(Bloomberg) -- French football club Paris Saint-Germain is considering leaving its longtime stadium, the Parc des Princes, and potentially moving to the country's national stadium.ย
โParis deserves a better stadium,โ said Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG, in an interview in Doha. The team currently features mega stars Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. The Parc des Princes holds just 48,000 spectators.
Al-Khelaifi also said he's discussing the possibility of an investor buying a minority stake in PSG, and that a strategic partner could add value. European rivals Manchester United and Liverpool Football Club are also exploring strategic options or potential sales.ย
PSG, France's football champions, has played at its current stadium since 1974. Al-Khelaifi said the club has been in talks with its landlord, the City of Paris, about expanding and improving the facility for the past four to five years, but he believes the city hasn't been helpful.
โMy first option is we don't move. But the city of Paris is pushing us to move,โ he says. The team has three other options if it decides not to stay, he said, without disclosing more details.
People familiar with the situation says these options include buying the national stadium, the 80,000-capacity Stade de France, from the government, or moving to a couple of unidentified greenfield sites.
โWe've spent 70 million euros upgrading the Parc des Princes but it's not our stadium,โ said Al-Khelaifi. He said the club has offered to purchase it but the city wanted too much money.
Several of PSG's challengers in the UEFA Champions League, which the French team has never won, have added seats or modernized their facilities to help bring in extra revenue. PSG announced earlier this year that it had sold out 100 consecutive matches in a row.
Al-Khelaifi said the desire to improve the size of PSG's facilities is motivated in part by UEFA rules that strive to limit clubs from spending more than they earn. Earlier this year PSG was fined 10 million euros for breaking financial fair play rules.
PSG is set to end the season with โฌ700 million ($721 million) in revenue, a club record, according to people familiar with the situation. That would be around the same level as some of Europe's other top clubs. Manchester City reported record revenue of ยฃ613 million earlier this month.
--With assistance from .
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