The Olympic Stadium: Poll IV

[the pink palermo]

Edit .

[westham,eggyandchips]

IMO the only way we will get anywhere near a full house in the OS is to make top end season tickets no more than £500 whatever division we are in and match-day prices no more than £25 with concessions £15, and I cant see that happening so long as G, S & B have a breath in their body. So-called "Floating Fans" dont go to games for umpteen reasons and the few I have spoken to have said it has nothing to do with the price.

[upton girlie]

Pinky...Has the worm turned?

[Hammer110]

Pinky...Has the worm turned?

Don't think so, think he is just being rational over why the club wants to go there, unlike many posters who are trying to make arguments based on supposition.

[the pink palermo]

Edit .

[westham,eggyandchips]

Ok, lets assume Pinky that in our first season we do manage to average 52k by virtually letting people in for nowt. How is a club that is currently about £75m in debt ever expect to generate some real revenue to compete with even the second tier in the PL, when we're going to incur yet more debt trying to get to this waste of land in the first place? Our ONLY asset appears to be the Boleyn and im not sure the sale of that would touch the sides of what is really required financially.

[BSB1]

Don't think so, think he is just being rational over why the club wants to go there, unlike many posters who are trying to make arguments based on supposition.

I think him and I are fighting a losing battle on that one.

[Up the Junction]

Well the 'No' vote has decreased from 63 per cent to 60 in three days ... not a massive swing but perhaps some people are listening

[James P]

Don't think so, think he is just being rational over why the club wants to go there, unlike many posters who are trying to make arguments based on supposition.

There's a fair amount of supposition on both sides to be fair.

52k attendances is supposition
Us being on telly more at the OS is supposition
Sponsors paying us more as a result is supposition
Man Utd bringing 15,000 to the OS is supposition

Let's not start pretending either side is working with fact.

[Pop Robson]

UG-
No, not at all .but I think the scale and resilience of our fanbase is a touch underestimated .We're in division 2, many fans say the football is crap, many fans say it's too expensive , many fans say the game is on telly , still more say it's a crap KO time .........and yet 34,900 attend .

6,000 of us went to Coventry ........frankly, just for a laugh .What makes people think 15,000 Manchester United fans wouldn't turn up to coin one side of the OS the "Stratford end" ?

Hammer 110 - spot on .

15,000 Man Utd

Stick them all the £60 seats !

[Georgee Paris]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned but look at the ticket demand for the 2 play off finals and FA Cup final that we were involved in. I know people that sold their tickets for £500 each (c*nts) Also demand was so big that we also had people in all the pubs in cardiff who went along without a ticket on the day. We could easily have sold our allocation twice those at all those games. Yes, I appreciate vs Bolton on Wednesday night is a different kettle of fish and have taken into account the Arsenal factor...Truth is their fans have been spoilt whereas we have been starved.
Yes, this is mostly supposition but is it really that bigger jump from where we are already and seriously what does it matter to fans on here if there are a few empty seats, hundred, thousands?? What does it matter at all? Why would that be a reason to worry about moving? We closed a stand when we played Millwall - It didn't really stop the world turning. There's been a few empty seats at the Emirates - who gives a damn? When Arsenal *spit* win a few again it'll be packed again. We maybe in a recession but it won't last forever. You maybe struggling at work but it doesn't mean Joe Blogs necessarily is as well.

[the pink palermo]

Edit .

[adie]

whenever we have taken huge numbers away from home (6,000 to Coventry) the players have said it has spurred them on, now if we are gonna have big away allocations at the OS then we are throwing away our home advantage, sounds like suicide to me. NO to OS, NO to Os, NO to OS

[the pink palermo]

Well the 'No' vote has decreased from 63 per cent to 60 in three days ... not a massive swing but perhaps some people are listening

UtJ in Peter Snow mode .

Ok Boss, I'll try and shut up, but there is something hugely tragic about so many fans voting they would go to a new stadium , just to stop a rival moving in there , and then trying to vote a different way once they believe that immidiate threat has diminished .The debate , in my view, should only ever be about what is best for our club and fans and not be tarnished by external influences .

Commercially, from the clubs perspective , this is a no brainer .The only debate is by how large a factor it would make more money than the Boleyn .A fully owned, properly redeveloped football stadium would make an absolute fortune .A rented , bodgeit and rammit converted stadium , less than the first option.........but still rather more than the Boleyn .

It's not what I want though , nor I suspect many others .........but we are all going to die anyway , and the club will just find new fans .

New era, new heroes, click here for tickets !

[James P]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned but look at the ticket demand for the 2 play off finals and FA Cup final that we were involved in. I know people that sold their tickets for £500 each (c*nts) Also demand was so big that we also had people in all the pubs in cardiff who went along without a ticket on the day. We could easily have sold our allocation twice those at all those games. Yes, I appreciate vs Bolton on Wednesday night is a different kettle of fish and have taken into account the Arsenal factor...Truth is their fans have been spoilt whereas we have been starved.

As you say, there's different kettle of fish. Once in a generation cup finals will bring everyone out and yes, mobilise 100,000 West Ham fans to South Wales, as will the playoff finals. But just last season, fans baulked at paying Category B prices to watch a League Cup Semi Final. They wanted them cheaper or they'd stay home or go down the pub. What does this say about our fanbase? It's certainly a little worrying.

Yes, this is mostly supposition but is it really that bigger jump from where we are already and seriously what does it matter to fans on here if there are a few empty seats, hundred, thousands?? What does it matter at all? Why would that be a reason to worry about moving? We closed a stand when we played Millwall - It didn't really stop the world turning. There's been a few empty seats at the Emirates - who gives a damn? When Arsenal *spit* win a few again it'll be packed again. We maybe in a recession but it won't last forever. You maybe struggling at work but it doesn't mean Joe Blogs necessarily is as well.

As Pinky has said every league game played at the OS will be shown in pubs all across East London and Essex. I live just outside Romford town centre and I know of at least six pubs withing a 1 mile radius of my front door which showed every West Ham Premier League game. Within three miles there must be a score. This wasn't the case five years ago. As aggrieved STHs don't let us forget, the club have struggled to get casual fans to turn up to the Boleyn without discounting the life out of tickets for the last two or three seasons, a time which has coincided with the growth of foreign football transmissions in pubs.

Increasingly football clubs are going to have to work harder and harder to make the casual fan choose to spend £50 attending a game live rather than walking down the local and spending a tenner on three pints of beer. The live experience will really have to offer something special given the whopping premium attached to being there over seeing the game in the pub. The main selling point will be the atmosphere and the feeling of "being part of it". The problem with that, is that the OS is an athletics stadium which doesn't lend itself kindly to this. Even a full athletics stadium will probably have obstacles to getting a real atmosphere going. Perhaps not for the Tottenham or Chelsea game, or for a big relegation/promotion six pointer, but for the middle of the road games, like Everton and Sunderland and Villa and of course the cliched Wigan on an wet tuesday night. In an athletics stadium with 10,000 empty seats, this issue becomes exacerbated even further because thousands of empty seats unquestionably harm atmospheres. Only getting 40,000 in a 60,000 stadium is something to worry about (particularly if those 40,000 are paying less than current Cat B prices) as it harms one of the increasingly few things live football has going for it.

As for Pinky as we're all knee-deep in supposition I won't pick apart your conservative estimate of £120m but could you quickly summarise why you think we will be on the telly more in the OS? Every Premier league game at the Boleyn is already broadcast abroad so there is no room for growth there. Do you think Sky or ESPN will show more West Ham games domestically purely because of the new stadium? How many above the number already shown do you think? Two a season?

[Georgee Paris]

You also have to admit - no one has a clue what the atmosphere will be like in the ATHLETIC stadium until it is actually full. Would all the anti's have a change of opinion if miraculously the acoustics are amazing and somehow even with 10k empty seats and overlooking a running track somehow you feel closer to the action...I suspect not...however seeing as it will never happen and no one in England has tickets for the ATHLETICs being shown possibly to a packed house this summer we have little to no chance of finding out either...that is unless we go to the pub and watch it on TV and think...WOW that looks good. Imagine if West Ham played there....

[Upton Larks]

should only ever be about what is best for our club and fans and not be tarnished by external influences .

Surely those external influences play a factor in benefits or otherwise?

[The Moth]

pinky
Explain to me how ,with a 60k capacity (well above any potential average attendence even at your 52k estimate) the club cab securitise ticket sales, as in selling season tickets? Wheres the incentive when every game will have tickets available on the day ,especially if the club gear up theyre promotion towards the casual fan? Securitising ticket sales is fundamental to any club.

Also, whos to say those who voted yes when spurs were in the running were doing so on the basis of us owning the stadium rather than just to stop a rival getting in? Having full control of stadia has become priority for many top european clubs to be able to benefit from the commercial rewards football stadiums can generate. As a tenent I cant see us getting full control of sponsorship/commercial operations, theres no way well get a deal like man city managed with manchester council.

Lastly, if we cant gain full commercial rights wheres the financial incentive , especially if we were charging minimal fees for tickets (10-15 quid)?

[the pink palermo]

Edit .

[James P]

You also have to admit - no one has a clue what the atmosphere will be like in the ATHLETIC stadium until it is actually full. Would all the anti's have a change of opinion if miraculously the acoustics are amazing and somehow even with 10k empty seats and overlooking a running track somehow you feel closer to the action...I suspect not...however seeing as it will never happen and no one in England has tickets for the ATHLETICs being shown possibly to a packed house this summer we have little to no chance of finding out either...that is unless we go to the pub and watch it on TV and think...WOW that looks good. Imagine if West Ham played there....

It's not about changing my opinion, it's about people voting with their feet and their wallets. If the acoustics are superb and watching games at the OS is a great experience, people will keep on coming back. I'll happily hold my hands up and say I was wrong and the club will probably have a very bright future. Personally, I think the probability of this happening is extremely low.

Seeing the Olympics on the telly counts for nothing. If the month in August is spectacular but the reality of West Ham playing there is unsatisfying, fans will stop going.