A week in the life of the Olympic Stadium Pantomime

What a week in the Olympic Stadium Pantomime and it is not even the Christmas season yet!

So first story of the week told the future of the Olympic Stadium retractable seating £200 million rebuild was reported to be thrown into doubt after Old Eton boy George Osbourne in the Treasury ruled out handing any of the £377 million London 2012 surplus over to Old Eton boy Boris Johnson for the project. This would leave a £120 Million hole in the current rebuild budget.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9641726/Mayor-of-London-Boris-Johnsons-appeal-for-Games-surplus-fund-to-be-used-in-Olympic-Stadium-rejected-by-Treasury.html

Hot on the heels of that story was that NFL American Football franchise would gazump West Ham to be anchor tenants of the Olympic Stadium. Bizarre story as the bidding process is closed and I sure a third bidding process would be required to make this legal. 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-hams-tenancy-of-the-olympic-stadium-1409807

Although the Daily Mail later claimed West Ham would share the OS with NFL.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2226156/West-Ham-share-Olympic-Stadium-NFL-Americans.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Now today news has been reported in the Independent that West Ham have bid £8.08M per year for the 99 year lease committing us to £880M over 99 years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/west-ham-committed-to-olympic-stadium-bid-despite-huge-financial-implications-8274380.html

To me this is the most concerning of all three stories if true. The richest club in the world Man City pay £3 Million per for their 50,000 capacity state owned stadium and make £8 Million per year profit from the naming rights. However if the Independent story is true we as one of the most debt laden clubs will pay £8M per year with no rights to the naming rights, catering rights or rental from other tenants.

Doesn't sound like a good deal to me (if true)

The result of the bidding process is expected on the 5th December.

Here is a link to my previous post on the Olympic Stadium Story So Far

http://westhamfootball.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-story-so-far-with-west-ham-olympic.html

The story so far with the West Ham Olympic Stadium Bid

With yesterday's announcement of yet another delay with the Olympic Stadium Decision I thought I would summarise some information & sources I have gathered on the Olympic Stadium bid which is publicly available about the process but may have been lost in the length of time this thing has been running.

All sources have been provided as links with this article.

West Ham Statement today via Associated Press


 “It is now 20 months since West Ham United were initially named as the preferred bidder to occupy the Olympic Stadium post-Games. We are obviously disappointed, that three bids later, a decision has yet to be reached."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-ham-remain-committed-to-moving-1373084

SAB 

Although I sit on the Supporters Advisory Board and the Olympic Stadium Committee in particular I have no privileged information about West Ham's bid.

The Olympic Committee within the SAB have only met once on the 23rd February 2012. The presentation and minutes from that meeting are publicly available here on WHUFC.com. 

http://www.whufc.com/page/SupporterAdvisoryBoard/0,,12562~2657489,00.html

There is no scheduled date for the next SAB meeting at present while the bid is in limbo. 

Although I was nominated as the SAB member tasked with collating supporter feedback the report I submitted to the board was no different from 'for and against' feedback you would find on any West Ham forum or discussed in any pub on match days.

There is no secrecy as some would suggest beyond signing a NDA with the club and the OPLC.

The club is still looking for new SAB members

http://www.whufc.com/page/SupporterAdvisoryBoard/0,,12562~2870475,00.html

The question of Retractable Seating

The ongoing debate about Retractable Seating among fans seems strange at times since both Brady and Gold have publicly confirmed retractable seating would be part of our bid. 

Karen Brady confirmed retractable seating in her Sun Column in November 2011

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3930735/Karren-Bradys-football-diary.html

"And if they had taken the time to look they would have seen that the design engineers have 

a solution by placing fans in retractable seats right up to the touchlines, if required, to 

provide a fantastic football solution whilst maintaining the track perfectly for athletics.

That wasn’t possible in stadiums like the old Wembley but technology and the world moves on"

David Gold confirmed retractable seating in this Independent article in January 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/west-ham-move-in-jeopardy-6286691.html

"We are not prepared to have fans sitting 60 yards from the pitch," he said. "We still want 

to move into the stadium but will not do so if the track remains uncovered. There has to be 

some form of retractable seating."

The question about the cost of Re-Development of the Olympic Stadium 

A report in the journal Building Design last month said the cost of turning the stadium into a Premier League ground has risen to £160 million — a huge jump on previous estimates of £75 million.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/turning-olympic-stadium-into-football-ground-will-cost-160m-8152633.html

The cost of building the Olympic Stadium in the first place has been widely reported as £486M. Newham agreed to invest £40M in the redevelopment of the Stadium.

http://www.newham.gov.uk/News/2012/July/NewpartnershiptocreatelocalopportunitiesfromtheOlympicStadium.htm

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDP) formally called the OPLC are thought to 
have initially budgeted just £35M to redevelop the stadium. However it is believed that over £400M of the Olympic contingency budget remains and could possibly be used to fill the short fall if approved by the LLDC & the London Mayor. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17126515

The question of who owns the new Stadium

In July this year The London Legacy Development Corporation and Newham Council announced they have set up a company called E20 Stadium LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) to take long term responsibility for managing the Stadium. 

A 99-year lease will be granted by the London Legacy Development Corporation to E20 Stadium LLP (Limited Liability Partnership).

http://www.londonlegacy.co.uk/new-partnership-to-create-local-opportunities-from-the-olympic-stadium/

The question of how much West Ham may have bid

Last month the Daily Mail reported that West Ham had bid nearly £10M per year to lease the Olympic Stadium.  If true this would be committing West Ham to nearly one billion pounds (£990M) of rental over the next 99 years.

In my personal view the Joint Chairman and Vice Chairman are shrewd business people who 
didn't get where they are in business by over paying for something where there is a limited market and serious competition. I am sure the government don't want a white elephant and I personally hope West Ham would have bid under the market price but I have no privileged information to back that up.

I think most fans have trouble believing Daily Mail stories at the best of times!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2200756/Olympic-Stadium-bid-West-Ham-high--CHARLES-SALE.html

Man City Model of rental

Manchester City FC originally agreed to pay rent for their new stadium to Manchester council derived from match day income, specifically ticket sales. Under their agreement no money was due if the attendance did not top the 32,000 capacity of Maine Road, while half the price of tickets sold above that level would be paid over, after associated costs had been factored in. 

Now Man City have new found wealth they have renegotiated the terms of their 250 year lease. 

An agreement is in place now to switch from the match day revenue model to a flat £3m yearly charge.

This is still an increase on the £2M per year generated on average from the ticket sales model.

They also bought the naming rights last year in a separate agreement worth £2M per year which they sold to sponsor Etihad for a reported £10M per year!

The rental deal certainly appears to work for them by making a £5M per year profit of a stadium they don't own!  Not bad business for the richest club in the world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/8257210/How-Manchester-City-won-the-stadium-lottery.html

To me this makes the £10M per year West Ham bid claim from the Daily Mail even more bizarre and unbelievable. 

Latest Delay on the decision

The latest delay of a month or two on the Olympic Stadium decision is frustrating to everyone whether they be in the for, against or sitting on the fence camp. It's leaves us all in limbo and the debate rages on with the danger of dividing fans further on this issue.

West Ham Fan of the Week

On our West Ham podcast  called Moore Than Just A podcast http://www.moorethanjustapodcast.co.uk  we are looking for West Ham fans to become fan of the week over Skype for 15 minutes. One of the things we like to ask them is their view on the Olympic Stadium among other West ham related topics.

If you want to share your Olympic Stadium thoughts.

Add us on Skype with username MooreTJAPodcast

You need to be available on a Monday evening around 8pm UK time

Hope to be speaking to some of you soon on the podcast.

Tweet us at @MooreTJAPodcast or Email at MooreThanJustApdocast@live.co.uk if you require more details

written by Sean  @WestHamFootball on Twitter

Olympic Stadium Legacy: Learning Lessons from Barcelona

Barcelona’s second football team Espanyol has a lot in common with West ham United.

Espanyol was founded in 1900 the same year Thames Iron Works reformed as West Ham United.

Espanyol has experienced early glory and Real Madrid’s record defeat remains 8-1 against Espanyol in 1930. They have been runners up of the UEFA cup twice.

Like West Ham they have struggled to recapture glory of former years and are dwarfed by another club in their city namely Barcelona FC.

Espanyol reluctantly sold their previous ground at Estadi de Sarrià in 1997 to wipe out the club’s debts.

Espanyol  moved in as tenants and played for 12 years at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc which was previously used in 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The stadium has a capacity of 55,926  down from 67,007 during the 1992 Olympics.

Espanyol averaged crowds of 20,256 in their last year at the Olympic Stadium while their neighbours Barcelona averaged 67,428.

Many commentators said the home crowd often looked ‘lost in the big stadium’ and the running track created a gap which many Spanish football fans did not like. Many said the stadium lacked true atmosphere for football.

As few as 14,000 fans attended some matches which could the stadium look a lonely place since it could accommodate over 55,000.

Espanyol has struggled in the last couple of years to compete with the richer teams in the Spanish league having already made the commitment to build a new 40,000 purpose built football stadium called Estadi Cornella-El Prat.

Their first game on their new stadium was against a friendly against Liverpool in August 2009. It was a sell out 40,000 crowd.

Since moving to a new stadium they have increased their average attendance to 27,900 but regularly sell out all 40,000 seats against Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Espanyol fans claim their have reclaimed their soul again.

Their old home The Barcelona Olympic Stadium has returned to its original purpose and become an athletics stadium again in 2010 to host the  2010 European Athletics Championships.

             The Barcelona Olympic Stadium as it looks today as Athletics Stadium again

Espanyol New 40,000 Stadium which opened in 2009 where fans are close to the pitch

Olympic Stadium Legacy: Learning lessons from Bayern Munich

For the 1972 Olympics the City of Munich, Germany built their own Olympic stadium. The stadium, renowned for its architecture, was inaugurated in the last Bundesliga match of the 1971-72 season when Bayern Munich played in the stadium.

Like it is proposed with the 2012 Olympic Stadium Bayern Munich didn’t actually own the stadium.

Their first match in Olympic stadium drew a capacity crowd of 79,000, a total which was reached again on numerous occasions. The stadium was, in its early days, considered to be one of the foremost stadia in the world and played host to numerous major finals, such as that of 1974 World Cup.

In later years the stadium underwent several modifications, such as an increase in seating space. Eventually the stadium had a capacity of 63,000 for national matches, and 59,000 for international occasions such as European Cup competitions. #

Many fans, however, began to feel that the stadium was too cold in winter, with half the audience exposed to the weather due to lack of cover. A further complaint was the distance between the spectators and the pitch, the stadium betraying its track and field heritage. Modification of the stadium proved impossible as the architect Gunther Behnish vetoed major modifications of the stadium.

The German giants quit the Olympic Stadium in Munich after more than 30 years to move into a purpose-built football arena in 2005.

Since Bayern moved, they have seen crowds almost double in their new home the Allianz Arena with the ground sold out for every game.

Club spokesman Markus Hoerwick believes fans want to be as close to the action as possible and that means building football stadiums without an athletics track.

Hoerwick said: "A running track separates fans from the footballers. Supporters want to be as close as possible and with a running track you cannot provide this.

"The Olympic Stadium in Munich holds almost 70,000 but our attendances were around 35,000.

"In the Allianz Arena, attendances have gone up to 69,000 because we can cater for the demands of the football fan.

"The Olympic Stadium has been good to Bayern but it was open and cold. It had little atmosphere and the fan experience suffered

                                         The Olympic Stadium in Munich as it is today