Oxford United new stadium impacts on PSR regulations

It was last month that Oxford United signed a Section 106 agreement with Cherwell District Council which would put money into the community funded by the football club.

Once the building of the stadium is underway, the costs will not count towards the EFL’s financial parameters set by PSR.

The U’s recently published their accounts, recording a net loss of £17.5 million for the 2024/25 season.

“Once the stadium is formally approved and effectively we’ve got shovels in the ground then all of the costs are excluded from PSR, but at present we are still in the sort of the development phase,” Maguire told BBC Radio Oxford.

Oxford United have published new images of what the club’s proposed stadium at The Triangle could (Image: Oxford United)

“I appreciate there’s been significant costs from a legal point of view in trying to locate an appropriate place for the stadium, discussions with surveyors and architects and all of those costs.

“Because they are now effectively pre-approval or pre the start of the project, strictly they have to be included within the PSR calculations, which is sheer lunacy. I mean whoever’s written the rules clearly doesn’t understand very much about football.

“There is no sporting advantage to Oxford from having such costs, especially given the specific circumstances that the club is undertaking at present, where it has nowhere to play as an alternative and it’s going to have to move as a result of the lease and so on. It does in my view suggest that the EFL’s rules are in need of review.”

U’s CEO Tim Williams revealed at the OxVox fans forum that three institutions are excited about the stadium project with positive responses coming from potential investors.

Maguire went on to detail the challenges that the club faces in persuading lenders to come on board.

Plans for Oxford United stadium (Image: Oxford United)

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“It’s challenging for a football club to persuade lenders because if you were popping along to your local bank or building society would they lend to Oxford United? No they wouldn’t. The reputational damage if things go wrong is far too high.

“That tends to mean that you’re going to sort of specialist lenders, they will effectively give the club some form of mortgage, they will have no moral or ethical concerns should things start to go wrong.

“They’ve got a nice piece of real estate as far as they’re concerned in the city so they would be able to lend money but my concern would be at what rates of interest because it is a high risk from their point of view.”