100,000 free tickets?

[Barking Boy]

As part of their manifesto to secure the Olympic Stadium, aren't the club giving away 100,000 free tickets every season to local clubs? With selling 52,000 ST's out of a capacity of 60,000 that equates to roughly 5k free tickets and 3k away fans every game with no general sale, hence no need for a Membership. Unless of course the club have forgot that part?

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

I believe the 100,000 free tickets are from Newham Council and refer to all events at the OS, not just football.

[JFK]

Yes it's all events but no split ever given and whatever share West Ham is, there is no comment about what games they should be.

I would expect each PL game to have some though and perhaps that number is included in the 52k.

All clubs give out tickets to the community. I was on a training course last year and there was a guy living in a services hostel around Aldgate. In the one month period i saw him, he went to three games from tickets given to them by clubs.One was QPR where he saw West Ham and twice he went to Arsenal.

In early rounds of the cup, WHU will no doubt, if allowed, bump the numbers up then.

I don't think anyone can knock the club with around 25% of the Season Tickets sold for £99 or £389.

And of course worth noting, if say 50% of the Newham tickets are for kids and the rest get seated in Band 5, then the club are not losing a fortune. Doing crude maths, say 40% of tickets has to come from WHU, then that's just over 2,000 lots of season tickets. If split 50/50 as noted then the cost would only be £400k. It's unlikely to be 2k ST's but you see where i'm coming from. Perhaps 1k which would cover half our 40k if that guess is right.

I very much doubt you will see kids for a quid for a league game. Perhaps for some minor cup games.

[Pop Robson]

https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Service ... rresidents

[WestHamIFC]

I believe the 100,000 free tickets are from Newham Council and refer to all events at the OS, not just football.

https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Mayors-free-giveaway.aspx#Freeticketsforresidents

Yes that's now confirmed: "to attend events that take place in the former Olympic Stadium"

The T&C's confirm that includes athletics, concerts - and probably the likes of the Great Newham Run!

I'm guessing the World Athletics Championships will see alot of the qualifying rounds tickets given away. As for West Ham - the Accrington Stanley League Cup fixture seems a prime candidate too!

[Wembley1966]

^^^ The Great Newham Run is not part of the ticket giveaway. Newham Council are entitled to hold 10 events a year at the Stadium for whatever they want.

And the 100,000 tickets are for West Ham United matches!

From the Concession Agreement:

http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/~/media/lldc/concession%20agreement%202016.pdf
9 (k) - comply with the Community Plan (when agreed) and offer up to 100.000 General Admission
Tickets each Football Season to residents of the London Borough of Newham and/or
community groups, clubs, charities and similar organisations, subject to appropriate controls
being in place to contractually restrict any on-sale and the terms of an agreement to be
entered into between the Concessionaire and the London Borough of Newham;

but contradicted in the agreement with:

Schedule 4
2.2 b (iv) Access to events for residents of the London Borough of Newham, both as
spectators and attending community events, including the provision to NU for
distribution to Newham residents of up to 100,000 event tickets to be provided by
Stadium users. Such tickets must be for professional sport or music events taking
place at the Stadium.

From the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park website:

http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/the-park/venues/the-stadium/the-future-of-the-stadium
Community benefits
The local community will benefit all year round from the Stadium:
London Borough of Newham will stage 10 mass participation events in the Stadium each year including the Great Newham London Run
100,000 free tickets every year for Newham residents to see West Ham United matches

Also, a recent FOI request seems to confirm that it's 100,00 for football:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/340995/response/843409/attach/2/FOI%20RESPONSE%20E27196.pdf
Newham Events at the Stadium: Through the agreements with West Ham, UK Athletics and the stadium operator, Newham are entitled to hold up to 10 mass participation events in the stadium and will receive 100,000 tickets for football matches every season. Newham can use these events to generate revenue and
may be able to sell additional tickets for stadium events or access to the stadium for a financial return.

.............
Community Benefits
 Every stadium user to sign up to a ‘Community Plan’ agreed with LB Newham
 100,000 free tickets for Newham residents to watch West Ham United
 The right to access the stadium for 10 community days for LB Newham events including the Great Newham London Run
 250 days access to the community track for local schools per year
 75% of new jobs at the stadium to go to Newham residents
 £250,000 contribution towards community funding from West Ham United
 The legacy benefits secured so far have a commercial value as well as a value for the local community

So that's 4,000 free tickets per match. No wonder they need the increase in capacity!
"Sit down if you want Newham residents to be able to watch the match for free"

[WestHamIFC]

..the 100,000 tickets are for West Ham United matches!

From the Concession Agreement:
http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/~/media/lldc/concession%20agreement%202016.pdf


http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/the-park/venues/the-stadium/the-future-of-the-stadium

Yes but look at the most recently posted Newham Council Terms & Conditions for the free tickets - it clearly indicates a choice of athletics or concerts in addition to football:

https://www.newham.gov.uk/Documents/Campaigns/FreeTicketRegistration.pdf

2.2 At the time of registration each Applicant must indicate which categories of events (for example [football, athletics and/or concerts]) they wish to receive ballot notifications for.

My strong suspicion is that there's been a change in policy from the original intention. I think originally the 100k tickets were going to be for West Ham matches, when they probably predicted we wouldn't fill 54,000 every week anyway.

The demand has taken them by surprise, with now even 60k evidently not enough. So now it's for all stadium events not just West Ham Utd fixtures.

That concession agreement you've linked is dated March 2013. The QE Olympic Park website looks out-of-date too since it talks about what is going to happen in 2016. Whereas the Newham Council document is far more recent than either of those. So I wonder if the folks who answered the FOI request also referenced those out-of-date documents to find the answer they provided...