Bet365 Stadium

The Bet365 Stadium (stylized as bet365 Stadium) is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was renamed on 1 June 2016 when the club entered into a new stadium-naming-rights agreement with its parent company, Bet365. It has a capacity of 30,089 following the completion of expansion works in 2017.

The stadium was built in 1998 at a cost of £14.8 million as a replacement for the Victoria Ground. Former player Sir Stanley Matthews' ashes were buried beneath the centre circle of the pitch following his death in February 2000; he had officially opened the stadium on 30 August 1997. In European competitions it is known as the Stoke Ground due to UEFA regulations on sponsorships.

History

The all-seater stadium cost nearly £15 million to build and brought the club up to standards with the Taylor Report of January 1990 to end 115 years at the Victoria Ground. Along with the possibility of converting the Victoria Ground into an all-seater stadium, relocation had was being considered by 1995 and by early 1996 the decision to build a new stadium elsewhere had been confirmed.

Construction of the stadium was underway during the 1996-97 season. In August 1997 it opened its doors for the first time as the Britannia Stadium thanks to a £1 million, 10-year sponsorship deal with the Britannia Building Society which was instrumental in the overall funding of the project. Another £4.5 million was given as a grant by the Football Trust.

The stadium's opening did not go according to plan, as from the outset there was concern about getting there, as the plans covered only one access road from the nearby A50, and as a result, spectators arriving from the city or the motorway had to travel up the A50 for over a mile to a roundabout at Sideway and double-back the other way, which caused huge congestion. The stadium was officially opened by club legend Sir Stanley Mat

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