Sale Sharks to play at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium
Sale Sharks has announced that the Premiership game against London Irish on April 16 will be played at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium.
Sale has been locked in negotiations to play at the ground over the last year. It's hoped that a sellout crowd of 30,000 will provide a financial boost to the club.
"Today's announcement is the culmination of nearly 12 months [of] work to enable us to announce this event.
We now have seven months to achieve a sellout crowd, and I truly believe that there are almost 30,000 people in the north-west who would like to attend a live game
of Sale Sharks' rugby," said Sale chief executive Mick Hogan.
The match at the Reebok will help the club in a number of ways. Sale is simply reacting to the movement of bigger sides in the Premiership moving to larger grounds in order
to increase revenue.
For the club, there are definitely some positive aspects that will arise from the movement. Sale will work hard over the coming months to create awareness and attention
around the match in order to increase the chance of a sellout.
A sellout crowd is the only way that the club will get a useful financial boost at the end of a long season. It will also give the club an idea over how difficult or easy
it will be to fill a big ground on a regular basis.
If Sale wants to compete with the likes of Bath, Leicester, London Irish and London Wasps, then a ground move has to be high on the agenda. If the Reebok match is a success,
then it could make a ground move in the near future more likely.
"We want to show the north-west some real ambition and give the region
a rugby team that they can truly be proud to support," added Hogan.
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