Chelsea consider season-long move to Wembley Stadium

Chelsea are considering the possibility of playing a season at Wembley Stadium should they decide to rebuild Stamford Bridge.

The Blues revealed in June that they had begun looking into the feasibility of redeveloping the ground into a 60,000 all-seater.

The RFU confirmed yesterday that they had been approached by the club over potential plans to play their games there for a campaign in future while building work took place.

It is expected that such a move would face fierce opposition from local residents, while the RFU have ruled out the venue being used for football in the past.

The lack of alternatives in the capital means that Wembley is one of the few alternatives and is a possible option.

The Football Association are still having to pay off the sizeable bill from redeveloping the ground and may encourage another revenue stream.

Tottenham are also believed to be looking at the national stadium for when White Hart Lane is rebuilt.

Chelsea currently have one of the smallest stadiums out of leading teams in Europe and are aware they need to play somewhere bigger to attract more fans and bring in more money to compete.

Stamford Bridge currently holds just over 42,000, which is only the eighth biggest in England. But they will fall behind Spurs once White Hart lane is finished and West Ham, who will move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016.

At present, Wembley Stadium is limited by Brent Council to 37 events each year because of issues including noise, policing and parking.

Chelsea would need this to change however which might require a public consultation in order to accomodate 19 home games in the Premier League and would also need it for the FA Cup, Capital One Cup and the Champions League.

The stadium has already held 34 events this year, including England internationals, the FA Cup final, play-off finals, the Capital One Cup final, others sporting events and concerts.