Feyenoord stadium renovation plan scrapped

The negotiations on the renovation of De Kuip have fallen apart over an amount of 15 million euros, according to René van Ierschot, President Commissioner of Feyenoord Stadium, NOS reports.

"It went wrong because we can not build an exploitable stadium for an affordable price. The difference was 15 million on an amount of between 206 and 220 million euros", Van Ierschot said. Compared to the whole amount, 15 million seems like a small amount over which to discontinue negotiations with BAM. But according to van Ierschot, the purpose of the renovations was to increse the budget for Feyenoord players, and then 15 million is a considerable amount.

Van Ierschot states that they are now working on a plan B. "In the past few months we have been fully committed to develop this plan with BAm and spent no time on a plan B. That we will have to do now. It will still be a few months before it becomes clear which direction we want to go."

Politicians and supporters were taken by surprise by this turn of events. "Recently it seemed that the parties came together, so this surprised us greatly." Ron Smit of the Feyenoord Supporters Association said to RTV Rijnmond.

According to Maarten van de Donk (VVD Rotterdam), the fact that the plan has been scrapped is not entirely unexpected because there have been delays for months. "It is now up to Feyenoord to come back with a plan. Should it be a good plan, the we want to think about how that can be done."

"This is a sad thing. Not only for the sports club and its supporters, but also for Rotterdam-Zuid where we wanted to give the area development a push with a new stadium." said Leo Bruijn (PvdA).