Lance Bradley: Ospreys boss says Welsh rugby wants four sides

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Ospreys are planning for a long-term future having this week confirmed their new stadium will be based at St Helen’s in Swansea or the Brewery Field in Bridgend.

They aim to move from the Swansea.com Stadium in time for the start of the 2025-26 campaign.

Bradley says a final decision will have to be made “reasonably quickly” and will be taken by the Ospreys board, with the chief executive compiling a list of pros and cons of both options and making a recommendation.

“They are both interesting sites,” said Bradley.

“The Brewery Field has existing facilities which need doing up, while St Helen’s has a terrace and a stand but we would need to move the pitch so it was parallel with the terrace, then move the stand and install new ones.

“So you are kind of installing a new stadium. The costs of St Helen’s are a bit higher than Bridgend but the non match-day opportunities are probably greater there.”

Bradley says neither option would involve public funding with a loan or investment required for the move.

“One of the options we have been looking at is investment,” said Bradley.

“But it’s also a function where we can borrow money to put the stadium in and over what period of time we have to pay that back. So we are looking at every option.”

Bradley insisted fans’ views would be taken into major consideration while he was also talking with players, coaches and staff.

Ospreys have held two matches in Bridgend this season, a United Rugby Championship (URC) win against Cardiff on 1 January and the Challenge Cup victory over Sale in April.

Bradley indicated the initial capacity of the ground would be around 8,000 with the ability to go up to 12,000 if demand required.

“We know we have more fans in Swansea at the moment than we do in Bridgend but what we don’t know if we did go to the Brewery Field is whether we would generate new fans in Bridgend,” said Bradley.

“The atmosphere for the games against Cardiff and Sale were fantastic. I don’t know if that was the case because it was in Bridgend or a smaller stadium.

“I suspect it was because it was in a more compact stadium with a big terrace that fans could feel the emotion of the game.

“So either option would be good.”

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