Hull City owner hits out at unequal stadium share with Hull FC ‘in trouble’ ahead of new lease agreement

Hull FC are ‘in trouble’ regarding their future prospects of playing home games at the MKM Stadium according to Hull City owner Acun Ilicali.

The Black and Whites are one of several Super League clubs to share their home ground with a football team but the noise coming out of Hull City and their Turkish owner is that Hull FC could be in trouble when securing a new lease.

Hull FC see their current lease expire at the end of the 2027 season but Ilicali, speaking at a recent fan forum event, has claimed he does not believe the Black and Whites will accept the new lease offer.

The MKM Stadium is owned by Hull City Council and operated by the Stadium Management Company, which Ilcali controls, and now Ilicali has suggested a future lease offer from the SMC would not be on the same terms, with the Hull City owner claiming that those current terms are not equal.

Ilicali surveyed fans at the event as to whether they wanted Hull FC to continue playing at the ground with the majority raising their hands to signify that they would ‘prefer them (FC) to leave’.

To that, Ilicali said: “So they are in trouble. They are in trouble now. This is something we have to discuss but at the moment, if something is shared between two clubs, it has to be fair.

“Here the agreement is far away from being equal.”

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Hull City owner hints at unfavourable Hull FC stadium lease offer

Ilicali, who took ownership of Hull City in 2022, admitted he knew nothing of previous deals but admitted that the football club are losing money by sharing the stadium.

He said: “We lost so much money before for so many years. We lost (money) sharing the same stadium. We paid for so many things apart from being equal. So for the future, I’m not sure that they will be okay to accept our offer.”

Ilicali also noted complaints about the state of the pitch, something he has previously mentioned, with the football club owner suggesting that Hull FC playing on the pitch impacts his side’s ability to play football.

“If we’re going to suffer from this pitch like this in winter times, the most critical moments of the season, I really think that it’s effecting our football because our team is playing with more technical players.

“Our identity, our idea is getting high-quality players with the talent and you cannot do anything in the middle of the mud.”

He’d add: “For the future I have doubts about the rugby side and you (supporters at the fan forum) showed me today that you (do).”

The Black and Whites will play at home today against Toulouse with that game taking place less than 24 hours after Hull City played their final game of the regular Championship season, a win to secure play-offs that resulted in their fans pitch invading and undoubtedly creating yet more pitch issues that Ilicali has been so vocal about.