Having spent most of my childhood and teenage years living in a part of London that is very near a football stadium, I am well aware of the changes to a daily routine of an area that occurs when there is a match at said stadium, with the crowds travelling to and from the stadium on congested roads, and the changes which have to be made to the nearest tube station when there is a match on. A few years ago, when I was at school, we, as part of our geography curriculum, looked at conflicts that have occurred between the interests of local businesses and a football club wanting to build a stadium in a certain area. Just recently though, it just occurred to me, 'why not relocate major football stadiums and other major sports venues out of existing urban areas in England to an English 'sports capital' which would be centered on the stadiums, having all the necessary infrastructure, hotels etc, while having the added benefit of not conflicting with the interests of what is often an inner-city victorian built neighborhood?' Such a town could host the Home Stadiums and headquarters of all the Premier League and most popular Football Teams, as well as Wembley Stadium, but why stop at Football? Why not relocate other major sports' venues, such as Rugby and Tennis? The more different sports there will be there, the less 'seasonal' the town/city will be. If only one football team relocated there, there would be long periods of there being not any work, but if you had say, Football, Rugby and Tennis, perhaps along with others, you wouldn't have such long periods of temporary redundancy.
You may wonder what this has to do with rail transport. The truth is, it has everything to do with it, as such a football/sport 'capital' would need a reliable way of transporting thousands of fans to and from there. The obvious place therefore, would be at a railway junction or intersection involving at least two lines, where at least one of the lines was a mainline. The considerations of the local area would have to be taken into account. It should also be somewhere in the North of Midlands of England, for the sake of geographic centrality and to bridge the North-South divide. Somewhere on HS2 could be an idea, to make sure that people use it. What do you think guys?
You may wonder what this has to do with rail transport. The truth is, it has everything to do with it, as such a football/sport 'capital' would need a reliable way of transporting thousands of fans to and from there. The obvious place therefore, would be at a railway junction or intersection involving at least two lines, where at least one of the lines was a mainline. The considerations of the local area would have to be taken into account. It should also be somewhere in the North of Midlands of England, for the sake of geographic centrality and to bridge the North-South divide. Somewhere on HS2 could be an idea, to make sure that people use it. What do you think guys?