West Ham and the Olympic Stadium

[Bristolian Bee]

Ridiculous how this is being blown out of all proportion. Of far more public concern is the debacle of the overspend on the conversion of the Olympic stadium for West Ham's convenience, which has been totally overshadowed by this non story.

 

[Bigbee]

Ridiculous how this is being blown out of all proportion. Of far more public concern is the debacle of the overspend on the conversion of the Olympic stadium for West Ham's convenience, which has been totally overshadowed by this non story.

It's criminal what West Ham have got away with.In the mean time Mo is persecuted by the same media who would of been putting him on the front page for proper reasons a couple of years ago.

 

[FlyBee]

Ridiculous how this is being blown out of all proportion. Of far more public concern is the debacle of the overspend on the conversion of the Olympic stadium for West Ham's convenience, which has been totally overshadowed by this non story.

Agree. This is unbelievable. I assume WHU won't 'own' the ground after this? £15m is their contribution. Who works this stuff out? It's nuts.

 

[FlyBee]

Agree. This is unbelievable. I assume WHU won't 'own' the ground after this? £15m is their contribution. Who works this stuff out? It's nuts.

Just read the article. 99 year lease is as good as owning it. This is borderline criminal

 

[Nada Bee]

£2m rent a year plus upkeep costs.

Circa £10m a year to play there.
£65m a year wage bill

£55m TV money
£10m prize money for finishing position

So that's about break even give or take.

Anything gate receipt will be profit.

Even if they sell 35k season tickets at £400 each approximately that's £14m profit. Plus ticket sales at around the same again. So that's a £30m profit not taking into account cup games.

Easy money.

 

[absenteebee]

Oh come on. What do you expect with Gold, Sullivan and Lady Brady involved?

 

[scruff puppy pup]

This sort of thing routinely happens in the US with sports franchises screwing over city authorities (i.e. the taxpayer) when it comes to financing new stadiums.

 

[hanworthbee]

West Ham will mess it up by going down this season

 

[bees66]

West Ham will mess it up by going down this season

no chance..

 

[sonofabee]

I think West Ham will struggle this season.

 

[Stanley]

Its all dandy while they are in the PL but if they happen to go down then the stadium could become a big burden with high rental costs and lowering income as they will not be even half selling out the ground in the Championship. They simply have to stay in the top flight.

It's a fantastic stadium but it remains to be seen if it stays good as a football venue.

 

[hanworthbee]

Bilic is a cack manager , the whu board are just another example of a clueless managerial appointment just because he was a popular player

 

[Nada Bee]

Bilic is a cack manager , the whu board are just another example of a clueless managerial appointment just because he was a popular player

Eddie Howe?

 

[WarrenBee]

Eddie Howe?

Not if he's got any sense.

 

[sonofabee]

Eddie Howe?

I think he'd be a great manager for West Ham but think he can and will do better.

 

[brentfordwannabee]

Oh come on. What do you expect with Gold, Sullivan and Lady Brady involved?

You can't blame them. Good business sense. Olympic legacy committee and the government that need investigating!

 

[Ealing Bee]

This sort of thing routinely happens in the US with sports franchises screwing over city authorities (i.e. the taxpayer) when it comes to financing new stadiums.

The difference is that the US sports franchises are usually already in situ, and can threaten to go elsewhere unless the existing city match/exceed the new city's best offer.

Whereas WHU have no such leverage.

Therefore they should have been told "Move into the Olympic stadium on our terms, or sod off."

Additionally, when City Authorities in the US agree these things, they are often directly answerable to the civic electorate, indeed they often stand on those grounds i.e. "I'll keep/attract the XYZ'ers".

Whereas our poor benighted taxpayers were told that this would be an athletics-only stadium, and it designed as such, despite all the evidence of previous Olympics showing that there could never be enough demand from Athletics to make it pay.

Then when that became undeniable, the Government blithely stumped up £X millions more to convert it and invited WHU in on incredibly easy terms, with no-one being held accountable and no chance of the public getting to complain.

In short, an absolute scandal.

(Meanwhile, the FA stand idly by while the local club, Orient, will get absolutely shafted when WHU move onto their patch, despite this being contrary to FA rules. Not that that should surprise us, mind, considering they did it before with MK Donkeys)

 

[nick logan]

Ridiculous how this is being blown out of all proportion. Of far more public concern is the debacle of the overspend on the conversion of the Olympic stadium for West Ham's convenience, which has been totally overshadowed by this non story.

Whats happened here then ?

 

[flowerpower bee]

there are still many West Ham fans who would rather watch league 2 football at Upton Park
than see the club sell its soul by making this move

 

[kevalutonbee]

Its all dandy while they are in the PL but if they happen to go down then the stadium could become a big burden with high rental costs and lowering income as they will not be even half selling out the ground in the Championship. They simply have to stay in the top flight.

It's a fantastic stadium but it remains to be seen if it stays good as a football venue.

Just remind me how much the parachute payments go up to this year. I can't see Gold, Brady etc being stupid enough not put relegation clauses in player contracts

 

[PhilE]

Another article here on how the taxpayer will meet the running costs of the stadium.

There's also a programme on tonight (Thursday)

The Olympic Stadium: How the Hammers Struck Gold will be shown on BBC One London at 19:00 BST on Thursday, 6 August and available nationally on the BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards.

 

[Nada Bee]

Glad to see my taxes are going towards something good for a change.

 

[Downbeat Bee]

there are still many West Ham fans who would rather watch league 2 football at Upton Park
than see the club sell its soul by making this move

I would not want to play there. Brings back memories of seeing FC Zurich play with added running track.

 

[westwing]

won't be as good as their current home IMO.

 

[hanworthbee]

hopefully they'll be in the championship next season....Bilic is a terrible manager

 

[The Pipe]

Their supporters are already getting restless and sending out a " junior" team today in the Europa cup has not impressed them

 

[horshambees]

hopefully they'll be in the championship next season....Bilic is a terrible manager

Think you are right.

 

[SmiffyBee]

If West Ham didn't want to be in Europe, why didn't they give their place up in May.
Pretty disgraceful attitude from the club.

Does the country no favours.

 

[LingfieldBee]

If West Ham didn't want to be in Europe, why didn't they give their place up in May.
Pretty disgraceful attitude from the club.

Does the country no favours.

Agreed.

 

[Hullbee]

£2m rent a year plus upkeep costs.

Circa £10m a year to play there.
£65m a year wage bill

£55m TV money
£10m prize money for finishing position

So that's about break even give or take.

Anything gate receipt will be profit.

Even if they sell 35k season tickets at £400 each approximately that's £14m profit. Plus ticket sales at around the same again. So that's a £30m profit not taking into account cup games.

Easy money.

Your well short in terms of annual rent contributions. Its unfortunate so much of the deal has been redacted from the public as its only fueling mistrust and grumblings

 

[JBN]

Rather than start a general West Ham thread:-

West Ham got into the Europa League through the fair play thing.

I'm not putting money on them qualifying the same way this season.

 

[Brentford St George]

Watching them play Arsenal at the moment, this Reece Oxford is rather good :yes:

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Watching them play Arsenal at the moment, this Reece Oxford is rather good :yes:

Maybe a loan when Song signs?

 

[Nada Bee]

Maybe a loan when Song signs?

No chance. Song isn't signing either.

 

[nocoat]

Yep. Songs not singing anymore

 

[hatfieldbee]

Clue in yesterday's crossword:- "The new stadium designed for the team (4,3,6)". Immediately solved! (Anagram of the 1st three words).

 

[hanworthbee]

Last chance to see this and reminds us all of the scandal of WHU getting a free stadium funded by the tax payer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0676crf/the-olympic-stadium-how-the-hammers-struck-gold

 

[Stanley]

My first visit back since the Olympics to see the anniversary games. What a fabulous stadium it is even with the modifications. For athletics it is unbeatable and really looking forward to world champs next year. 35k or so there last night and closer to a sell out today probably.

As for football I guess it will be wait and see. Even when the lower stands are pushed forward most will be some way from the pitch as it will still be an oval shape with low pitched stands and as far as I can see there will be a gap between the two levels of stands, will be interesting to see how it works for West Ham.

 

[ruislip bee]

My first visit back since the Olympics to see the anniversary games. What a fabulous stadium it is even with the modifications. For athletics it is unbeatable and really looking forward to world champs next year. 35k or so there last night and closer to a sell out today probably.

As for football I guess it will be wait and see. Even when the lower stands are pushed forward most will be some way from the pitch as it will still be an oval shape with low pitched stands and as far as I can see there will be a gap between the two levels of stands, will be interesting to see how it works for West Ham.

They can move the stands closer to the pitch? Wow I didn't realise that. That's some feat of engineering!

 

[Nada Bee]

They can move the stands closer to the pitch? Wow I didn't realise that. That's some feat of engineering!

There are temporary seats that will go over the track.

 

[Delbee]

They can move the stands closer to the pitch? Wow I didn't realise that. That's some feat of engineering!

I would like to see that.I went to the Para Olympic and thought how far away from the pitch the fans would be and looking at the place last night it had not changed my mind. It's likely to be soulless .

 

[mhead bee]

I would like to see that.I went to the Para Olympic and thought how far away from the pitch the fans would be and looking at the place last night it had not changed my mind. It's likely to be soulless .

I went to watch the rugby there. The original stand still ends where the track starts but what they have done is wheeled in a temporary stand that now sits in front of it. It is hard to explain without a picture but the original stand is still in place and the bottom tier of seats are still there but basically hidden behind in kind of a "valley". You go across a walk way from the old stand to the temporary one and you cross a 30 metre gap and below you are the thirty rows of seats that are hidden behind the new temporary stand. It just looks messy and for a brand new football stadium doesn't feel completely fit for purpose. I have tried to attach a photo, lets see how it goes.

 

[Stanley]

It might need close to being full to get a good atmosphere. Can imagine some low attending cup games being like a morgue. If you follow the line of the new oval roof you can see the centre of each side/ end will be furthest from the pitch with low sight lines whilst the corners will be closest. Sitting at one end it was hard to see what was going on at the high jump which was effectively behind one of the goals. Hope it won't be like a glorified Withdean for West Ham...

 

[Judio1999]

Reading reports its going to be full every week
Sold 52000 season tickets

And a long waiting list as well

 

[scruff puppy pup]

Reading reports its going to be full every week
Sold 52000 season tickets

And a long waiting list as well

It doesn't surprise me at all.
West Ham have a massive catchment area, i.e. east London and all of Essex, and they are the types who would bring their sons to the game.
I advocated over a decade ago they should move out to a purpose built stadium close to the M25 in Essex and they would get 60,000 odd every game.
Bascially, their traditional fan base have migrated from east London out to Essex over the years, but still hold a strong attachment to the club.
It's just that equally traditional, West Ham have usually been s***.

 

[Ealing Bee]

Hope it won't be like a glorified Withdean for West Ham...

Neither do I.

I hope it's worse than the Withdean, far worse....

 

[Ealing Bee]

It doesn't surprise me at all.
West Ham have a massive catchment area, i.e. east London and all of Essex, and they are the types who would bring their sons to the game.
I advocated over a decade ago they should move out to a purpose built stadium close to the M25 in Essex and they would get 60,000 odd every game.
Bascially, their traditional fan base have migrated from east London out to Essex over the years, but still hold a strong attachment to the club.
It's just that equally traditional, West Ham have usually been s***.

They've also priced their Season Tickets extremely low (in Prem Lge terms, at least).

Which at least partly explains why, eg Fulham's support grew significantly when they were in the Prem.

 

[dougieb]

Last chance to see this and reminds us all of the scandal of WHU getting a free stadium funded by the tax payer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0676crf/the-olympic-stadium-how-the-hammers-struck-gold

You can still watch this on youtube. Beggars belief. Hopefully there will be a full inquiry.

 

[aawharris]

Reading reports its going to be full every week
Sold 52000 season tickets

And a long waiting list as well

When you say "sold", you mean sold 30k and given away 22k

 

[Oceanbee]

Watching the West Ham match v Bournemouth today, I'm glad that I don't have to support a team there.
The stadium was obviously not designed for football --- crowd too far from pitch, strange curved line of the stands around the pitch, which looks odd with the straight side-lines of the pitch. Nearest crowd points to the pitch are by the corner flags!

But above all, as soon as the sun is out, the whole pitch is covered with weird off-putting crisis-cross shadows from the combination of many girders, directly above the pitch. Certainly watching on TV makes it look quite irritating.

Just hope that they have thought of all these issues for Lionel Road, and don't let some fancy-arsed architect have free rein, with no thought of the crowd who have to watch games, week in, week out.