The Crues are also smiling off the pitch as the £61million cash injection for local football from government moves them a step closer to realising their dream of a new stadium with Newington YC.
A club statement read: “Crusaders and Newington are pressing ahead with our ambitious Sports, Educational and Media Village.
“We were pleased that the project is within the Minister's thinking and anticipate a measure of government support towards the end of the 2011-15 budgetary spending round. Currently we are preparing a bid to the Belfast City Council public ‘Expression of Interest’ call, with a deadline of March 24.
“This is an open, competitive process and our two clubs, along with our design team and financial backers will submit a strong bid, focussing on economic viability, employment, state of the art leisure facilities and, most importantly, cross-community shared space.
“We intend that our bid will provide a ‘wow’ factor for north Belfast and the city as a whole. Thereafter, the council will deliberate on who to chose as a lead developer. I
n addition to the stadium and sports business park, the bid will propose a public ice-rink, an indoor arena hosting pro-basketball and a full size, 3G, GAA pitch, as well as an international standard training suite.
“This project has been a long time in gestation, but we're at the ‘business end’ now and expect to have the opportunity to ‘raise the bar’ in terms of the quality of facilities to be provided.”
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