Boundary Park - Redevelopment

Redevelopment

There were plans in the late 1990s for a move to a new stadium on adjoining waste ground, but these were scrapped.

On 15 February 2006, the club unveiled plans for the redevelopment of their current ground. The plans would see every stand other than the Rochdale Road end being redeveloped. When completed it would be a 16,000 seater stadium, estimated to cost £80 million, and with a working name of the "Oldham Arena". However, by the time of the completion of the redevelopment, the stadium would likely have borne a sponsor's name.

On 14 November 2007, Oldham Athletic received planning permission for the Broadway stand, whilst Oldham Borough Council rejected the further development of the stadium due to local objections regarding the height and size of a proposed block of apartments. On 12 December 2007, after amending the plans, another council meeting gave permission for redevelopment. Facilities would include conferencing and a hotel plus the option of a casino.

Demolition of the Broadway Stand started on 8 May 2008, with the work completed before the start of the new season. The building of the new 'Main Stand' was due to commence in December 2008 and was expected to take 16 months.

On 5 September 2008, Simon Blitz told podcast World Soccer Daily that although Oldham still planned to continue the development of Boundary Park and surrounding areas, the plans were on hold for now because of the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the subsequent downturn in the UK property market. He also stated that even though the demolition of the Broadway Stand had been completed, they could not secure a loan to even build the Main Stand, let alone the rest of the project. He stated that the work would continue as soon as the economic climate looked a little better.

Because of the problems, the club announced in the summer of 2009 that it was considering moving to a new stadium in Failsworth. This has caused some controversy amongst supporters as Failsworth has a Manchester postcode and is not considered by some people as part of Oldham, although it is officially within the borough. It is also only thee miles from the City of Manchester Stadium and only one mile from the proposed new stadium of FC United of Manchester in Moston. If all had gone according to plan, the new stadium could have been open by the beginning of the 2011/2012 season but clearly this will not now be the case.

After being led to believe by Oldham Council that the Failsworth site was a deliverable option, the club were extremely disappointed when The Charities Commission turned down their application. Oldham Athletic had wasted millions of pounds on drawing up plans, purchasing land and legal fees - and now believe that 'confidence in the current Council's ability to deliver any proposal for a new stadium is at zero.' Oldham Athletic hold the local council almost completely to blame for the current situation regarding the bleak future of professional sport in the town.

On 28 July 2011 the Council offered the club £5.7 million to help with their redevelopment fund of Boundary Park, which would involve redevelopment of the Broadway Stand, time will tell whether the club will accept the Councils offer. There has also been talk of a new 16,000 stadium.