West Ham is awaiting a decision today about the preferred bidder for the Olympic Stadium. In the running is West Ham, League One club Leyton Orient, UCFB College of Football Business and a group that is interested in bringing Formula 1 to the Olympic Park.
The decision today will be a huge step forward in becoming a permanent tenant. West Ham tried to take up the lease last year, but the deal collapsed after legal challenges from Orient and Tottenham. Olympic Stadium hosted most of the track and field events at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. However, the stadium will not re-open before 2015.
The £486m stadium will be reduced from its 80,000 capacity to 60,000 seats after the Games and will also retain a running track. Barry Hearn, owner of Leyton Orient, plans to change the club’s name to London Orient, but the Premier League dismissed all discussions about that matter so far. West Ham increased their investment from £20m to £40m; however, the total cost of conversion will be at least £160m.
It is believed that West Ham’s latest offer is £15m upfront contribution, a £5m improvement on the original offer, as well as rent of £2.5m a year and £6m-a-year income for the LLDC from stadium naming rights and catering revenues.
However, one of the main issues is that West Ham has trouble selling out their home games as well as Leyton orient. An ideal scenario is certainly one where West Ham and Leyton Orient sharing the stadium. UCFB can certainly be based there at the same time. With all this money being invested the government certainly needs to look at the ideal scenario.
