Olympic stadium shock
Meepers
Posts: 5,502 Forum Member
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8 years after the bid was won, 8 years since it became obvious what the only long term solution would be for the stadium. 8 years since idiots started spending millions of pounds on a pointless debate, which everyone with half a an ounze of intelligence knew the outcome of, the stadium is finally, millions of pounds of hardworking taxpayers pounds later, West Ham have the stadium.
Never mind the G4S scandal, the real scandal of the games were how they threw away millions of pounds on this debacle, when the outcome was clear from the start
Never mind the G4S scandal, the real scandal of the games were how they threw away millions of pounds on this debacle, when the outcome was clear from the start
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At least they are keeping the track as some sort of legacy...
I feel people after the games have a soft spot for this stadium, it would be a crying shame if it was left to rot and spoil the Olympic glow!
The naterial choice was always West Ham, it sould have always factored in retractable seating to please everyone, I feel this was the reel problem!
Or if the £150 million is necessary to convert it to other uses as well as football is the £2 million a year really going to make that much of a difference? Is it worth all the ill feeling it has caused that a Premier League football club has got a half billion pound stadium for next to nothing.
Seems more money after bad.
a) turn into a massive un-used white elephant
or
b) the taxpayer would have to pay someone to make use of it
Personally, it disgusts me to see west ham pretty getting a free stadium, nothing against them personally, but it is a really bizarre scenario where the public are in effect subsidizing a private company in one of the most lucrative business sector in the world.
There's no doubt that West Ham have got good deal but there was always pressure on the legacy planners to find a major tenant for the stadium and they were the only realistic one out there. Orient aren't big enough and the stadium couldn't make money as an athletics venue alone.
The Olympics obviously has an immovable deadline so LOCOG & the ODA couldn't afford to sit around for 2 or 3 years negotiating otherwise we would have been in an Athens type situation with regards to building the stadium & nobody would have wanted that. In addition delays would inevitably have increased the costs even more so you'd have ended up with a far worse deal for the taxpayer. And remember the initial legacy plan for the stadium was to reduce the capacity to 25000 not leave it at 80000.
But it isn't going to make money. The rental income will not come remotely close to covering the conversion costs.
It should have been designed with an already determined future use (like in Manchester). If that was not possible, then it should have been designed as a temporary structure, as some of the other venues were. However, there seemed to be some notion that 'legacy' must mean athletics at the olympic stadium site, and so everything else is compromised to achieve this.
Spurs' idea for the site was a much better option.
So, despite all the promises to the contrary before the games, we HAVE ended up with a white elephant stadium. And, as ever, the taxpayer is footing the bill. Who couldn't see this coming?
Maybe they should have just knocked it down, but then people would be moaning about the waste of money and lack of resources for major sporting events, like the ones coming to the stadium over the next few years.
Indeed .Should have been handed over to West Ham almost immediately .Personally i quite the idea of spacious seating:p
The current stadium is a temporary structure. That is why there is no toilets or facilities inside the stadium.The original plan was to tear it down and leave a small 25k athletics venue. The 150m is to convert it into a permanent structure.
Boris didn't want to tear down a £400m structure. You can thank Ken Livingstone for ****ing up. West Ham did express interest in the stadium 7 years ago but he snubbed them. If he had worked with them then the existing stadium could have been altered for permanent use.
How was dumping the athletics track/legacy a better option??:rolleyes: It was one of the biggest promises made by the UK in order to get the games in the first place! How would Britain ever bid for another sporting event again haven broken that fundamental promise?
Everybody said the same thing in 2002, when Man City got the Commonwealth stadium for absolutely nothing.Not even an annual rent!
99% of Britain don't even remember the stadiums origins now. Today's outrage will soon be forgotten.
Thankfully this year a fantastic response to the Diamond League.