Stadium costs rise again.

An archive of news, events and discussion leading up to and post West Ham United's historic move from Upton Park to Stratford in 2016.

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Claretdave
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Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Claretdave »

I am a little irritated by the news reporting on this issue. We didn't suggest anyone build a stadium wholly unsuited to football in the first place, nor that we would underwrite the conversion costs.

If you want to blame people for the excess costs, look up Coe and Livingstone.
gavrosh
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by gavrosh »

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and LLDC chairman, blamed the Labour Government of the mid-2000s for the additional costs.

“A very bad call was made when those in charge at the time backed a stadium construction plan that would leave the Olympic Park with a much smaller, mouldering and tumbleweed ridden arena following the Games,” he said.

“Following that plan would have literally torn the heart out of the park and put at risk the incredible economic regeneration we are now seeing in east London.

“Our remedy offered long term sustainable investment in order to protect an iconic stadium that Londoners took to their hearts, and which is now set to be home to almost every conceivable sport, concert or community event for decades to come. We’ve created a knockout venue that will drive and sustain thousands of jobs, where we’ve ensured that a hefty share of the profits will be paid back into taxpayer coffers and which provides a genuine Olympic legacy for our city.”
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AlfieG
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by AlfieG »

Boris...... What a joke he is......

Trying to take all the credit for whats happened while the main driver for all of this shambles was lord Coe who wanted a 25k seater white elephant after the Olympics. Typical politician.

The article quotes, David Goldstone the LLDC chief executive who said: “We have invested in transforming a temporary athletics venue into a permanent world class multi-use arena that has a secure and long-term sustainable future. This has required a significant amount of work and innovative engineering solutions.

“Alongside the transformation work the deals signed with British Athletics and West Ham United and the appointment of a stadium operator ensures the stadium will pay its way and not require any continuing subsidy from the taxpayer.”

The taxpayer should be delighted our board took this on. Without us it would be rotting away now.
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brownout
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by brownout »

£15 million plus £2 million / year for a stadium that cost £701 million.
£30 million for sale of Boleyn?

It's pretty obvious why our owners were so desperate to move there and didn't want the fans to have a say (or proper information in case they didn't like it).
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cockney farmer
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by cockney farmer »

This is nearly as good a wind up as we won the World Cup.
Rasp
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Rasp »

Couldn't give a **** what it costs to be honest it's not ours, tired of all this b*llocks.
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Xerox »

brownout wrote:£15 million plus £2 million / year for a stadium that cost £701 million.
£30 million for sale of Boleyn?

It's pretty obvious why our owners were so desperate to move there and didn't want the fans to have a say (or proper information in case they didn't like it).
And to ensure that a rival club did not save themselves £400M stadium build cost and take up residence in East London. It was bad enough having to drive past their training ground to get to the council dump in Chigwell, imagine Stratford being a no-go area for Hammers shirts on game days.
hammer the hamster
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by hammer the hamster »

It is a fantastic deal for the club:

Working out the overhead of the cost of the stadium rent over 99 years together with an upfront cost of £15million comes out to about £2.54 for each seat per game. That figure ignores any european home games or domestic cup competitions.

There are possibly additional maintenance costs, and possibly rates that the club are responsible for, but looking at those figures it is a no brainer.
gavrosh
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by gavrosh »

AS I keep having to point out to West Ham and non-West Ham fans, its not just £15 mil plus £2.5 mil rent. E20 LLP take a base full share of naming rights and catering that will guarantee it £10 mil a year from West Ham's residency, rising if revenues exceed that base as a majority share with West Ham. They even get more money if we start to get Champions League football.
hammer the hamster
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by hammer the hamster »

gavrosh wrote:AS I keep having to point out to West Ham and non-West Ham fans, its not just £15 mil plus £2.5 mil rent. E20 LLP take a base full share of naming rights and catering that will guarantee it £10 mil a year from West Ham's residency, rising if revenues exceed that base as a majority share with West Ham. They even get more money if we start to get Champions League football.
Even so it is a very good deal based on premier league fixtures alone. That is a small overhead, if we are progressing in cup competitions both European and domestic, then that overhead most likely diminishes further. The fact that when/if we do well other parties revenues increase in line with our own does not diminish how good a deal the clubs board of directors has negotiated for itself.

It does not matter what is said in defence of the deal, there is much jealousy around that is being voiced as it is an 'illegal deal' and is 'a subsidy of West Ham'.

The announcement that the costs have risen does not help our position or that of the LLDC
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Glory Hunter »

I think the question we need to ask is what have we done wrong as a club? My response would be nothing, we've just capitalised on the mistakes and vanity of others.

Remember, if Tottenham hadn't played silly buggers, we'd own the place outright.
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Claretdave »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33214058" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An article that once again misses the point. The powers that be (and I don't want to mention names here) built the stadium without any thought to sustainability. The notion of a 25,000 athletic stadium that you might half fill once a year would leave the OS a classic white elephant.

Looking at this matter from any logical point of view, there was only ever going to be one solution that was both acceptable and economically viable. That some people choose to ignore the longer term use in the original design, thereby costing taxpayers a fortune, is on their head. Just don't blame us for getting (economically) a fine deal.
Jay The Hammer
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Jay The Hammer »

This is not our fault, however what the hell has been going on here? This poor football stadium is going to cost nearly as much as Wembley with no where near the capacity or facilities. It's almost criminal. Who signed the original plans off need to be shot! Surely it would of made sense from the outset to make it a multi use stadium like many examples around the world. Nice roof though..
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Glory Hunter »

The problem is that the original plans were signed off pre financial crash - I guess everyone believed Gordon when he said the era of boom and bust was over.

The costs have spiralled because they've basically had to build the stadium twice.

There is not a serious business on earth that would not have taken the opportunity we have been presented with - controversial? Yes. But what else were we gonna do with the place given all the cock ups that took place pre-2012?
Jay The Hammer
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Jay The Hammer »

Exactly! No one can blame us. But what a dogs dinner of a situation.
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by Second Ball »

I have the feeling that the dogs are released and vultures circling, we won't get the stadium and we'll have to sell UP to cover legal costs ending up with us ground sharing with Orient :-(
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by sussexhammer74 »

Agree with what others are saying. It is not our stadium, we rent it, so why drag our name through the mud.

I wonder if any of the mud slingers, Hearn, MP's etc, are asking to see the other users contract with the stadium. They keep asking to see the deal between West Ham and the stadium but not the athletics, cricket, motorsport, concert holders and the stadium deals.
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James P
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by James P »

Maybe it's just me but I don't really see that much attack on us. Most articles are suggesting that West Ham are getting a fantastic deal on the financial side of it and questioning whether that is correct or not. I haven't really seen anyone suggest we've behaved incorrectly, simply that we appear to the beneficiaries of a perceived injustice.
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submerged
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by submerged »

Here we go again. Again, fails to mention our offer to buy it outright. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/j ... ic-stadium" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Stadium costs rise again.

Post by AlfieG »

:asleep:

As the grauniad says.................... 'One thing is clear: nostalgia alone will not pay the bills and its post-Games life starts here'.

Move on whingers and moaners, the hammers are bailing out the tax payer. without a tenant like us the stadium is a white elephant and you know it....!
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