As expected West Ham United have been named the preferred bidders for a tenancy in the Olympic Stadium. The decision was taken unanimously by the board of the London Legacy Development Ciorporation (LLDC). But as London mayor Boris Johnson has emphasised, there is still a lot of negotiating to do.
As expected West Ham United have been named the preferred bidders for a tenancy in the Olympic Stadium. The decision was taken unanimously by the board of the London Legacy Development Ciorporation (LLDC). But as London mayor Boris Johnson has emphasised, there is still a lot of negotiating to do.
The mayor has been piling the pressure on the club, in particular asking that the owners give up a share of the profits on any future sale. He said, ‘We have a first ranked bidder. It will, if it goes through mean a football legacy for the stadium but it needs to be sorted out. There is a lot of negotiation still to go on about exactly the terms.’
‘If we can’t do a deal that protects taxpayer value, that protects the Olympic investment of half a billion pounds building the stadium then that’s fine. We will go on and the stadium will have a fantastic future in any event.’
‘We are very confident that there is plenty of time to get the negotiations underway and either go with plan B, with lots of cultural and sporting events.’
Adding retractable seating and fully extending the roof on the venue will cost between £130m and £150m, on top of the £429m it cost to build the stadium for the Games. The vast majority of that conversion money will come from a mix of public funding, including a £40m loan from Newham Council, the local authority. It is thought that this will pass the European Commisson’s state aid test.
For some time, there has been concern over a shortfall in the funding, especially with West Ham only willing to commit around £15m, but this now appears to be less of a problem.
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady has said that the sight lines for fans will be better than at Wembley and that the roof will be designed in such a way as to preserve the atmosphere experienced at the Boleyn Ground.
There is still the fear of a fresh round of legal disputes over West Ham’s occupancy led by Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn, whose bid for a groundshare was turned down by the LLDC.
Hearn, who fears that Orient will go out of business within five years of West Ham moving into a stadium so close to the League One club, was waiting until today’s verdict before deciding on whether to legally challenge the decision in the courts.