I am not sure I hear correctly. I heard that West Ham havae been given the go ahead forthe Olympic stadium but that the taxpayer is to fund £60 million towards it? How can that be right - I do not mind West Ham having it - not that they are a big enough club to create an atmosphere there but if they want it they should be the ones to pay
Both parties have put in extra money to complete the conversion. My understanding is that this will be recouped with revenue from future events including hospitality and naming rights etc. Whoever took it on there would be the cost of conversion and indeed much work has been going on since last summer and also throughout the Olympic Park which will still not be open to the public for some time yet. It's also worth bearing in mind that it remains Public property as West Ham are only leasing it - I think initially for 2m a year.
£2m per year is peanuts to get a stadium like that. The conversion work ought to be at West Ham's expense if they play there - did not Spurs try to bid too?
West Ham are also putting up £16M towards the conversion, but it is a very good deal for them. I think the stratgey behind the dildo boys is to emulate Man City. Get into a subsidised very nice ground and then wait for a rich Arab or Russion or Asian to buy them out and they rake the coin in....But they are gambling on that a bit - I would expect that they would lose a few fans and gain a few new ones because of the move. But unless they are in the Champs League they will not fill it - Chelsea struggle to fill the Bridge even now.
£16m towards the conversion? I was only half listening to the lunchtime news but thought I heard someone say the conversion cost could be more than £100 million. Was anyone listening more carefully than I was?
Article here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21889864 Gov't to pay £60m, West Ham to (reluctantly) pay £15m, but the conversion could cost between £150-190m. Not sure where the balance will be coming from... I do like the idea of retractable seats, so the fans can be close to the ground - a bit like the Olympic stadium in Sydney! Is a shame for Leyton Orient though, having them right on their door step! Can see them really struggling for crowds now (even more so)
The conversion was taking place anyway to a certain extent and was factored in to original costings. West Ham will have only a 20 yr lease and it will remain a public asset. With only 20 years on the Lease there is clearly a maximum someone is prepared to contribute to what essentially is the Landlords costs.
A couple of matches will fund it probably! Spurs did express an interest but they wanted to get rid of the track which quite frankly would have been a total joke given the stadium was built as part of the Olympic LEGACY.. Mind you most OS have turned into white elephants I believe or not even used for Olympic sports.
Shame I don't live in the area I'd go to watch Leyton Orient out of principle now. West Ham are another traditional football club losing touch with their roots (and reality) and heading down the precarious slope of having a half filled soulless stadium full of prawn sandwich eaters - are Spurs the only real club left in London now ? They must be mental exchanging Upton Park for that.
Ian Holloway's thoughts on this, as reported to The Daily Huff: "This is ludicrous! Oi didn't even realise there was a football stadium there - oi just thought they was bein' a bit bonkers payin' £2M a year to play in the Olympic Park until I read this in a program today. Gettin' a brand spankin' new stadium for only £15M and the government payin' the rest - how fair is that? Us other clubs can't do that, that's cheatin' that is. We have to spend all our money on players an' can't afford brand spankin' new stadiums, An' what will this mean for young English stadiums, that's what oi want to know? Will foreign governments be comin' here and buying new stadiums for Watford leavin' our good young English ones to fall to bits? That's sumthin' the FL need to look at that is - a ludicrous loophole they need to plug that is...........blah blah blah "
They are hardly leaving their traditional area are they as West Ham station is the nearest station to the Olympic Stadium. I do agree though that apart from a few of their top matches it is likely to be 'souless'. I don't think that will be the case for other events and I wait to see how the whole area will be like when Springsteen et al come to town - I expect that to make the area very vibrent compared to the horendous chemical wasteland it was some years ago. Government funding for this area BEFORE the Olympics even came into the equasion was 7 billion for the re-generation of the area.
To be fair Orient are not big enough to consider the Olympic stadium so West Ham whose Boleyn ground is only 3 miles away is probably the next best. Thankfully Spurs are not going there Thanks Chris for your views - you seem well informed on this - do you live that way or is West Ham your "reserve" team" ?
Although I feel for LO who I suspect will get squeezed even more, I would rather see the stadium being used. A huge amount of money went into regenerating the area and to have it sat there gradually falling apart would have made little sense. I believe that the Olympics did Britain a lot of good on many levels, some of which you find very difficult to cost. The Tour de France costs towns that the stages start and finish in a lot, but it usually makes plenty of improvements to the local areas and no one complains when the roads are resurfaced.
I am sure that Stratford is the nearest station to the Olympic park - one of their main arguments was that they will have much better transport links at Stratford. Interesting listening to Barry Hearn on 5 live yesterday, all Orient want to do is share the ground with West Ham, which seems a very reasonable request and is in keeping with the original intent of usability of the Olympic legacy. It would also secure the financial future of Orient - how reasonable is that?
Sounds reasonable tom e - especially as it seems that £120 million of public money is going into it - including Boris Johnson giving up £40m of Londoner's money - bet they all feel chuffed about that
The football authorities are once again not playing by their own rules. I fear for Leyton Orient, this move is quite likely to kill them off... unless there is some safeguard I don't know about? The likely demise of a football club under these circumstances is a disgrace. Shame on them.
I went to watch the O's a few times in the late 70's when a friend of mine was living just over the road from their ground. Good little club. I'd hate to see them go under because of this. (also remember a happy afternoon there on our 1982 promotion run.)
