I was just reading about the Liberty Stadium and Swansea City. Swansea moved to the Liberty at the same time as we moved to the Ricoh.
 
Swansea are regarded as being one of, if not the best run football club in the country. Yet they rent their stadium, not own it.
 
The Liberty Stadium is owned by Swansea City Council, and is operated by a SSMC (their equivalent of ACL). Swansea City pay a variable rent based on their attendences (it would seem 10% of ticket sales), which would roughly work out as follows:
 
Season    Atten.   Rent       Div
2005–06  14,155   488347    Lg 1
2006–07  12,720   438840    Lg 1
2007–08  13,520   466440    Lg 1
2008–09  15,186   523917    Champ
2009–10  15,407   531541    Champ
2010–11  15,507   534991    Champ
2011–12  19,946   538542    Prem
2012–13  20,367   549909    Prem
Every year they have played there they have been paying more than we could have been paying (£400k if we had accepted the last offer), and it also blows Mr Fisher's idea that league 1 clubs should be paying £150k, and Swansea were paying £300k over that.
 
Does it not suggest that if a club is well run it can cope with having to pay rent?