West Ham and the Olympic Stadium

[Yoda]

But the Athletics people are behind this.. perhaps they thinking about putting in retractable seats ?

Would that not have had to been built into the stadium already to work? Otherwise they would need to demolish the whole thing and start again.

 

[sten_super]

Tottenham are eying it as a plan b. Martin Samuel isn't fond of the idea:

Martin Samuel: Keep your Tottenham tanks off West Ham's manor, Mr Levy | Mail Online

Funny how he doesn't mention Orient then, especially given his quoting of the PL rule I6;
Rule I6 (5) states that the move would not adversely affect clubs (or Football League clubs) having their registered grounds in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location.

Surely that would rule out West Ham moving there as well?

 

[Pavilionaire]

I totally agree with Martin Samuel, but I think Levy is really mischief-making at West Ham's expense. Arsenal did the right thing to rebuild round the corner from Highbury and Spurs quite rightly want to have their new stadium in Tottenham.

Anyway, Spurs' new training HQ is in Enfield just up the A10 from WHL, so moving the home ground further away doesn't make a lot of sense from that perspective either.

 

[bhaexpress]

If the athletics bods would agree to only use it in the spring and summer, that wouldn't be an issue.

I can't see the viability of a dedicated American football stadium in London. Bearing in mind, there are EIGHT HOME GAMES in an entire gridiron season (Sept-Dec) there wouldn't be the gate receipts from 40k to make it viable either, that's why American football teams have to have those huge 100-150k stadia they share with other sports.

I wasn't suggesting that it would be dedicated to an NFL franchise, believe me in the US few are. I was merely suggesting that it was an option as against Wembley for an NFL Franchise.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

BBC News - Tottenham

 

[surrey jim]

Cant see Tottenham getting it now!

 

[hitony]

The way West Ham are going they will want to use The Withdean from next season, Upton Park will be far to big for them

 

[Knotty]

Funny how he doesn't mention Orient then, especially given his quoting of the PL rule I6;
Rule I6 (5) states that the move would not adversely affect clubs (or Football League clubs) having their registered grounds in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location.

Surely that would rule out West Ham moving there as well?

The Olympic Stadium is just 3.5 miles from their registered ground. I'm sure other clubs must have moved further than that to new grounds.

 

[bhaexpress]

It's an odd situation. Whilst Spurs want to dismantle the stadium at their expense West Ham want to take it as it is but the also want the local council to give them a sizeable loan. Frankly neither solution is good although Spurs would be my choice as long as they leave the running track. I watched the London news last night and it seems that most Spurs fans are not keen on leaving White Hart Lane. I don't know what Hammers fans think but selling Upton Park would help their finances although how many will support a Championship team ?

 

[Jimbo.GRFC]

Interesting what they do with it, but I wouldn't worry about "the designed for athletics bit..."

Isn't that what the City of Manchester Stadium was designed for ? I presume West Ham are thinking of doing something similar.

But the Athletics people are behind this.. perhaps they thinking about putting in retractable seats ?

One thing for sure though, Leyton Orient will be buggered.

Man City certainly fell on their feet with that Stadium, did they actually pay for it or did we the tax-payers fund that stadium ? There's never been clarity on this

 

[Jimbo.GRFC]

Yes. Pretty much sold out every PL game since returning to the top flight in 2005.

Filling the Olympic Stadium however, will be a challenge. If West Ham are looking for ground improvements, marry up all the stands in the ground - redevelop the 'Chicken Run'/East Stand (the older stand) - 40,000+ capacity.

Simples.

I always thought that was the long term plan, I think for West Ham to move would be a disaster, I have a little soft spot for them ( I know ) but they do create a great atmosphere which I doubt could be recreated at the olympic stadium.

 

[Simster]

The more I read about this, the more I think it would be a massive mistake for either club to take that venue. Spurs won't get it anyway now, but in any case it is a poor move outside of their natural area of London. For West Ham, I seriously think it would prove to be a disaster. Without major reconfiguration, the stadium would be a soulless bowl, and with 60,000 seats they will only fill it about a few times a season, and that's with the help of massive away support from Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. And what happens when they go down? The whole experience at West Ham will be awful, even on respectable gates of 25,000.

 

[alan partridge]

I'd be very pissed off with this if I was a west ham fan. Be a horrible experience football-wise.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

I think Spurs' proposal of knocking down the Olympic Stadium is completely ludicrous. I'm actually flabbergasted that this is even considered a possibility. The whole thing seems so incredibly arrogant. How in these times when our financial system and environment is under so much pressure can it seem sensible to build a multi million pound stadium, then demolish it and build another multi million pound stadium. ABSOLUTELY BATTY!


Edit: Ken Livingston's thoughts....

Ken Livingstone has said he would be horrified if Tottenham were successful in their bid to take over the Olympic Stadium because of the "horrendous" cost to the environment.

The former London mayor said the 'carbon footprint' cost of demolishing the stadium after the 2012 Games was unacceptable.

"I would be horrified at the thought, if Tottenham get it, that you demolish a stadium we've just spent £400m building," Livingstone said. "The carbon cost of a stadium is horrendous. To demolish it? There's a carbon footprint cost here which is just not acceptable."

 

[strings]

'Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ' and red Ken make a good point. The stadium was deliberately designed to have a very low carbon footprint. Knocking down the stadium after a few months would make it very high-carbon - perhaps one of the most environmentally unfriendly stadiums ever.

Is anyone else starting to thing that we should have thought about what was going to happen to the stadium BEFORE we bid for the olympics?

 

[sten_super]

The Olympic Stadium is just 3.5 miles from their registered ground. I'm sure other clubs must have moved further than that to new grounds.

That's true, but it's 3.5 miles towards Leyton Orient (well, probably more like 2 miles towards Brisbane Road, but you get the idea). It would move them much closer to Leyton and erode Orient's potential fanbase.

My point really was that Samuel cannot hold up the regulations as being against Tottenham's case for moving there without, in the interests of fairness, raising the point that West Ham's move would be similarly damaging for another local club. Of course, because Orient aren't a Premier League club there's much less concern on the part of most people involved.

I'd always assumed that Spurs interest was really as a warning shot to Haringey council, who had asked Spurs to fund much of the infrastructure development which went alongside their new stadium plans in the borough. They can't really be considered as a serious bidder, can they, with their intention to make it solely a football stadium and to knock down the existing construction??

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I really dont want Spurs to move to that site, its not North London.

My view on the matter is that Levy is playing games with Haringey council, they are trying to extract more money for from the club and Levy is not going to pay the extra money they want.

I should think the council wont want to lose Spurs just as much as Spurs dont want to leave N17, thats why they are kicking up a fuss.

West Ham going to Olympic stadium would be a mess as well, if they go down they wont fill it and we all know how rubbish grounds are with a running track around.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Plus Spurs own pretty much all the land around WHL so Haringly council would have to buy that off the club if they moved away.

 

[Rowdey]

Plus Spurs own pretty much all the land around WHL so Haringly council would have to buy that off the club if they moved away.

err why ? Is that not for THFC to sort out ?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

The club can sell the land to anyone they want and the council would have no say