England could be forced to leave Twickenham because of Beyonce
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England could leave Twickenham as part of a dispute over Beyonce’s summer concerts in London, the RFU chief has revealed.
The home of rugby missed out on hosting the singer’s six tour shows in June to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney has now threatened to find a new home for the England rugby team if licence restrictions are not changed.
His comments are part of an ongoing dispute with Richmond Borough Council.
The licence restrictions limit Twickenham to three non-rugby events a year at a crowd capacity of 55,000.
However, the RFU want to increase the number of events to 15 at a full 82,000 capacity.
Twickenham missed out to Tottenham’s home stadium for Beyonce’s upcoming UK leg of her Cowboy Carter Tour.
The American artist will perform at the venue six times between June 5 and 16.
Sweeney has now revealed the RFU could either move to Milton Keynes or build a new stadium in Birmingham if their application to change the event licence is refused.
He told the Business of Sport podcast: “There are plenty of places that would like to have us. Birmingham, Milton Keynes would love to have us there.
“Part of the renovation from 2027 means we are in discussions with Richmond borough council to stage more non-rugby events. For us it is three [events] and we are only allowed one on a Friday.
“We have had The Rolling Stones. We could have had Beyoncé but she wanted three nights and we are only allowed two nights consecutively.
“We are saying: ‘If we are going to invest £600million into the Allianz — and we have a study which shows how much economic value it contributes to the borough — you are going to have to work with us in terms of an increase in the number of events we can stage in order to monetise the stadium.'”
Stadium MK in Milton Keynes has a 30,500 capacity but can be expanded to 45,000.
The venue has previously hosted Premiership and Champions Cup matches in the past as well as being used for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Fiji’s pool stage win over Uruguay even set the stadium’s record attendance of 30,048 a decade ago.
Meanwhile, England have not played on home soil away from Twickenham since 2019.
Their World Cup warm-up match against Italy at St. James’ Park in Newcastle ended in a 37-0 win.
Asked if relocation was a genuine possibility, Sweeney added: “It would be a tough call for us. It would be very difficult.
“I don’t know how we would justify the investment in the stadium if we can’t get the increase in the event licences.”
The RFU previously considered selling Twickenham and purchasing a 50 per cent share in Wembley Stadium.
Moving their HQ to the Midlands was also weighed up before the decision to modernise their current home in 2027.
