Hull City have admitted that their failure to be a potential World Cup 2018 host has seriously dented their hopes of expanding the KC Stadium.
Hull, Derby and Leicester were the big losers when Football League and selection panel chairman Lord Mawhinney revealed on Wednesday which cities had been chosen to host games should England win the right to stage the competition.
Had Hull been given the nod then the KC Stadium would have been increased from its current 25,000 capacity to the required 44,000 benchmark.
'Ground development is severely affected by this decision,' chairman Adam Pearson told the Hull Daily Mail.
'We hope the capacity will be increased at some stage but those hopes have been dented.
'I can't put a timeline on things but the decision has made things extremely difficult to improve on our current capacity of 25,000.
'I was hoping three under-21 internationals, four Test matches and all the concerts we've done here would help us get this, but they've gone with Bristol which has never had those sort of events so good luck to them.
'All we can hope is that our sporting clubs can go on to greater things. We hope to maintain Premier League football which is key to raising the profile of the city.
'And to do that we need a bigger stadium, hotels and accommodation and infrastructure - and we need help to do that.'
Source: DSG
