West Ham were finally award the keys to the fantastic Olympic Stadium, which will bring an end to the circus that surrounded it and the future of the Hammers.
West Ham secured the Olympic Stadium on a 99 year lease which will start when West Ham move in the 2016-17 season and will be paying £2 million a year rent for the pleasure. However the deal was only agreed after West Ham agreed to up their own funding in the renovations from £5 million to £15 million. But where is the rest of the cash coming from for the renovations that will cost around £150 million? Newham Council have loaned £40 million, LLDC have put in £20 million and the government treasury have put in £60 million. That makes £135 million in total but where will the extra £15 million come from to round it up to the £150 million mark?
There has been a rumour that has circulated for a while now that if West Ham were to get the Olympic Stadium, Westfield co-founder Frank Lowy would invest heavily into West Ham, now remember I did say this was a lingering rumour but if it were true this could be fantastic for West Ham Lowy is worth an estimated $5.3 billion and is heavily involved in Australian football and FIFA.
So what will West Ham get out of the move to the Olympic stadium? Well we will pay £2 million a year rent but will share the revenue from catering and hospitality with the LLDC but it is understood that West Ham will take ALL ticket and merchandising income, but the move to such a great stadium will most certainly boost the clubs stature which could in turn attract high profile sponsorship deals/partnerships and the non-footballing events will also have financial rewards.
However there is still a section of West Ham fans that are not willing to embrace the move to the OS stating that we won’t fill the stadium and there will be no atmosphere, I don’t agree West Ham have sold out their last 13 home games in the Premier League and its us as fans that create the atmosphere not the ground we play at. As for the running track, retractable seating will cover this and we have all been promised that once the renovation of the OS has been done that it will be a 54,000 seater FOOTBALL stadium, but not only that its will be an UEFA 4 category stadium meaning that it is the highest level of footballing stadium you can get.
The move will boost West Ham to the next level which is what all West Ham fans want. I agree that it would have been great to see all this happen at the Boleyn but that is not possible, the new stadium will attract bigger players and investors just look at Man City. I think we need to do this altogether as a club this is happening so if your for the move or against the move we are still West Ham the club we all love so lets get together and support the board who have been fantastic and the players.
West Ham has now a new future and I for one am extremely excited for this key factor is now to make sure we remain a Premier League team.
Carl Bateson
Follow me on Twitter @BatesonCarl
Good piece Carl, I agree with all of the above, I think the figures will be explained at some point, I’m totally chuffed that it is finally been resolved regarding our move and can’t wait for the first game, and being able to get away from the ground without having to queue up for hours to get on the tube
COYI
couldn’t agree more pal
I agree this is great move for the club, sad to be leaving the Boleyn Ground but we have to move forward. One thing, the OS will be Cat 4 which isn’t the highest rating! Cat 5 (Old Trafford and Wembley) is needed to host CL finals. We’d only be able to bid for Europa Leauge finals.
I still want to see the plans so we can be sure this will work but it’s looking very very positive. The details on numbers are lacking but £2m per year rent (RPI adjusted) is all we need really to know this is an excellent deal. Big irony is that if Spuds and EU hadn’t messed up the original purchase plan, there would have been no way we’d have ever been able to afford retractable seating and the roof to pitchside. Ha! This is a big gamble but one I think we have to take. It is the only solution for the OS which is why it seems we have such a great deal. Jesus, reading the vitriol at the weekend, you’d think it was WHU’s fault that Lord Coe and the rest made such a shambles of the legacy plan.
Looking at the UEFA stadium rankings, I think Cat 4 is the top (1,2,3 and Elite are the current classifications). But at 54k, the OS would be too small to qualify for a Champs League final.
I wonder if west ham have a clause in the contract that they can buy the staduim in the future ?
Anybody know when we will actually see plans?