West Ham move to Olympic Stadium

[fittons_coaching_badge]

Couldnt see a thread about this so thought i'd start one ..... To my naked eye it looks like they have got a cracking deal

West Ham will pay £15m for a 99-year lease on the £429m venue on which conversion costs could reach £190m.
West Ham will move from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium from August 2016 and pay around £2m-a-year rent.
Under conversion plans, the roof will be extended and the seating capacity reduced from 80,000 to between 54,000 and 60,000, with a retractable system allowing the venue to be converted from a football stadium to an athletics arena within days.
After West Ham's contribution, the rest of the funds for the conversion will be drawn from a range of sources, including Mayor of London Boris Johnson's budget, a £40m loan from Newham Council and around £20m of borrowings by the London Legacy Development Corporation.

I feel for Leyton Orient.  Has the death knell for them been rung?

With the amount of public money being used to help prop West Ham up, I suppose they should become my second team?

[Berniman]

They want to be careful they don't end up down the same road as Coventry

[dagrumpymunki]

I feel for Leyton Orient.  Has the death knell for them been rung?

Seriously what fucking difference does it make to Orient? West Ham are already on their doorstep and already a much bigger club than them in a league 2 higher than theirs. This just moves them a couple of stops closer on the Jubilee line.

If Barry Hearns thinks that the only thing stopping his fans deserting his club is an extra 10 minutes on a tube journey he really knows fuck all about football. Christ, the journey from Stratford International to Kings Cross is a few quid and takes 8 minutes anyway. You could be at the Emirates is less than half an hour.

[Honkytonk]

Couldnt see a thread about this so thought i'd start one ..... To my naked eye it looks like they have got a cracking deal

West Ham will pay £15m for a 99-year lease on the £429m venue on which conversion costs could reach £190m.
West Ham will move from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium from August 2016 and pay around £2m-a-year rent.
Under conversion plans, the roof will be extended and the seating capacity reduced from 80,000 to between 54,000 and 60,000, with a retractable system allowing the venue to be converted from a football stadium to an athletics arena within days.
After West Ham's contribution, the rest of the funds for the conversion will be drawn from a range of sources, including Mayor of London Boris Johnson's budget, a £40m loan from Newham Council and around £20m of borrowings by the London Legacy Development Corporation.

I feel for Leyton Orient.  Has the death knell for them been rung?

With the amount of public money being used to help prop West Ham up, I suppose they should become my second team?

It's a good point about public money supporting West Ham. Taxpayers paid for the stadium after all. Perhaps if you present your tax return at the gate you should get free entry?

And as if Leyton Orient were ever going to get it. Can you imagine Leyton Orient with a 60k seater stadium? The place'd be worse than the Ricoh.

[suttonred]

That'll look great with 20k in when they get relegated, pretty sure this will be a huge fuck up.

[GoSWINDON]

Seriously what fucking difference does it make to Orient? West Ham are already on their doorstep and already a much bigger club than them in a league 2 higher than theirs. This just moves them a couple of stops closer on the Jubilee line.

If Barry Hearns thinks that the only thing stopping his fans deserting his club is an extra 10 minutes on a tube journey he really knows fuck all about football. Christ, the journey from Stratford International to Kings Cross is a few quid and takes 8 minutes anyway. You could be at the Emirates is less than half an hour.

i think his argument was,  that to fill the stadium , Wham would have to drop prices which would increase the chances of fans following them. In my opinion  BH is after a big payoff  rather than a groundshare even if thats what he's saying

[jonny72]

West Ham have said they'll drop ticket prices and even give some away to fill the stadium. Not difficult to see that Orient will lose out, why would casual fans go and watch them when there is better quality football in a better stadium at half the price just round the corner?

[BruceChatwin]

I expect it will be a great financial success for them off the pitch while on it the soul and atmosphere gradually evaporates from their games until they're left just another Arsenal pin-drop-audible-amongst-60,000-fans modern-day middle-class run-of-the-mill prawn sandwich eating dull-as-dishwater-to-follow stable Premiership club.

[BruceChatwin]

(the far east business delegates will enjoy their day out more though which is what's really important).

[GoSWINDON]

(the far east business delegates will enjoy their day out more though which is what's really important).

from the Orient ?

[Abrahammer]

The Boleyn is one of the better big grounds around, shame to see it go.

The redevelopments at the Olympic stadium are going to have to be pretty drastic to get it anyway to being a decent football ground

[BruceChatwin]

from the Orient ?

Very good.

 

[4D]

I always think a four sided ground has a better atmosphere than a bowl

[leefer]

So Boris and his money men are helping out with this move i understand.....taxpayers money being thrown at the project allowing West Ham the luxury of this deal.....that should really please the peeps at Lewisham hospital down the road which has just been told by Boris it will have to close...even though it is one of the best in London.
Also what about the hundreds of millions West Ham will get for the large amount of land where the Boleyn is.....wonder where that will go and why that couldn't have been used to fund a new stadium.....any stadium with a running track round isnt good to me.....and if they do go down then look at Coventry as an example of what happens when you hire a stadium.

[Berniman]

I always think a four sided ground has a better atmosphere than a bowl

A four sided stadium with the corners filled in has a much better atmosphere IMO.  My example would be Loftus Road.  Similar sort of size to the county ground but with the corners filled in.  You know it when they score though.  Last time I was there was a 1 nil defeat when SSP was playing (QPR fan)