The North London Power-Shift

You could be right about Song and his wages. I don't know whether Barcelona are paying any of them whilst he's on loan, but you'd expect them to be far in excess of anything that permanent West Ham contracted players earn. FFP could be an issue, but the move to the new stadium could give them a vastly increased revenue stream. Also if they qualify for Europe this season, they would also be in a position to negotiate better commercial contracts.

 

Given their current problems with sponsors, I'd hold back any talk of massive improvements.
The last one went bust and the current one has three years left to run.

As for the stadium giving them loads more money, I can't really see how.
They'll get better gates for big games, but they're still doing kids for a quid in the league now.
How much better off are they really going to be?
They may be better off getting rid of their increasing debt and rejuvenating their youth policy, which has worked well for them in the past.

 

I think a lot depends on where they finish this season. Fat Sam has got them playing some good football and they finally have a decent core to the team that have gelled at the same time. If they get into Europe then there will be a lot of attention on West Ham and they could renegotiate some of the commercial deals. They might struggle to fill the Olympic stadium playing on a monday night against Sunderland for example, but overall their gate receipts should vastly improve.

 

Their attendances will improve, but how much extra money will they make?
Their game against Southampton this season, for example, was a Saturday 3pm kick-off, yet the kids for a quid offer had to be applied to it.
The offer also stood for West Brom, Hull, Swansea, Villa, QPR and others in recent seasons.
Add thousands of extra seats and a debate over the state of the new stadium and it could be problematic.

 

If they qualify for Europe maybe they would look at a price restructuring with the ticket prices. Also moving to a new stadium might give them the opportunity to examine the whole pricing structure across the club.

 

I think it would have to, but then how much extra revenue would they be getting from it if they cut prices?

 

I'd suggest that they'd want to be looking at a ticket price increase (or certainly doing away with the kids for a quid deal) if this season turns out to be a platform for them to build on.

 

They can't fill their ground for a lot of league games without that deal and you think that they'll increase prices if they have more seats?
Their prices are already pretty high, except for their Category C games, which this season included the following teams: Leicester.
http://www.whufc.com/page/MatchTickets/0,,12562,00.html

 

In my view, they won't qualify for Europe, they will lose several players in the summer, and the O.S. Will be half empty.

 

They might not need to increase the price for the Cat A and B games, but they could look at amending the deals that they offer. Thereby increasing the overall ticket price without making it too bitter a pill to swallow. Again if they qualify for Europe, they might reasonably be able to justify a price increase, but whatever the ticketing scenario their overall gate receipts are going to increase, so this would give them more leeway in terms of meeting FFP.

 

They struggle to sell out now with the deals. Having more games available and lots of league games on Sundays is not going to help.
When you factor in the inevitable drop in league performance that the Europa seems to bring, then an effective price increase would be suicide.
They'd also need to strengthen the squad to deal with the extra games, which would be a problem with their loanees and out of contract players.

 

I agree that they are issues West Ham would need to address, but they might find that the move to Stratford brings extra fans to the stadium. Certainly Orient were concerned that they would swallow up most of their support and given the relative ease of getting to the Olympic Stadium it could be an attractive day out for the 'corporate' and 'tourist' fans, especially on Sundays. There is then of course the potential for the extra revenue from the Stadium for other uses such as gigs and events.

 

Success brings "support" - of a kind. WHU would have to give the fans, and potential fans something to inspire them into coughing up the extra money to watch their matches.

The reasons that I, and PNP have given are why i don't believe they will sustain, let alone progress.

 

The "kids for a quid" scheme gets parents to take their children to games and the parents then spend extra whilst they are there. Get the price of the food and drink and merchandise right and that's where the increase in matcday income comes from

 

Good point. As mentioned I also think that the O.S. could generate a good income for West Ham if they use the stadium to host other events too.

 

I haven't been to a WHU game in ages. But, from memory, I wouldn't want my kids listening to the vitriolic obscenities that their fans seem to get away with singing!

 

Maybe some football?.....

 

Do West Ham actually benefit financially from other events held at the stadium?

 

I'm not sure to be honest. It might come down to ownership rights, but you would have thought that given West Ham will be responsible for the stadium, even as tenants, that they would receive some if not all of any income generated from extra events at the stadium.

 

VINCI are running the stadium. The LLDC appear to be selling the naming rights.
Given the amount of other activities (rugby, cricket, athletics, gigs) that have options there, that's going to be one hell of a pitch...