Good news for West Ham today as they were named the Highest-Ranked Bidder to be the principal user of the London Olympic Stadium.
The announcement did not come unexpected as the other bids, including one of other East-London club Leyton Orient, lacked commercial viability or hinged on too many uncertainties.
West Ham will now start negotiations with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to come to a binding agreement. Most importantly, this will involve agreeing on the financial conditions of the project that will reconfigure the stadium to make it suitable for football purposes.
The seating in the present stadium would be too far off the pitch due to the running tracks, and a retractable/movable seating solution therefore has to get installed, which will likely involve demolishing and rebuilding the bottom tier. Capacity will get reduced from a current 80,000 seats to an expected 60,000 seats.
At the same time, the stadium will have to be able to host athletics events to assure an “Olympic legacy” for the stadium. UK Athletics has been guaranteed a minimum of 20 dates a year, which will include the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
The project will come at an expected cost of about £130 to 160 million, which comes on top of the £429 million that the original stadium cost to build. West Ham earlier stated only to want to contribute £15 million to the extra costs of the project, arguing that the rent they pay and concession revenue the owners will receive is a sufficient contribution. The rest of the funding will come out of a mix of public and private sources.
Another condition is that the present West Ham owners will have to share part of the profits if they decide to sell the club on, the assumption here being that the club’s move to the Olympic Stadium will result in a significant increase in value.
West Ham showed themselves pleased with the decision:
We commend the LLDC and its Chair, Boris Johnson, for their vision in appointing West Ham as Highest-Ranked Bidder. In doing so, London is well on the way to being able to showcase yet another major destination and visitor attraction in the Olympic Park, further strengthening the capital’s place on the global map.
It will still take a while though before the club will be able to move into their new home as works will not be done before the start of the 2015-16 season, with a good chance that this will get delayed to 2016.
If West Ham comes to an agreement, this will mean the end of Upton Park, their present home, which will get demolished and sold to property developers.
(Photo: Flickr user EG Focus)