Speculation about the project has been rife for several months, but this week the clubs finally went public with details of their ambitious plan for the site between the Valley Leisure Centre, Abbey Retail Park and Longlands estate.
The £35 million scheme - a joint venture by Irish Premier League side Crusaders and Amateur League club Newington FC - was launched today (Thursday) at the Lansdowne Hotel.
The proposal provides for a modern 4,200 seater community stadium, training facilities, restaurant, bar, hospitality and conferencing suites. It also includes plans for executive facilities, commercial space for sports and educational provision, residential accommodation and hotel and cineplex opportunities. It is envisaged that a 'sports science training facility' will also be located in the 'village'.
The launch heard from senior figures including Howard Wells (IFA), Eamon McCartan (Sport NI) and Fintan Drury (Platinum One sports consultancy), as well as from investors, educationalists and sports business academics.
The clubs will now lobby both Belfast and Newtownabbey Councils seeking a partnership development opportunity at either Grove Park in north Belfast or the Valley Park.
Setting out their vision, the Crusaders FC and Newington FC Stadium Working Group of Mark Langhammer, Robert White and Tom Whiteside released the following statement:
"In seeking, with Newington FC, to develop a cross-community, shared stadium and sports complex, our vision is 'go wider' than football - and to develop a mixed sports, educational and leisure development which made sound business sense and which attracted a much broader level of community involvement.
"This proposed Community Stadium and Sports and Educational Village Complex will involve more partners than our two clubs. It is definitively not "Sugar Daddy" led; nor is it largely grant dependant. It is, however, contingent on local authority support and community 'buy in'.
"Having canvassed investors, given this local authority support and community buy in, we have no doubt that the funding package will be found and are confident of meeting the requirements of the planning process. Our vision is well founded and eminently realizable.
"We are proposing a £35 million project of which we will bring £15 million to the table. Much of the rest is in place, subject to securing the site. We will create 14 full-time and 50 part-time jobs ourselves within the Stadium Company, with some 150 jobs created in other enterprises across the site, not inclusive of jobs created during construction."
It is expected that governance of the sports complex would be separated from the football clubs and could include other partners such as the local council.
David Carson, Professor of Marketing at the University of Ulster's Business Faculty, has acted as a key advisor to the project.
"The proposal developed by Crusaders in conjunction with Newington FC satisfies on commercial viability; it is founded on sensitive analysis of the community relations environment; it provides educational content and provides an attractive and varied leisure proposition for spectators, visitors, and consumers as well as active opportunities for sports participants," he commented.
Having officially launched their stadium plan, the clubs must now wait to see if they can secure the backing of Newtownabbey Council and the local community.