Adam Pearson opens up on potential for new Hull FC stadium

It’s been a terrible season so far for Hull FC culminating in the sacking of head coach Tony Smith which in turn prompted chairman Adam Pearson to publicly speak on the current situation, however, he’s also dropped insight into any talk of the club moving stadium.

In the IMG era of Rugby League which will officially begin with the 2025 season it’s more important than ever before to either own your own stadium or have a very secure agreement to use it, the latter of which Hull FC currently do have at the MKM Stadium.

Despite that there has been talk across the years that the club could move to a ground of their own, something that would be a welcome boost for fans and also on the IMG scoring criteria whilst speaking out on the current state of the club, Pearson offered news on the suggestion the club could make a move.

Speaking to BBC Radio Humberside, he explained: “We’d love to have our own stadium obviously, but at the minute that’s a bit of a pipe dream. We’ve four years left at the MKM. I fully expect us to stay there and extend that lease throughout. We’re not in a mad rush to extend it at the minute because as you know every time you renegotiate a lease it only goes one way.

“So we’d quite like to keep what we’ve got at the minute and negotiate but the council are completely on board and supporting us with a right to an extension to play there.”

Despite the admission that a stadium move is a “pipe dream”, Pearson picked out two examples of stadiums that he would potentially want to mimic: “If we had a stadium like York’s or Warrington’s to move to, such as at the site at Costello, that would be the ideal scenario and it would be fantastic, but I just can’t see in any shape or form how that will happen.”

Are Hull FC set for investment?

Obviously, any stadium move would likely be based on more funding at the club, something that could be incoming with the chairman offering a positive update in regard to further investment into the club.

Pearson revealed: “I’ve been in talks for quite a long time now. We’ve got two or three interested parties at varying stages in that process. I’m offering equity for an injection into the club, so my shares are there as an FOC for no consideration at all.

“We are working with a corporate partner in Leeds, to work through the best particular offer that we can get. They’re all different kinds of offers, but basically, it will be an injection of capital into the club, which would take us back to being able to compete within the top five clubs in Super League. That’s the aim.”

He even offered a timescale for when this could happen by, adding: “I would imagine that process probably taking until the end of the season, but it is moving efficiently. The more publicity that my search for investment gets, the more people pop their head up above the parapet. The disappointing thing is that none of that interest has come from Hull.”

Whilst Pearson refused to get into “conjecture” over who any potential investors were, he did shut down one question which referenced rumours on social media that a consortium featuring Mally Walker, Chris Long, Nick Barmby and former player Scott Taylor, would be buying the club.

“I didn’t know I was paying Scott that much,” was Pearson’s comical reply.

Expanding on that, he noted: “I know Chris because he’s a big supporter of the club but I’ve had no ownership discussion with Chris whatsoever.

“Mally Walker I’ve known for many years, huge respect for him. Last came to the club about three years ago, last time I saw him was at York Races and he was unequivocally not interested in participating in the club because he was enjoying life over in York and had done his bit. So completely and utterly fabricated.

“As for Nick, Nick’s a close friend and I wouldn’t ask him to put his hard-earned money alongside mine at the moment.”