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Cardiff Blues’ ambitious plans for the Arms Park can only be good for Welsh rugby because it could give the country a region with the financial muscle to compete with the best teams in Europe.

The proposed development, on a seven-acre site, includes a state of the art 15-20,000 seater stadium, complete with a sliding roof and retractable pitch, a concert venue, exhibition centre, hotel, apartments and multi-story car park.

Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are also planned along the waterfront that will be opened up alongside the River Taff.

The detailed proposals have been drawn up with the primary goal of generating the money which could enable the Blues to become a European superpower alongside the likes of Saracens, Toulon, Toulouse, Leicester Tigers, Leinster and Munster.

The Blues are attempting to follow the example of Warren Gatland’s former club Wasps, who he guided to European Cup and English Premiership glory, by delivering a project with the financial clout to build a squad capable of competing in the Champions Cup.

Wasps went from within hours of being placed in financial administration in 2012 to being sold for a nominal amount and moving 83 miles from Wycombe Wanderers’ Adams Park to Coventry after buying the Ricoh Arena.

The midlands venue contains a 32,609-seater sports stadium, which is also used by Coventry City, an exhibition hall, hotel, casino and shopping centre.

(Image: Getty Images)

And it’s the revenue from those ventures which has helped allow Wasps coach Dai Young, the former Wales captain who guided the Blues to European Challenge Cup and Anglo-Welsh Cup glory before heading over the border, to build a remarkable squad.

Wasps reached the semi-finals of last season’s Champions Cup and Young has strengthened his squad for this campaign by signing South Africa star Willie LeRoux, Australia’s Kurtley Beale, England internationals Danny Cipriani and Kyle Eastmond and highly-rated Ireland prop Marty Moore.

They are clearly heading upwards with big crowds and now have the cash-generator in place to subsidise the rugby arm of the organisation.

(Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

It’s the same at Aviva Premiership runners-up Exeter Chiefs, with Sandy Park being the home of the largest conference and banqueting centre in the south-west of England.

Retractable roof and pitch

The Blues and their landlord Cardiff Athletic Club have already, in principle, agreed for the rugby team to lease the land for up to 150 years and bring commercial developments forward.

And, if that deal is signed off, the multi-million pound development at the Arms Park could begin with a number of major investors believed to be interested in the exciting project.

Blues want Cardiff Council and the WRU to come on board, and make it a joint development that would also encompass union-owned land around the Westgate Street main entrances into the Principality Stadium.

In return, and with the Blues being without a ground while the development is taking place, the governing body could perhaps allow them to play at Welsh rugby’s headquarters or become involved in the financing of a loan.

The new stadium could be built on a smaller scale to the multi-purpose Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, France, where Gareth Bale’s Wales last month famously beat Belgium 3-1 in the quarter-finals of football’s Euro Championship.

Pierre-Mauroy has two main levels. Half the pitch is situated on a hydraulic lift with massive tracks that raise and slide it above the other half of the field in three hours.

That creates a second lower level floor plan and surrounding seats called Boîte à Spectacles, where basketball, tennis, indoor motocross, pop concerts, comedy shows, opera or a variety of other events can take place, with a variable capacity, in its case from 6,900 to 30,000.

It’s retractable roof opens and shuts in 15 minutes – the one at the Principality Stadium takes an extra five minutes to close.

Blues hope to get support for their project from rival entities Ospreys, Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons.

However, those organisations and their supporters may be alarmed at the prospect of the Blues producing the amount of money they would find difficult, if not impossible, to raise on a long-term basis through current income streams.

Professional sport is a dog eat dog world and what’s more important is that at least one (the more the better) of our regions is able to compete with the best in the Champions Cup.

Having just one team, Scarlets, in this season’s competition (they have been written off by most after drawing holders Saracens and three-time European kings Toulon at the group stage) isn’t good enough.

Welsh rugby needs more of our regions to be competitive with the very best and, if the Blues or anybody else can come up with a winning formula on and off the pitch, good on them.