The Olympic Stadium [2010 Poll]

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Do you support the proposed move to an Olympic Stadium with a running track, post-2012 games?

Poll ended at Thu Jun 03, 2010 1:48 am

Yes
75
18%
No
299
73%
Undecided
36
9%
 
Total votes: 410

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hadleighhammer
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by hadleighhammer »

Arch Dandy wrote: Well from any who used to go or wanted to go but have been priced out in the last 10 years, that'll be people who stopped going in the 70's/80's due to violence, people who used to go but can't afford it themselves, people who want to take their kids but can't afford it as well as people on day trips & tourists. It's not like we don't get those now is it?

I'd think the cheap seats would be at the front, that'll be the worst view I would think, like now.
The violence has been gone for years and the stadium makes no difference so it would just leave those who've been priced out. A 45k Boleyn or a purpose built 45k stadium would allow some reduction in ticket prices, being able to maintain a c.75% full stadium even for Wigan at home on a Wednesday on Sky, be purpose built with football in mind not some half-arsed refit as G&S want to improve their investment's bank balance over what's best for the long-term of the club.

If we're selling the seats cheap enough to fill 60k for Wigan at home how does the turnover increase dramatically then, especially as many will give up ST as they can just pick and choose the games? Arsenal had a very low uptake on ST when they moved as those on the waiting list at Highbury became Gold members and could easily get tickets for any match. I'd assume some, myself included, would see the move as the final straw and jack in the ST aswell due to the nature of the new stadium. Also, we'd have to invest heavily in a redesign to add in the corporate areas that G&S will obviously want. We might get some daytrippers now, but we'd get a lot more in the new OS stadium, or do you really think any different and that instead it will be full of previously priced out fans? The Emirates certainly isn't. Nice idea, but won't be the reality IMO.

The cheap seats will be at the back where the view is the worst. I have very little doubt on this. The cheaper seats now are up the back and in the corners if you take the West Stand as an example of a large, modern tiered stand.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by Arch Dandy »

hadleighhammer wrote:We might get some daytrippers now, but we'd get a lot more in the new OS stadium, or do you really think any different and that instead it will be full of previously priced out fans? The Emirates certainly isn't. Nice idea, but won't be the reality IMO.

The cheap seats will be at the back where the view is the worst. I have very little doubt on this. The cheaper seats now are up the back and in the corners if you take the West Stand as an example of a large, modern tiered stand.
I think it'll be mixture of both, you'd get in day trippers but we get in about 15k of them in every week and you'd get some of people who'd been priced out. I agree with most of what you say and personally don't think we'll end up in the Olympic Stadium unless the owners can do a cracking deal, mainly because of the lack of facilities and corporate seats, if we don't have them there is very little incentive for us to move financially. That the fans don't like the track wouldn't bother them too much.

Aren't the cheapest seats now the TBL & BML, both at behind the goals?
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by Mega Ron »

If we don't own the ground and football implodes then surely it's a good thing for the club not to own something that isn't paying for itself?

Also, if we move to the OS and it's not right surely a move or reconstruction of the place will happen anyway. If the club's finances are sorted then not owning the Boleyn shouldn't affect us being able to get the credit necessary to have a new stadium built.

And I get that people don't want the track as it will ruin the atmosphere etc (but the atmosphere is already dead) but is the lower teir everyone's preffered stand to sit in anyway? I had season tickets in the lower teirs at the Boleyn and yes the atmosphere was better there, as it was cheaprer, but the best views are in the upper teirs.

In my experience the atmosphere at the Boleyn comes from the cheap seats and if there were more cheap seats, and maybe more cheap beer being served from better facilities (i know people are saying the facilities aren't going to be top notch but do they really need to be to be better than our lego stadium?), at the OS would that then improve the atmosphere?
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by GideaParkHammer »

Hammers80 wrote:If we don't own the ground and football implodes then surely it's a good thing for the club not to own something that isn't paying for itself?

Also, if we move to the OS and it's not right surely a move or reconstruction of the place will happen anyway. If the club's finances are sorted then not owning the Boleyn shouldn't affect us being able to get the credit necessary to have a new stadium built.

Re your first point. We will be paying a fixed lease in order to rent the stadium whether we fill it or not. As we own our current stadium, we pay no rent and many of the stadium costs can be increased/ reduced depending on attendance.

As for the second point, it has been stated that the bulk of the revenue generated by selling the Boleyn will go into the conversion of the OS. The ODC are not going to give us back that money if we find that the move has "not worked". If the move does work, then great we stay there. If it fails, it means that we have not generated sufficient revenue to ensure the club's finances "are sorted". We will also have no asset to use as collateral on any bank loans. We will be stuck there having burnt our bridges.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by sutts07 »

Sky Sports 1 right now for a feel of how life would be at a ground with a running track!
Rotherham v Aldershot from last night...

No thanks!
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by WestHamIFC »

GideaParkHammer wrote: Remember, these "lost" fans in places like Southend and Basildon still have to pay for train tickets, (the club tried free coaches in the past with little success).
That's exactly why - location & price wise at least - the OS could be ideal, and attract those 'lost fans' back again.

They could bring their kids and almost literally spill out of the train into their seats(!).

And the reduced prices would subsidise the travel costs.

This is as opposed to their journey now which involves changing lines to the creaking District Line, and afterwards queueing up around several blocks to access UP tube in the middle of a freezing winter!

If you've got children as well, it's pretty much hell-on-earth currently. Especially if West Ham have put in another abject performance!

If only we could get rid of that effing running track!! Headbanger
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hadleighhammer
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by hadleighhammer »

Arch Dandy wrote:
I think it'll be mixture of both, you'd get in day trippers but we get in about 15k of them in every week and you'd get some of people who'd been priced out. I agree with most of what you say and personally don't think we'll end up in the Olympic Stadium unless the owners can do a cracking deal, mainly because of the lack of facilities and corporate seats, if we don't have them there is very little incentive for us to move financially. That the fans don't like the track wouldn't bother them too much.

Aren't the cheapest seats now the TBL & BML, both at behind the goals?
I think the mixture would be 95% daytripper, and 5% returning supporter. I'd still say slightly reduced prices in a 45k Boleyn would win more regular fans back than the OS would.

Yes, but the most expensive include at the front of the West and East stands. Depends which example you take.

As the view from the back of the OS upper tier is so far away, I'd assume they'll be the cheaper than the lower tier behind the goals, which will be cheaper than seats at the front of the side stands.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by freddies shears »

Personally i just cant visualise our ground (THAT THE CLUB OWN) being flattened and turned into even more substandard living accomadation. With a shiny primarni as its centre piece. Also surely moving to a stadium that the club dont own leaves us even more vulnerable. Over past four or five years i have taken to going to loads of away games in order to experience what its truly like being part of da familia. This atmosphere was available at the boleyn a few years back but sadly has changed, Speaking to gooners fans they seen the same since they have moved grounds and partly its the size/shape/ clientel of the new found foreign gooner fan. I am all for a bigger / louder / intimidating atmoshere and only wish it could come from turning the chicken run in another doc martins and closing the corners off. But i love a good sing song and piss take of everything that moves but not sure if vladimir and his chums are gonna join in. But dried fish at half time is just wrong.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by kitthehammer »

I'm with Gullivan on this really although only because the state of the game dictates that its all about Money.
We have the choice of remaining a struggling club or trying to push onwards and upwards.
If we dont move then we will be a lower league club, unless the game changes dramatically.
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hadleighhammer
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by hadleighhammer »

Hammers80 wrote:If we don't own the ground and football implodes then surely it's a good thing for the club not to own something that isn't paying for itself?
You're joking right? Rather than renting something that isn't paying for itself? :?
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hadleighhammer
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by hadleighhammer »

kitthehammer wrote:I'm with Gullivan on this really although only because the state of the game dictates that its all about Money.
We have the choice of remaining a struggling club or trying to push onwards and upwards.
If we dont move then we will be a lower league club, unless the game changes dramatically.
Why? Name 17+ clubs who will have a higher capacity, average attendance and, more importantly, a higher turnover than we would have at a 40-45k Boleyn?

I'd rather be struggling than play in the OS anyway.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by Matthew Newman »

I've voted "No" because the proximity of the crowd to the players is a MASSIVE part of what going to West Ham is about.

All that stuff about the impact of us "being the 12th man" would be exponentially reduced If our seats were the other side of a running track, as opposed to close enough to make your insults heard as they are now, that'd certainly be five season ticket sales they'd lose ... and a few football matches too; I like to think some of our abuse has played a big part in the results and the decisions of a few officials, as the seasons have gone by up 'til now.

If
ottsands wrote: there's still the possibility of some kind on temporary seating over the track
however, that might well shift me from a "No".
:crest:
Last edited by Matthew Newman on Thu May 20, 2010 2:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by Mega Ron »

hadleighhammer wrote: You're joking right? Rather than renting something that isn't paying for itself? :?
What I mean is if we're paying rent on the OS, whatever that rent will be, then surely the owners of the stadium are the one's liable for the associated costs whereas if we keep our crap stadium then we're left paying the bills.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by GideaParkHammer »

Matthew Newman wrote:
Offstands "If there's still the possibility of some kind on temporary seating over the track"

however, that might well shift me from a "No".
:crest:
The front row is ground level. Unless you want a mosh pit between the stands and the pitch, then having seats on the track is a no starter
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by Coley »

I fully understand the need to push on and move forward, I was fully for the move to the OS. Make all kinds of sense. But that was before the building started, and we could have been looking at something like the City of Manchester stadium.

A running track is a woeful idea on every level, and i cant believe it's still even on the table. Can anyone give an example where such a scheme has been a success? Failures are numerous and easy to come across.

I'd rather us play in the championship than that bowl with a track. A majopr revamp would need to be done to the stadium to it to work, Different sport i know, but much like the Atlanta OS that was then turned into the Braves baseball stadium, but as you can see from the top corner, it was built with the change in mind.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by sutts07 »

429 ESPN classic right now for another look at how life would be at a ground with a running track!

England v Belgium 1990

:lol:
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by Yea Why Not »

With or without the running track the atmosphere will be ****
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by davids cross »

kitthehammer wrote:I'm with Gullivan on this really although only because the state of the game dictates that its all about Money.
We have the choice of remaining a struggling club or trying to push onwards and upwards.
If we dont move then we will be a lower league club, unless the game changes dramatically.
Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal will all disappear over the horizon if we don't do something. Even now we can't beat any of them, they are hugely stronger than us in every way. Give it a few more years when Arsenal have paid of the debt for their stadium, Spurs will have an amazing stadium and Chelsea have the money to do anything they like while Roman is there and we will never be competitive with them ever again, not even to tug their coats once in a while. This opportunity is huge, it is an amazing stadium but we all know the downside, the track. I think we will become irrelevant in London, in an on the pitch sense if we don't move. Some will be happy for us to remain as we are and meander on at The Boleyn, for me I would like to keep up with the teams I've regarded as rivals all my life...........If there is another way, build up The Boleyn capacity, but I don't see it happening. Build a football stadium of our own, won't happen. The Olympic Stadium is a way of keeping pace with the people around us. I'm torn because of the view, really torn but on balance I think we have to move and make the best of it. To stay where we are as we are will sadly see us drop further behind and probably never recover.
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by WalthammerUSA »

Help a Yank out here. Is there anything around the OS at this point? Any pubs, curry houses, whatever? Or is the plan to develop a "neighborhood" around the stadium?

Washington, DC, built a stadium for its new baseball team a few years back in a remote and pretty barren part of town. The plan was to develop the land around the stadium into a neighborhood, but the recession hit and now a very nice stadium sits in a sketchy, ugly part of DC with absolutely nothing to offer but the stadium itself. The best-laid plans and all that...
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Re: Stratford 2012: the running track [POLL]

Post by prince_huggy »

:clap: Very well put Mr DC. If it means staying on top (or in the middle as we are) then everyone will just have to suck it in and put up with the ground and track.
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