Arsenal and Spurs may share new Wembley

Home advantage in the North London derby will become a thing of the past if an extraordinary ground-breaking, ground-sharing venture between Arsenal and Tottenham comes to fruition at the new Wembley stadium.

Senior executives from both clubs have held informal preliminary talks with officials from the Football Association about moving, separately, to the rebuilt home of English football when it opens in 2005. But sources close to the project confirmed yesterday that it was possible that they could both end up as tenants.

"There would be all kinds of complex issues that would need to be dealt with," the source said. "What would the supporters think? What would local residents think – with all Wembley's planned fixtures plus an additional 60 a year involving Arsenal and Tottenham? But the idea is not being dismissed out of hand.

"Certainly there are people within WNSL [Wembley National Stadium Ltd, the FA subsidiary company in charge of the redevelopment] who are not averse to exploring the possibilities of one or both teams moving to Wembley."

A spokesman for the FA said last night that the current funding agreement which saw £120m of Sport England money pumped into the new £757m building meant no club side could make the stadium its home. "The terms of the agreement with Sport England don't allow us to have an anchor tenant," he said.

It is understood, however, that Patrick Carter, the recently appointed chairman of Sport England, might consider a renegotiation of the agreement. Carter came to prominence as a Government troubleshooter dealing with Picketts Lock, the Wembley saga and the Commonwealth Games.

If Arsenal or Tottenham or both wanted to move to Wembley, for example, they could pay £120m back to Sport England – as well as £41m of pledged funds from the Government and the London Development Agency, for infrastructure and transport improvements – and become anchor tenants in a new partnership with WNSL.

"We won't be entering into any formal discussions with anyone until the issue of the Sport England money has been resolved," said a WNSL insider. "But from our point of view the scenario of ground-sharing is quite flattering. Three months ago everyone was saying what a terrible idea it was to spend all this money on a new stadium and asking how it could be justified. Now it seems there are two clubs who might want to come and play here."

The source added that the prospect of both sides moving to Wembley might actually be more attractive than just one. "It would certainly help from the point of view of it being a more neutral ground for the FA Cup if it was a London stadium rather than just an Arsenal or Tottenham stadium."

Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, has already raised the idea that the clubs could share a ground. He has said that unless infrastructure improvements are made around White Hart Lane, Tottenham will consider moving to Wembley or sharing another neutral ground with Arsenal, if supporter consultations were positive.

Arsenal have made consistent public denials that they would ever consider scrapping plans for their new £300m ground at Ashburton Grove, saying there is no truth in plans for a move to Wembley. But faced with escalating costs adding an extra £100m, as well as delays due to public hearings over objections by local residents and businesses, they may be forced to consider alternatives if they want to relocate.

For the FA to share Wembley with either club would make financial sense, not least because any tenant would have a huge new stadium for £161m while the FA would face less of an uphill struggle to pay back its huge building loans. If both teams moved in, the cost would be around £80m each and the FA would have the potential for an ever greater share of the income.

Sport England would be likely to welcome any tenant because a refund of its £120m would be welcome as Lottery funding is falling.

The potential obstacles to a club side having Wembley as their home include objections by other clubs about the national stadium being a club venue too. Local residents are also likely to object to the number of events staged there.