West Ham's new Olympic Stadium home could cost EXTRA £130m to convert

To all those whingers out there. It doesn't matter which club won the rights or how many seats will be filled. What esle should we do with the stadium.? It needs to be used to the max, and the whole site needs to be maintained. Having permanent residents is an excellent way to help recover the governments outlay. One final comment. West Ham United are based in the London Borough of NewHam the only professional football club in the Borough which club would uou expect to see play there.?

- Ken , London, 01/4/2013 17:20

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Athletics shouldn't have been stubborn enough to build a stadium unfit for anything other than those two best weeks of our lives. WHU will make good of a bad situation. Take the 02 Arena for instance, if done right the OS could work out just fine. As for West Ham picking up a bargain of a deal.. they'll have to employ hundreds of new staff. Now that's a legacy in my eyes.

- WhiteShade , Rochester, Kent, 01/4/2013 12:42

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and exactly how much are british athletics contributing to all this? how much longer are these parasites going to get a free ride on the back of football clubs - who have to pay their own way. we hear coe, hooey and edwards demanding this and that for athletics but the truth is the overwhelming majority of people would not cross the road to watch athletics if it was free

- tom walmsley , blackpool, 31/3/2013 12:59

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Re: Deegee, London .... What utter codswallop you write sir. West Ham NEVER had the intention of buying the stadium. They NEVER had the intention of paying the full conversion costs. Add'l £600m on top of current £80m debt would have bankrupt the beggers. ..... The original tender process for the OS was for the grant of a 99 Year Freehold Lease with the majority of the conversion costs covered by the government. West Ham won the bid because they promised to retain the athletics track. The only major outlay for West Ham would have been £40m for the new roof which was to be financed by a loan from Newham Borough Council. At this point West Ham proposed to cover the athletics track with retractable seating which had previously been dismissed as too expensive...... Spurs & Orient were granted a judicial review on the basis that the West Ham deal amounted to massive state aid of a football club. ..... The Government relented hence the 2nd bidding process on a Tenancy basis.

- Sir Horrocks , Herts, United Kingdom, 31/3/2013 12:37

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Where will they find 50,000 people to pay to watch WHU?

- meangelo , The forgotten NW of England, 31/3/2013 12:11

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Like James Quinn I am heartily sick of all the misguided negative comments being expressed about WHU and the OS! And I refuse to have to apologise about it anymore! you would think that some papers would know by now when it is time to stop flogging a dead horse! For those who don't, West Ham are the anchor tenants of the OS! If you don't like that tough luck! WHU as tenants will not be paying for the full cost of the conversion! Again if you don't like it, tough! I fact if there's anything you are unhappy about concerning WHU and the OS then tough bloody luck! Build a bridge and get over it! It would be nice for some people to be happy that the good guys got something for a change! COYI!

- Philtheiron , Edinburgh, 31/3/2013 11:56

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As a life time whu fan I am over the moon at the thought of watching west ham united play in front of over 50,000 fans, As for the jealousy mainly from spurs fans,personally I think its great! The 2 west ham united chairmen now need to be given knighthoods for saving the government the embarrassment of being left with a very expensive white elephant.

- BONES , ESSEX, United Kingdom, 31/3/2013 10:13

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Long term it will make lots of £millions for the state. There was money already in the pot for post Olympics conversion of the stadium to 25,000 with no roof, some more will be added but with index linked rent starting at £2million PA plus the many, many uses with nothing to do with West Ham there will be plenty of money made for the taxpayer over time. Rugby world cups Diamond League athletics, 20 20 cricket, pop concerts, American football as well as use by the local kids, really this is a very good LONG TERM project.

- eastsider , london, United Kingdom, 31/3/2013 10:06

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Let's be clear, WHUFC are tenants, it is not exclusively for their use. UK athletics have a deal in place during the summer months, Live Nation have a deal for stadium concert events, London Borough of Newham will host ten community events per year for local residents at the Olympic stadium, T20 cricket along with rugby will also be played in the stadium too. With year round access to the community track for residents, LBN's investment makes them a shareholder, along with LLDC. So whatever profits are generated forevermore outside of match day tickets (football only), merchandise purchased from WHU's club store, the two fore mentioned bodies get a percentage. LLDC, will receive a cut of any naming rights sponsorship deal too. The last time I counted the number of home games total is nineteen, add to that a few cup ties and it becomes clear that the stadium has the potential to be used by many other organisers. In this context WHU's contribution is considerable.

- DJ , Bedford, United Kingdom, 31/3/2013 09:23

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Let's be clear, WHUFC are tenants, it is not exclusively for their use. UK athletics have a deal in place during the summer months, Live Nation have a deal for stadium concert events, London Borough of Newham will host ten community events per year for local residents at the Olympic stadium, T20 cricket along with rugby will also be played in the stadium too. With year round access to the community track for residents, LBN's investment makes them a shareholder, along with LLDC. So whatever profits are generated forevermore outside of match day tickets (football only), merchandise purchased from WHU's club store, the two fore mentioned bodies get a percentage. LLDC, will receive a cut of any naming rights sponsorship deal too. The last time I counted the number of home games total is nineteen, add to that a few cup ties and it becomes clear that the stadium has the potential to be used by many other organisers. In this context WHU's contribution is considerable.

- DJ , Bedford, United Kingdom, 31/3/2013 09:22

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