Stade Rennes is considering the construction of a new stadium, larger and more modern than Roazhon Park, but which will not see the light of day before 2030, the club said on Wednesday, confirming information from Ouest-France.
After launching a feasibility study in October, a site capable of accommodating a 40,000-seat stadium had been identified, as club president Olivier Cloarec explained in an interview with Ouest-France.
Currently 13th in Ligue 1, but qualified in the last six seasons for a European competition, the Reds and Blacks are cramped in their Roazhon Park.
“With 29,000 seats, the capacity of the stadium is too limited today. In France, we are 11th in terms of capacity including Ligue 2,” explained Olivier Cloarec in this interview.
Last season, 18 of the 19 home matches in Ligue 1 were sold out.
The new stadium could be built on the site of the former Citroën factory at Barre Thomas, just a few hundred meters from Roazhon Park, on the Route de Lorient which had given its name to the enclosure for 103 years, before it will not be renamed in 2015.
“We are in the process of refining (the project). It’s complex. We have a few elements, but we need to refine them,” said Olivier Cloarec.
“There is the possibility of building a stadium. But then there’s everything that goes around: the parking lots, the access points, the surrounding areas. We need to have more elements on this side to then be able to discuss with the town hall,” he explained.
The president of the club estimated that, if this stadium saw the light of day, “it will be beyond 2030, in particular because there is a modification (of the Local Urban Plan) to be made”.
