West Ham's Olympic Stadium Deal

[johnnytodd]

I think any club would jump at the chance to do what West Ham are doing and you can't really blame them, but it's definitely wrong.
The obvious thing to point out is the way Arsenal have had to conduct their business in order to fund a new stadium which came at the expense of success to a certain degree, but they've worked through it, done the hard part and can now reap the rewards. West Ham on the other hand will get all the same benefits that Arsenal have got without any of the work to get there. Which is completely unfair. However it is only as unfair as being a well run club who keep their finances in check and spend within their means being overtaken by a club who have had a billionaire take over them and completely overhaul a club without them earning what they spend.

100% bollox it's no different than one club having a richer owner than another. If Liverpool or United built a new stadium half of it would be paid by asian or american sponsors...............how is that fair , because they have more global plastics fans they deserve more?

West Ham are quiet rightly getting a new stadium

 

[Art Morte]

I think any club would jump at the chance to do what West Ham are doing and you can't really blame them, but it's definitely wrong.
The obvious thing to point out is the way Arsenal have had to conduct their business in order to fund a new stadium which came at the expense of success to a certain degree, but they've worked through it, done the hard part and can now reap the rewards. West Ham on the other hand will get all the same benefits that Arsenal have got without any of the work to get there. Which is completely unfair. However it is only as unfair as being a well run club who keep their finances in check and spend within their means being overtaken by a club who have had a billionaire take over them and completely overhaul a club without them earning what they spend.

And Arsenal own their stadium, West Ham will not. That's a massive difference. Just like if you own a £100,000 house that you can upon your wish to sell or rent, instead of paying rent for 99 years after which you still won't have your own stadium but have to pay for one.

 

[On_The_Piss_My_Lord]

Remember they've gotta World Cup though

 

[Murphy]

I don't massively like it as a supporter of a small local club in the area, but there's not a lot you can do. At the end of the day, this is the London Delivery Committee (Or whatever they're called)'s fault. There was only one way this was going to end up after they consistently stated that the games were sustainable, and that was with West Ham getting the stadium. I mean it's taking the biscuit a bit that they're not even paying for corner flags etc (not that they're a great cost anyway), but I'm not surprised.

You'd rather it used I suppose than it sit there dormant and decaying like the Greek OS (Although there was never a chance of that happening in London). Not good news for us or Orient, though.

 

[JimJams]

And Arsenal own their stadium, West Ham will not. That's a massive difference. Just like if you own a £100,000 house that you can upon your wish to sell or rent, instead of paying rent for 99 years after which you still won't have your own stadium but have to pay for one.

Except that we don't make profits from owning our homes. It's more like renting a home with advertising on the side which pays you triple the rent. You don't own the house at the end of the lease but what does that matter when renting it makes you financially better off than buying it?

 

[johnnytodd]

so its ok for sponsors to pay for the big boys stadiums saving them millions but everyone's up in arms over West Ham LOL

The modern day fans make me sick.....LOL

 

[claret50]

And very nice it will look too.

 

[JimJams]

I don't think you've been reading Toodles.

 

[Christian Slater]

And very nice it will look too.

Remember when you play Northern sides from now on that you're singing "we pay your benefits" to fans that support clubs that don't play in council houses. Unless you're playing City, naturally.

 

[claret50]

Are you saying that we will still have to play Northern sides? I just hope that they wipe their feet when entering our smart new stadium!

 

[Christian Slater]

They paid for it, they can put their feet on the furniture if they like.

 

[claret50]

They paid for it, they can put their feet on the furniture if they like.

Sounds reasonable I suppose, but they will have to remove their flat caps and leave their whippets tied up outside.

 

[johnnytodd]

Gona miss Upton Park as an away supporter had some great times there............didn't like the tube much in the 80's and 90's.

 

[GOD_6]

What everyone forgets is that West Ham originally won the right to buy the stadium outright which would have seen us pay for the re conversion on the stadium, the intervention of Levy and Hearn saw that deal fall through. When West Ham

 

[GOD_6]

Tottenham we're never seriously in the running, the stadium in in the borough of Newham the current borough that Upton Park resides in, to move there would have changed the whole geographical make up of the club, they would have become an east London club much like Arsenal are now seen as a north London club. The astronomical cost of the conversion of the stadium lie's solely with Lord Coe and his cronies who did not have the foresight to see that the only viable option for the long term future of the stadium was Premiership football and so did not insist that this was built into the design of the stadium from the offset.

Football is tribal and most of the outrage is from jealous supporters of clubs have never seen us as a big threat due to the fact that we have been seriously miss managed from the top for decades, supporters originally looked and said they will never fill it let them play in an empty soulless bowl. Not only have we filled it we have already had it extended from 55000 to 60000 due to the demand (46000 season tickets already sold and 30000 on the waiting list) so now there is a bit of panic that actually maybe West Ham are not the small fry we thought they were as we have never had to give them much thought before. Maybe they could be another City and upset the establishment, lets face it if your a Man Utd supporter another team threatening the Champions League money you have had a monopoly on since time began is the last thing you need.

Yes we have had some luck that a new stadium has been built in our borough, we had even more luck when the original deal was ripped up as it put us in a much stronger bargaining position something Levy and Hearn must now be ruing. Yes Wet Ham have got the best deal they could out of this as it was going to be a white elephant, if Barcelona were willing to sell Messi to your club for a packet of wine gums would you expect them to say no that is immoral, of course not. The reality is that West Ham have got a good deal and if people take the time to look at the contract and not just what the media is deciding to report on they will see that so have the tax payer.

 

[rudebwoyben]

IIRC In return for ripping out the running track at the Olympic Stadium, Spurs were going to fund the cost of a total redevelopment of the Crystal Palace athletics stadium so that it would be capable of holding most international events..
The Orient fans I've spoken to about this are actually surprisingly sanguine about this.

 

[GOD_6]

IIRC In return for ripping out the running track at the Olympic Stadium, Spurs were going to fund the cost of a total redevelopment of the Crystal Palace athletics stadium so that it would be capable of holding most international events..
The Orient fans I've spoken to about this are actually surprisingly sanguine about this.

Yes but the reason they insisted on the running track staying is that Crystal Palace is a nightmare to get to by car and public transport, the Olympic stadium has some of the best transport links into any stadium in the world, they wanted an athletics legacy and one that people could get to easily. Tottenham knew this would not be bargained on when they submitted their plans.

 

[Christian Slater]

Tottenham we're never seriously in the running, the stadium in in the borough of Newham the current borough that Upton Park resides in, to move there would have changed the whole geographical make up of the club, they would have become an east London club much like Arsenal are now seen as a north London club. The astronomical cost of the conversion of the stadium lie's solely with Lord Coe and his cronies who did not have the foresight to see that the only viable option for the long term future of the stadium was Premiership football and so did not insist that this was built into the design of the stadium from the offset.

Football is tribal and most of the outrage is from jealous supporters of clubs have never seen us as a big threat due to the fact that we have been seriously miss managed from the top for decades, supporters originally looked and said they will never fill it let them play in an empty soulless bowl. Not only have we filled it we have already had it extended from 55000 to 60000 due to the demand (46000 season tickets already sold and 30000 on the waiting list) so now there is a bit of panic that actually maybe West Ham are not the small fry we thought they were as we have never had to give them much thought before. Maybe they could be another City and upset the establishment, lets face it if your a Man Utd supporter another team threatening the Champions League money you have had a monopoly on since time began is the last thing you need.

Yes we have had some luck that a new stadium has been built in our borough, we had even more luck when the original deal was ripped up as it put us in a much stronger bargaining position something Levy and Hearn must now be ruing. Yes Wet Ham have got the best deal they could out of this as it was going to be a white elephant, if Barcelona were willing to sell Messi to your club for a packet of wine gums would you expect them to say no that is immoral, of course not. The reality is that West Ham have got a good deal and if people take the time to look at the contract and not just what the media is deciding to report on they will see that so have the tax payer.

People aren't complaining out of envy, it's because of the bullshit deal the taxpayer got and the unethical sporting nature of getting a financial handout. I'm certainly not envious of a club thats future success is a result of no work of their own. If a billionaire came in and made you like City or Chelsea your success would be as hollow as theirs.

 

[GOD_6]

People aren't complaining out of envy, it's because of the bullshit deal the taxpayer got and the unethical sporting nature of getting a financial handout. I'm certainly not envious of a club thats future success is a result of no work of their own. If a billionaire came in and made you like City or Chelsea your success would be as hollow as theirs.

So as a tax payer what deal would you have been happy with ? If a football club was not in there and the stadium was losing money hand over fist it seems people would be much happier. As it is every fortnight the stadium will bring in a huge amount of money from catering and ticket sales plus stadium tours and naming rights and any other event that the stadium operator wants to have there when West Ham are not playing.
The naming rights are about to be announced and rumors are that will be 5 million a season back to the tax payer. Lots of moaning about the deal but I have yet to see anyone actually say what they would have been happy with, remember this stadium is not owned by West Ham, we have given up our stadium to move there. We also won an the initial a bid to buy the stadium outright which was ripped apart so what else could we have done other than broker the best deal for West Ham.

 

[Christian Slater]

I'd rather it be sold to property developers for the worth of the land. Spurs' proposal to pay to knock it down and rebuild on the land while investing in the National Sports Centre would also have been much more preferable.

 

[GOD_6]

I'd rather it be sold to property developers for the worth of the land. Spurs' proposal to pay to knock it down and rebuild on the land while investing in the National Sports Centre would also have been much more preferable.

The same Spurs that used questionable tactics to say the least that resulted in a police inquiry and arrests over a spying scandal back in 2012, yeah I really think Levy had the tax payers best interest at heart...you couldn't make it up.

 

[Christian Slater]

Do you work for The Sun? Is this a smear campaign now?

Spurs should have done it the accepted way and had a Tory peer get all the info and influence the bidding process.

 

[GOD_6]

Do you work for The Sun? Is this a smear campaign now?

Spurs should have done it the accepted way and had a Tory peer get all the info and influence the bidding process.

Lets go with your second suggestion then, knock down a 500 million pound stadium 4 years after it was finished and sell the land to property developers.
Sounds financially sound that..

 

[Christian Slater]

I don't know what the length of time it's been around has to do with anything. There was always going to be a loss, selling the land would have been a good way to claw a chunk of it back. Now we still have to pay for much of its running costs for the benefit of West Ham.

I agree with Barry Hearn, my dog could have negotiated a better deal.

 

[Jarv]

as we've all paid for their stadium perhaps they should have to give all away tickets for free for the duration of the lease

 

[silvergull]

Pretty much the identical deal that saw City gifted the common wealth stadium; isn't it?
Not like precedent isn't set, and I'm far happier with the stadium being used.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Eventually the rent will pay for the renovation and it'll generate revenue for the taxpayer. We'll all be dead by then like...

 

[johnnytodd]

Sour grapes

 

[Pagnell]

Is it true that, not only will they get it for a ridiculous £2.5m a year, but they also don't have to pay for expenses like policing? And, if so, who's picking up the bill?

 

[johnnytodd]

Is it true that, not only will they get it for a ridiculous £2.5m a year, but they also don't have to pay for expenses like policing? And, if so, who's picking up the bill?

i see what you did there LOL