m offer.
The offer from the Fulham owner, who also owns NFL side Jacksonville Jaguars, is understood to be an initial £500m with the remaining £300m-valued Club Wembley hospitality business to be run by the FA.
The deal would mean there would be “more meaningful discussions” over a permanent NFL franchise in London, likely to mean the Jaguars will eventual move to the capital. Wembley has hosted NFL games since 2007.
"This offer makes a lot of sense for us," he told BBC Sport. "When I say us, I'm talking about the Jaguars, NFL, Wembley, and I think it also makes a lot of sense for the FA and the English football team.
"Until now, NFL doesn't have a stadium solution or have a home. And it can't work with a Premier League club, because of the schedule. It does work very well with Wembley, so I think it makes it closer.
"I'm pretty confident - that's why we're putting our name, our reputation on the line to get it done. I think they have to understand the value and the attraction for myself.
"We'll leave the tradition and the stadium itself. Even though this is a new stadium, it does need upgrades. It means a lot to me because the first English stadium I went to was Wembley, and obviously it's iconic and historic and it means a lot to me.
"Under this arrangement the FA retains the right, the revenue, and that is really the most positive part of Wembley for the FA. So they will be retaining it and obviously we want it to be there.”
Khan, who has a net worth of £5.2bn, is currently ranked as the 217th richest man in the world according to the 2018 Forbes rich list, and has owned Fulham since 2013.
He released a further statement on the club’s website on Thursday reassuring fans that the purchase of the stadium would have nothing to do with Fulham, saying: “No matter what the outcome of our offer may be, I want to emphatically state to you that none of this will have any effect on my commitment to your club.”
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