Brighton have become the first Premier League club to publicly oppose proposals to play matches at neutral venues if and when the season resumes.
All 20 clubs reaffirmed their commitment to finishing the remaining 92 league fixtures at a shareholders’ meeting on Friday, but were told limiting the total number of venues used to around 8-10 would be necessary for safety reasons.
Brighton’s chief executive Paul Barber said the plan has the “potential to have a material effect on the integrity of the competition”.
"Clearly, we must all be prepared to accept some compromises, and we fully appreciate why playing behind closed doors is very likely to be a necessary compromise to play our remaining games while continuing to fully support the government's efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus," he said on the club's website.
"But at this critical point in the season playing matches in neutral venues has, in our view, potential to have a material effect on the integrity of the competition."
Brighton were due to be at home for five of their remaining nine matches as they fight for Premier League survival, and Barber fears the loss of home advantage could prove critical - even without fans.
"The disadvantages of us not playing the league's top teams in our home stadium and in familiar surroundings, even with 27,000 Albion fans very unlikely to be present at the Amex, are very obvious," Barber said.
"Clearly, we must accept there may also be some benefit from playing our remaining four away matches at neutral venues but the fixture list simply isn't equally balanced at this stage of the season, and we didn't play our first 29 matches of the season in this way. So, in our opinion one thing doesn't cancel out the other."
Additional reporting by PA.
