London's Olympic Stadium (Post Olympics)

[The_Exile]

Apologies if this has been mentioned, but find this whole shebang a bit of a stramash......

So it looks like West Ham have won the bid to get the stadium after the Olympics have buggered off. Which was to be expected as Tottenham planned to rip it down and start again without the running track etc (Championship Football from 100 yards, watch West Ham fill an 80,000 seater!)

The one thing that sickens me is that there has been absolutely NO coverage of the impact on Leyton Orient, this will more than likely force them out of Brisbane Road, or even worse, out of business! How can this be allowed to happen, doesn't it contravine certain rules and regulations?

I'm not an expert on the situation, hoping someone else knows a lot more, but I honestly can't believe the lack of coverage over what's happening. Probably most folk up here don't give a monkeys, but I have a soft spot for the O's and wanted to give my support for their cause!

[number 27]

Excuse my ignorance but why will it hurt Orient so much?
are they right next door:dunno:

[The_Exile]

Excuse my ignorance but why will it hurt Orient so much?
are they right next door:dunno:

Less than 2 miles away, the thought is that West Ham will struggle to fill the stadium, think it's 60,000 seats rather than 80,000 I had put in my OP. So they will give loads of free tickets to the local schools etc, therefore hitting the O's where it hurts, bums on seats.

There's talk of compensation to them as it's clearly against a rule in the FA regulations but that's all to be sorted out further down the line I think.

[Gatecrasher]

Excuse my ignorance but why will it hurt Orient so much?
are they right next door:dunno:

If Man U built a new Stadium next to ER will it not hurt us?

I think the Leyton Orient fans are worried about their crowds dropping and the clubs future. I can see where they are coming from TBH

[The_Exile]

It's like Real Madrid moving into Meadowbank (you'll need to use your imagination to think of Meadowbank as a state of the art 60,000 all seater stadium!) and chucking 15,000 tickets to their games over the streets of Leith and Lochend.

[LancashireHibby]

I can see where Orient are coming from, but to be honest there isn't much difference to what is happening already as far as I can tell?

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Not sure this will work in The Hammers favour in the long run. Although they will get a good few quid when they sell Upton Park.

[jacomo]

I can see where Orient are coming from, but to be honest there isn't much difference to what is happening already as far as I can tell?

West Ham won't be moving far but it's directly into the O's patch. They have a right to feel concerned.

As for the Stadium itself, the Spurs plan is clearly superior - the Olympic Stadium is going to make a rubbish football stadium.

[Hibee87]

I would assume that both wont be playing at home on the same day for policing etc so surly the fans who normally go to see orients will still go and when the o's are away wil l use the free tickets to see west ham.

alternativly same scenario as above but let them ground share they woudl then be able to give away free tickets to the schools etc as well = more money spend on merchandise maybe and also kids getitng free tickets taking there dad along who would have to pay = more revenue. could work out ok for them i guess :aok:

[Woody1985]

Why are west ham getting stick. Surely the Olympic committee are to blame.

They'd have know that the only real viable option would be football and that would have an impact on the surrounding area.

It should be them that pay anything but it sounds like the LO future fan base is screwed either way.

[greenlex]

Why don't LO just move in to the Olympic Stadium?

[Wakeyhibee]

Why don't LO just move in to the Olympic Stadium?

They could but they'd have to give away 40,000 more tickets than West Ham to fill the place

[CB_NO3]

I would be gutted if I was a West Ham fan. Moving to a stadium with a running track will be horrible. And for what its worth, if Real Madrid moved to Meadowbank I would still be going to watch Hibs at ER on a Sat. You can shuv Real Madrid up your .....

[Thecat23]

I would be gutted if I was a West Ham fan. Moving to a stadium with a running track will be horrible. And for what its worth, if Real Madrid moved to Meadowbank I would still be going to watch Hibs at ER on a Sat. You can shuv Real Madrid up your .....

I've followed West Ham for about 12 years now, and i'm gutted this is going ahead. There are a few more like myself and if i'm honest i don't think it's all done and dusted just yet.

[DC_Hibs]

Might have been an idea for the original poster to have more knowledge on the subject he is posting about. I know little about it but remembered from a while back that the stadium was due to be massively scaled down after the games as the majority of it was temporary.

The stadium is "converting down to a 25,000 seat permanent stadium after the Games" based on the original plans meaning it would be fine for Orient and it was initially mentioned that they might be an option for playing there after the Games.

West Ham (and Spurs) will obviously alter this to suit their needs so if its 60k for WH, then they have surely chosen that and aren not going to the expense having 20,000 empty seats each week or freebies to chuck at prepubescent potential future Orient fans.

So, much ado about nothing..........

[The_Exile]

Might have been an idea for the original poster to have more knowledge on the subject he is posting about.

First sentence of my last paragraph in the OP clearly states I was no expert but wanted to know more from someone with more knowledge about the whole thing.

For what it's worth, I think the Hammers have to keep the running track, the further the fan is from the pitch, the better West Ham will probably look................:fishin:

[heretoday]

I'm no expert but isn't one of the attractions for WHU and Spurs the opportunity to obtain branding rights on their new home?

West Ham are certainly not capable of filling an 80,000 stadium right now - are Spurs? - but with more cash to spend and a decent team on the pitch the fans will come. They have a potentially huge support.

[Leicester Fan]

Excuse my ignorance but why would West Ham have to give away tickets? There's no law saying you have to fill your stadium every week.

If Orient fans wanted to support West Ham atm Upton Park isn't that hard to get to.

[NAE NOOKIE]

As far as I know Orient are totally against the idea of WHU being next door and that should be taken into consideration. As usual it seems the wee club dont matter.

Also if I was a West Ham fan I would hate the idea of moving to a stadium with a running track.

The Germans and Italians have struggled like mental over the last 20 years to get away from stadiums like that. You will be pushed to find a new football ground anywhere with a running track included coz the fans and players hate them.

[Sir David Gray]

What's to stop Leyton Orient from giving away free tickets to the local people of East London?

Their home ground has a capacity of just over 9,000 and at their last home game, they had an attendance of around 4,000.

Why couldn't they give 3 or 4,000 free tickets to local schoolchildren in order to fill their stadium?

At the end of the day, people will go and support whoever they want. West Ham are in the Premiership (for now at least), arguably the best league in the world and Leyton Orient are in League One so it's only natural that West Ham will attract more supporters. Also, given West Ham's history, I think they'll always be a bigger draw than Leyton Orient.

My last point is that I don't get the idea that says Leyton Orient don't want West Ham moving so close to where they play. Upton Park's only 15 minutes away from Brisbane Road (Leyton Orient's stadium) as it is. OK, the Olympic Stadium will be slightly closer to Leyton Orient than that but I don't see that being any more damaging to Leyton Orient, than it is already.

[HenryMonk]

First sentence of my last paragraph in the OP clearly states I was no expert but wanted to know more from someone with more knowledge about the whole thing.

For what it's worth, I think the Hammers have to keep the running track, the further the fan is from the pitch, the better West Ham will probably look................:fishin:

here you go. and as dc hibs says original plans were going tobe scaled way back to 25k, but had no takers whats so ever, so they invited west ham then spurs to table.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23921486-daniel-levy-i-guarantee-spurs-will-deliver-the-best-solution-for-london-olympic-stadium.do

[HenryMonk]

I'm no expert but isn't one of the attractions for WHU and Spurs the opportunity to obtain branding rights on their new home?

West Ham are certainly not capable of filling an 80,000 stadium right now - are Spurs? - but with more cash to spend and a decent team on the pitch the fans will come. They have a potentially huge support.

correct about WH filling not being able to fill scaled back to 60k (not 80k) seater stadia, they cant even fill upton park!! as for spurs filling 60k, no problem at all, sell out every week, and they have over 34k on season ticket waiting list.

[iwasthere1972]

They're not half stretching the result out. Worse than waiting on the X Factor results.

Latest news is that the result is imminent........................................ge t on with then.

[lyonhibs]

As far as a footballing arena goes, from a tradition and atmosphere point of view, this is a brutal decision from West Ham.

At the same time, there's no way this country can justify knocling together a 60,000 seater stadium, paid for (partly or mostly, I don't know??) with taxpayers money, only to see it ripped down a matter of months later.

[Woody1985]

West Ham win.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12424549

[iwasthere1972]

West Ham win.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12424549

They'll be celebrating on the streets of Tottenham. Can't imagine many spurs fans who would have wanted to move to the Olympic Stadium miles away from their roots.

Just think we could have been playing at Straiton now if things had been different. That would have been a disaster. Virtually no pubs in the area and a pretty soulless place. We would have been competing with Ikea for business.

[Haymaker]

Even with the running track you will be closer to the action than you are at Wembley apparently.

While I follow West Ham down here and I dont want them to move from Upton Park, a place with so much football history, I can see the benefit as we will be able to clear a large proportion of the debt we have with the sale of the original Academy of Football stadium and pay little for a brand new, modern stadium.

As for Spurs, they should stay up in north london the dirty spurs *******s! :greengrin

[heretoday]

correct about WH filling not being able to fill scaled back to 60k (not 80k) seater stadia, they cant even fill upton park!! as for spurs filling 60k, no problem at all, sell out every week, and they have over 34k on season ticket waiting list.


Yeah but with cash generated from sale of Upton Park and naming rights at the Olympic they can hopefully build a good team to challenge at the top. If they do that then there is a huge potential fanbase to the east of London that will become interested. Presumably they are not intending to just yoyo between the prem and the champs ad nauseam. Grant them some ambition.

[Sylar]

So let me get this right.

Joe Public spends £x in taxes which contribute towards the building a top class track and athletics stadium (of which, there aren't a large number in the UK) and once it's completed, the stadium is awarded to a private company in West Ham, with the track element set to be destroyed.

I just don't get why the stadium can't be maintained as an athletics venue :confused: - what other track and field stadia is there in London?

Karren Brady has a cheek to lambaste people for inequality - everyone finances the development of this stadium through tax contributions, but only the elite footballers of the EPL benefit in the long run?

[HenryMonk]

Yeah but with cash generated from sale of Upton Park and naming rights at the Olympic they can hopefully build a good team to challenge at the top. If they do that then there is a huge potential fanbase to the east of London that will become interested. Presumably they are not intending to just yoyo between the prem and the champs ad nauseam. Grant them some ambition.

ok. they've been yoyoin for years and they cant fill upton park. £95m to covert oylmpic stadium, £40m coming from tax payers (newham council), (and this is after people like me having to fund it in first place with extra being slapped on top of council tax).

sale of upton park will be used to fund short fall of £55m. and mind WH are still massivley in debt.

in 5 years time this will be a white elephant and the tax payer will have funded it. and west ham fans will wanting to move out (or rip up track). its totaly unsistainable project.

huge fan base at LO's expsense!

[Part/Time Supporter]

They'll be celebrating on the streets of Tottenham. Can't imagine many spurs fans who would have wanted to move to the Olympic Stadium miles away from their roots.

Just think we could have been playing at Straiton now if things had been different. That would have been a disaster. Virtually no pubs in the area and a pretty soulless place. We would have been competing with Ikea for business.

You'd be surprised. There are relatively few Spurs fans in Tottenham, partly because it is one of the poorer boroughs and Spurs have just about the highest ticket prices anywhere. White Hart Lane is also pretty guff as far as public transport in London goes. Part of the reason Spurs were going for the Olympic site was to put some pressure on Tottenham borough council (ie by threatening to leave the borough).

[Part/Time Supporter]

So let me get this right.

Joe Public spends £x in taxes which contribute towards the building a top class track and athletics stadium (of which, there aren't a large number in the UK) and once it's completed, the stadium is awarded to a private company in West Ham, with the track element set to be destroyed.

I just don't get why the stadium can't be maintained as an athletics venue :confused: - what other track and field stadia is there in London?

Karren Brady has a cheek to lambaste people for inequality - everyone finances the development of this stadium through tax contributions, but only the elite footballers of the EPL benefit in the long run?

1. It would cost millions a year to maintain in a reasonable condition with bugger all income as an athletics-only stadium.

2. West Ham are keeping the running track - that's probably the main reason they won the bid. Spurs said they would get rid of it and build a smaller purpose-built athletics stadium elsewhere in London. This led to criticism from athletics people who pointed out they had promised to keep a running track in the stadium when they made the Olympics bid in the first place.

3. West Ham will only have the stadium on a long term lease, not full ownership.

[HenryMonk]

what other track and field stadia is there in London?

Crystal Palace, to which spurs proposals included rebuilding it to 25k dedcated athletics stadia all year round, and with ability in increase it to 40k for world championships.

west hams plans only allow for 20 days a year for athletics.

[HenryMonk]

You'd be surprised. There are relatively few Spurs fans in Tottenham, partly because it is one of the poorer boroughs and Spurs have just about the highest ticket prices anywhere. White Hart Lane is also pretty guff as far as public transport in London goes. Part of the reason Spurs were going for the Olympic site was to put some pressure on Tottenham borough council (ie by threatening to leave the borough).

not really true, but i will grant you that a high percentage of ST holders probably travel to WHL for home games. its a nightmare trying to get on train after game, its either leave 10mins before end or wait 2hrs after match has ended.

what spurs are saying now is they will move further out, like enfield or outside m25 ring.

[iwasthere1972]

You'd be surprised. There are relatively few Spurs fans in Tottenham, partly because it is one of the poorer boroughs and Spurs have just about the highest ticket prices anywhere. White Hart Lane is also pretty guff as far as public transport in London goes. Part of the reason Spurs were going for the Olympic site was to put some pressure on Tottenham borough council (ie by threatening to leave the borough).

Could be wrong on this but I'm pretty sure that the council said that if Tottenham moved away from the area they would have to drop the name Tottenham.

Did Arsenal have to drop the name Woolwich when they moved from Highbury to The Emirates?

[joe breezy]

I was reading about it in the Evening Standard the other night, I also heard that Leyton were asked to submit a bid but didn't, then I've also heard they think they're still somehow in the running.

They probably will be a bit donald ducked to be fair. West Ham with a 35 000 make it relatively inexpensive to go to at times so with a 60 000 stadium with a big horrible running track to kill off the atmosphere will mean they have even more work to do to fill seats.

The whole thing is a bit rubbish and illustrates how crap the Olympic Games are really.

[HenryMonk]

Could be wrong on this but I'm pretty sure that the council said that if Tottenham moved away from the area they would have to drop the name Tottenham.

Did Arsenal have to drop the name Woolwich when they moved from Highbury to The Emirates?

Haringey council, famous recently for baby p.

Team are tottenham hotspur not tottenham, it was said down here that council wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they tried.

[HenryMonk]

I was reading about it in the Evening Standard the other night, I also heard that Leyton were asked to submit a bid but didn't, then I've also heard they think they're still somehow in the running.

They probably will be a bit donald ducked to be fair. West Ham with a 35 000 make it relatively inexpensive to go to at times so with a 60 000 stadium with a big horrible running track to kill off the atmosphere will mean they have even more work to do to fill seats.

The whole thing is a bit rubbish and illustrates how crap the Olympic Games are really.

Prob reason they never bid was because of £90m price to reduce stadium down to 25k or in wh's case 60k

[Part/Time Supporter]

Could be wrong on this but I'm pretty sure that the council said that if Tottenham moved away from the area they would have to drop the name Tottenham.

Yeah, that's right. Doubt if they could have forced it on Spurs as they apparently have ownership of the name copyright.


Did Arsenal have to drop the name Woolwich when they moved from Highbury to The Emirates?

Woolwich is south of the river, it was where Arsenal started. They dropped the name when they moved to Highbury in nineteen-oatcake. The move from Highbury didn't really affect them, as it's only about 1/2 mile between the two sites.

[Dashing Bob S]

I was reading about it in the Evening Standard the other night, I also heard that Leyton were asked to submit a bid but didn't, then I've also heard they think they're still somehow in the running.

They probably will be a bit donald ducked to be fair. West Ham with a 35 000 make it relatively inexpensive to go to at times so with a 60 000 stadium with a big horrible running track to kill off the atmosphere will mean they have even more work to do to fill seats.

The whole thing is a bit rubbish and illustrates how crap the Olympic Games are really.

Exactly. A lot of (UK) taxpayers money spent on a bread-and-circuses show so that politicians can get a stiff one. Then they work out what to do with it. Spurs plans were wasteful, West Ham won't be playing in a proper football stadium, it'll kill the passion of their fans. Bayern has improved 100% since they left that running track Olympic Stadium for a purpose-built football ground.

Football and running tracks don't go, never have, never will.

[mrdependable]

I was reading about it in the Evening Standard the other night, I also heard that Leyton were asked to submit a bid but didn't, then I've also heard they think they're still somehow in the running.

They probably will be a bit donald ducked to be fair. West Ham with a 35 000 make it relatively inexpensive to go to at times so with a 60 000 stadium with a big horrible running track to kill off the atmosphere will mean they have even more work to do to fill seats.

The whole thing is a bit rubbish and illustrates how crap the Olympic Games are really.

Its the Orient i feel sorry for. The new Olympic stadium is only about a mile away from their home and as you say West Ham will be able to just about give the tickets away. However, if watching West Ham in a half empty stadium with a running track around it puts fans off going, it could be an opportunity to them.

I agree, the Olympics are a massive waste of money for 3 weeks of competition

[Lago]

Exactly. A lot of (UK) taxpayers money spent on a bread-and-circuses show so that politicians can get a stiff one. Then they work out what to do with it. Spurs plans were wasteful, West Ham won't be playing in a proper football stadium, it'll kill the passion of their fans. Bayern has improved 100% since they left that running track Olympic Stadium for a purpose-built football ground.

Football and running tracks don't go, never have, never will.

OK I'm a bit at loss here to understand the nity grity of the situation, and perhaps someone can provide a little clarity. To a degree all of the UK taxpayers will, to some extent, have contributed to the cost of this stadium, now a football club has apparently bid £95 mil to move in. Does this in any way recover the cost to the tax payer ? If not I can't help wondering why they should in effect receive a subside from many people who don't even support football. Equally it could be argued that the riches league in football is receiving a tax payer subside.

[Hibs On Tour]

West Ham won't be moving far but it's directly into the O's patch. They have a right to feel concerned.

As for the Stadium itself, the Spurs plan is clearly superior - the Olympic Stadium is going to make a rubbish football stadium.

:agree: and IIRC it also made the point that the olympic lot themselves had rethought their initial assessments about financial viability for an athletics only stadium left after 2012. Think the athletics lot were getting way too precious about having a stadium for something that after all isn't going to be used for athletics for something like 90-95% of the entire year! More about politics than whatever was best for either sport IMHO and end result is that LO have to lump it.

[Hibs On Tour]

Sensible solution would have been for LO to take over the stadium after it downsized to 25000 seats. But then again that wouldn't give the politicians and council a high-profile 'cause' to champion...

Complete nonsense that the council are effectively backrolling WHU to move into their area. Covering the shortfall in funding with a long-term loan. Which is worthless if the club were to run into financial problems further down the line.

Whole thing smacked of nothing but political posturing before the 2012 bid was won and throughout this whole process now its stank of someone, somewhere getting their palms greased to make things happen...

[ScottB]

West Ham were the only choice as tearing the thing down would be madness frankly.

As for Leyton Orient, well if their fans are so fickle as to abandon the club cause another one has moved in down the road then so be it, but considering London is full of clubs and West Ham aren't exactly miles away as it is, it seems like an overreaction on their part to me.

[jgl07]

Could be wrong on this but I'm pretty sure that the council said that if Tottenham moved away from the area they would have to drop the name Tottenham.

Did Arsenal have to drop the name Woolwich when they moved from Highbury to The Emirates?
Well they didn't change their name when they moved from Woolwich to Highbury!

[jgl07]

So let me get this right.

Joe Public spends £x in taxes which contribute towards the building a top class track and athletics stadium (of which, there aren't a large number in the UK) and once it's completed, the stadium is awarded to a private company in West Ham, with the track element set to be destroyed.

I just don't get why the stadium can't be maintained as an athletics venue :confused: - what other track and field stadia is there in London?

And how many matches will will the stadium?

They struggle to get crowds at Crystal Palace.

There is no demand for an athletics stadium above 15,000 capacity in London.

Apart from anything else the Olympic Stadium was designed as a temporary structure. The idea was to reduce it to a 25,000 capacity white elephant. It will have to be largely demolished and rebuilt whatever happens.

Most of the recent Olympic stadia that have been built have either had the track removed or are largely derelict dependent on monster truck racing or similar.