Espanyol to let fans leave ashes in new stadium

MADRID (Reuters) - Football clubs are always asking fans to show loyalty through thick and thin, but Espanyol have gone further by offering them the chance to be in the stands even when they are dead.

The Barcelona-based Primera Liga club have unveiled plans for a repository for 20,000 fans' ashes at their new stadium Cornella-El Prat, which is under construction and scheduled to open in November.

"Football clubs today don't depend as much on their results as on the sentimental link they build with their fans," Espanyol director general Pedro Tomas was quoted as saying in sports daily Marca on Thursday.

The columbarium will occupy 1,000 square metres over three floors in a corner section of the stadium. There will be 5,000 niches available, each capable of holding four urns.

A 15-year concession has been granted to a company called Giem Sports to run the service, and Espanyol expect to earn around 4.5 million euros ($6.9 million) over the period, they said on their Web site (www.rcdespanyol.com).

Media reports say devoted supporters can expect to pay around 4,000 euros per niche, for a 15-year period from the deposit of their first urn.