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Olympic Stadium; our day in court
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West Ham United can confirm it has reached an agreement with London Stadium LLP and Athletics Ventures for London Stadium to be included as a host venue as part of a UK Government backed bid to hold the 2029 World Athletics Championships in London.
The agreement follows a period of detailed negotiations with the organisers, London Stadium operators, local and national government officials, and the relevant football governing bodies. Throughout the process the Club’s highest priority has always been the West Ham United supporters, ensuring any agreed programme has minimal impact on the football schedule and respects the Club’s overriding priority principle as detailed in the concession agreement.
As part of the new agreement, the Club and London Stadium will work together to deliver a number of new initiatives that will enhance the stadium and matchday experience for supporters. That process will now begin, with further updates provided to supporters in due course.
Any impact on the football schedule will be confirmed once it is known which division and other competitions West Ham United will be competing in during the 2029/30 season. Further discussions with the relevant football governing bodies can then take place to review and mitigate against any potential impact on the fixture schedule.
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Doesn’t matter who it reminds you of, can you find fault with what was said?SporadicAddick said:
That first sentence reminds me of an old poster on this forum…now what was his name?jose said:Brady Tory Baroness, Boris Johnson evil Tory, Seb Coe Tory ex MP and now Lord, they all played a major part in stealing the stadium from the lottery players, and taxpayers, and gave it to West Ham virtually for free under very murky circumstances.
I see it all as a conspiracy that treated the loyal East London West Ham fans and the rest of us with typical Tory contempt.
The post Olympic stadium saga has everything to do with politics, no matter how much we ought not discuss politics on Charlton Life.
Other clubs have had to break their banks for new stadia, but West Ham have got away with it at our expense.1 -
If I wanted to get home, I wouldn’t start from there.DaveMehmet said:
You’ll probably get a lot of West Ham fans agreeing. It’s an awful stadium for football and a nightmare to get home fromIdleHans said:I moved that we demolish the bastard thing immediately. All those in favour?1 -
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/amanda-staveley-buy-london-stadium-west-ham-bid-kgdtwh9p7
Amanda Staveley if successful in buying a stake in West Ham wants to look at buying the London Stadium.1 -
£50m is an absolute joke…but perhaps we can use that as leverage with Duchatelet and get his asking price to a more realistic level 🤔MarcusH26 said:https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/amanda-staveley-buy-london-stadium-west-ham-bid-kgdtwh9p7
Amanda Staveley if successful in buying a stake in West Ham wants to look at buying the London Stadium.
(who am I kidding 🤪)1 -
Paywalled, can you post the text?MarcusH26 said:https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/amanda-staveley-buy-london-stadium-west-ham-bid-kgdtwh9p7
Amanda Staveley if successful in buying a stake in West Ham wants to look at buying the London Stadium.0 -
PragueAddick said:
Paywalled, can you post the text?MarcusH26 said:https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/amanda-staveley-buy-london-stadium-west-ham-bid-kgdtwh9p7
Amanda Staveley if successful in buying a stake in West Ham wants to look at buying the London Stadium.Amanda Staveley would explore purchasing the London Stadium if she is successful in buying a significant stake in West Ham United, with the mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, open to “any discussions” on the matter.While it remains to be seen if Staveley is successful in her bid to buy the shares that belong to the family of the late David Gold — she faces opposition from present co-owner Daniel Kretinsky — the British businesswoman who masterminded the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United is keen to explore a possible deal with the Greater London Authority (GLA).The Times understands any deal would come with certain stipulations. Khan has been at the forefront of the London bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships and any major design alterations to the stadium would have to be delayed until after that date, should the capital be awarded the event next month.But the stadium, built for the 2012 Olympics, could be available for as little as £50million given how much it costs taxpayers at present.
West Ham’s tenancy agreement has long been described as the “deal of the century” because of how little the club pay. It was about £4.4million when they were playing in the Premier League but relegation to the Championship will result in that figure being halved this season. Meanwhile, the next accounts of London Stadium LLP, the GLA subsidiary that runs the facility, will show a cost of £19million to the taxpayer.It is why Khan would be open to at least examining the possible financial benefit of offloading what is essentially a distressed asset. In a statement, a spokesman told The Times: “The Mayor would welcome any discussions regarding the London Stadium that would deliver greater value for money for Londoners.”
There are other factors to consider. UK Athletics has 40 years left on a concession agreement deal that gives the organisation access to the stadium for events such as the London Diamond League, which has consistently proven to be a 60,000 sell-out and is now turning a profit thanks to the efforts of Athletics Ventures, the new partnership between the governing body, the London Marathon and the Great Run Company.
Athletics could certainly use the money if a stadium purchase involved financial compensation, perhaps as much as £20million, but Khan may yet insist that any structural modernisation still allows for a conversion to an athletics arena. That said, Khan is also backing the £130million regeneration project at the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace, which could yet offer London an alternative venue for elite athletics. Sources have suggested Staveley would want any structural changes to be tailored only to football.In an interview with Bloomberg last week, she hinted at a possible stadium purchase.“Whatever club we take, there’ll be a big property play as well,” Staveley said, having also been linked with a possible bid for Tottenham Hotspur, in an episode of Bloomberg’s Leaders with Francine Lacqua that was recorded before West Ham confirmed her agreement with the Gold family last Saturday. “We won’t just do a football-led.“I just want a challenge, and that’s what excites me. That’s where you get value uplift — when you take something from seedling and allow it to grow.”First, of course, Staveley and the international consortium she is fronting with her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, have to see off the challenge of Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire owner of Royal Mail.It is a complex situation in the wake of David Sullivan’s resignation as co-chairman, after allegations of sexual misconduct that he continues to deny.As The Times first revealed, Kretinsky appeared to have struck a deal with Vanessa Gold, David gold’s daughter, to purchase 16 per cent of the family’s 25 per cent stake, increasing his overall stake to 43 per cent to make him the club’s majority shareholder ahead of Sullivan.But this month Staveley, 53, made an improved offer for the full 25 per cent stake that was accepted by the Gold family, with Kretinsky then manoeuvring himself to take up his first refusal on purchasing the same shares.Adding that to his present stake would take him beyond 50.1 per cent, therefore leaving him liable for a formal takeover offer.But he countered that by shifting two per cent to another Czech businessman, Jakub Havrlant, even though there are suggestions such a move could face certain legal challenges.2
