Retractable seating at the OS

An archive of news, events and discussion leading up to and post West Ham United's historic move from Upton Park to Stratford in 2016.

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mywhufc
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by mywhufc »

Hammer110 wrote:
I think you'll find they'll have a better handle on the potential losses and whether they can be made up for than you think!
How, what study have they done into this?
Hammer110 wrote:Interestingly you say about the loss of 4000 season ticket holders due to relegation, given that our average attendances are only down by a similar amount means either few day trippers have stopped going (unlikely) or that many of those season ticket holders are still going.
Cheap tickets.
Forest attendance is a true barometer, no mass discounting on that game, kids £19 adults start at £32.
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Pop Robson
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Pop Robson »

mywhufc wrote:Cheap tickets.
Forest attendance is a true barometer, no mass discounting on that game, kids £19 adults start at £32.
Err not quite, Youth Academy Free and £10 off an adults ticket (as per flyers being delivered and ad in the papers)

Although it does show the prices are at least £10 too dear
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IronworksDave
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by IronworksDave »

As we all know the move only works if we're in the EPL and if we get decent terms on the lease. It know seems the OPC are asking 10m for the naming rights (not just the Olympic Stadium) and it's unclear what share we would get of this, but let's say 5m a year. Compare that to Spurs and Liverpool who are looking for 25m a year on a long deal paid up-front or indeed City who have a 35m a year deal on offer from Etihad. The OPC have also expressed 'reservations' about temporary seating, these are and must remain a prerequisite for us, no temporary seating forget it.

The more this deal unfolds the less attractive it becomes .... no surprise Spurs wanted to knock it down and start again nor that they have refused to even consider a lease agreement, are they that stupid? or should we also be walking away?
gavrosh
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by gavrosh »

EPL? You American or something, Dave?

The stadium sponsorship and temp/ retractable seating are obviously the most important things on the table now. The OPLC are having a laugh if on the one hand theyre saying we shouldnt have involvement in the decision of and revenues from sponsorship of the stadium that they expect us to be the anchor tenant of, while at the same time trying to sell that sponsorship for below market price. Its literally unbelievable in fact, and as such I think its one of the things under debate. As for temp/ retractable seating, the minister for sport said last year that he'd have no problem with it. The question is who pays. West Ham's no doubt bodge job design was 10 mil, and I heard from an informed Spud that they had looked at at proper retro-ft that had been costed at 100 mil. The crux of it might be that it takes 2 weeks to erect and deconstruct the temp stands, compared to a few hours for a proper retractable solution. The former leaves very little time for track and field. This is the second, and most important issue on the table, and one which i dont think we should ever compromise on.
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Headtheball
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Headtheball »

If the Spuds had costed a deluxe version at £100m, isn't that still way cheaper than the £450m it would cost them to build a new staduium at WHL?
It sounds like they could still put in a tender bid despite all their public statements on not wanting a running track. I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying to hoodwink G&S into a false sense of security before bidding at the last minute.
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by gavrosh »

That's precisely the concern I have. The OPLC could simply not refuse the offer of someone else paying for a proper retractable system that allowed athletics time to be maximised, versus a load of old scaffolding that took a month to put up and bring down again. I hope that the Tottenham board is for once being sincere about wanting to redevelop WHL.
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by uptonparkhurst »

gavrosh wrote:That's precisely the concern I have. The OPLC could simply not refuse the offer of someone else paying for a proper retractable system that allowed athletics time to be maximised, versus a load of old scaffolding that took a month to put up and bring down again. I hope that the Tottenham board is for once being sincere about wanting to redevelop WHL.
I don't think Tottering were ever interested in a stadium for rent, but like you I won't rest easy until they have started the
redevelopment work.
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IronworksDave
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by IronworksDave »

Spurs are out of the running, they were very clear in their bid that a running track would not be considered and that a lease deal would only be considered with them as sole tenants with a 199 year plus lease. The OPLC have been equally clear and indeed are now mandated to only accept bids that include a running track and a multi-use stadium.

These two positions are diametrically opposed with zero middle ground. Couple that with Spurs de-listing from AIM in order to raise additional finance for their Tottenham project and you can safely forget about them.

Interestingly under the new conditions a bid from Orient would actually be far more likely, whilst they couldn't afford the changes a premier league side would require a low cost lease and some shared naming rights would work fine for a small club. Or you could see a ground sharing deal with WHU and Orient ....
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Countryboy
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Countryboy »

FWIW ... £100m was the figure Ken Livingstone gave to me as the cost of converting the OS to a football stadium when we met at a social event a couple of years back. He was part of the original bid team, of course, when he was Mayor of London, so he was in a position to know ...

Not that anyone should necessarily believe everything - or even anything - Ken says, of course ...
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by EvilC »

Countryboy wrote: Not that anyone should necessarily believe everything - or even anything - Ken says, of course ...
Ain't that the truth.
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Lambretta
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Lambretta »

Regarding the retractable seating and running track debate
I live in Sydney and we had an Olympic stadium built in 2000 that included a running track, has retractable seating (on the sides) and is now used primarily for square field sports such as Rugby Union and Rugby League.

This is what the stadium looked like when it was built (with running track in place)

Image

This is what the stadium looks like now (the ends behind the goals have now been closed in and the capacity reduced to 80,000 from 110,000)

Image

As you can see, if you sit behind the goal you are some way from the action. It's not a total disaster, but you do end up watching a bit on the big screens (especially with Rugby League which is a lateral game).


This below is a distorted lens shot showing how the stands retract to allow for cricket and Australian Fumbleball to be played

Image

Ooopps - gotta run - will finish post / thoughts later
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HenrytheHammer
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by HenrytheHammer »

If only they had thought about designing a multi-purpose stadium like the Germans, Aussies etc. Instead I dread we will end up with something resembling Cagliari's Sant' Elia stadium.

It's a shame there is no room somewhere on that Olympic Park to build a 40,000-45,000 capacity claret and blue cauldron. I have been to some of the new German football stadiums and they are brilliant- functional, jam packed with atmosphere and accessible. Although, being allowed to drink on the terracing might have helped.
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Denbighammer »

Countryboy wrote:Ken Livingstone gave to me as the cost of converting the OS to a football stadium when we met at a social event a couple of years back.
Name dropper! :lol:
Mr_Andersonn
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Mr_Andersonn »

Countryboy wrote:FWIW ... £100m was the figure Ken Livingstone gave to me as the cost of converting the OS to a football stadium when we met at a social event a couple of years back. He was part of the original bid team, of course, when he was Mayor of London, so he was in a position to know ...

Not that anyone should necessarily believe everything - or even anything - Ken says, of course ...
And that is roughly what has been quoted ever since. The roof is going to cost the majority of that budget. All along we have seen £10m being thrown about for seating costs but from what we are lead to believe, this is going to be just a basic temporary seating model. If a full retractable seating solution is installed then the £100m budget could well double from what we know at this point.
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Hammer Smith
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Hammer Smith »

Looks as if the Sydney Stadium was specifically designed to have rectractable seating to cater for other sports post Olympics.
Why the Labour government here couldnt see further than the end of its nose is beyond me.
Last edited by Hammer Smith on Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Pop Robson
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by Pop Robson »

It's too late for retractable seating

Temporary seating won't work either as it will block the view from the lower and upper tier
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StiffUpper
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by StiffUpper »

Pop Robson wrote:It's too late for retractable seating

Temporary seating won't work either as it will block the view from the lower and upper tier
Temporary seating would have to be in front\on top of the existing seats - plenty of space though.

That would be fine I think, we could be very close and with temp rooves. The challenge comes with incorporating the corporates.

But that's not insurmountable either.
TheAlmightyAmmer
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by TheAlmightyAmmer »

How much of this is going to be temporary? Is it going to be made of Lego?
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by paulhs1 »

TheAlmightyAmmer wrote:How much of this is going to be temporary? Is it going to be made of Lego?
I thought Sullivan said it will look more like Meccano. Personally I would prefer some sort of transformer like construction that would fold out from a track to a stand ala megatron or sideswipe!
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Re: Retractable seating at the OS

Post by gavrosh »

Unless youre a stadium engineer who's fully up to date with the plans that Populous have put together regarding the OS, I suggest not resorting to "x configuration can/ cant be done". That's just your opinion, not fact.

What i THINK is that a retractable conversion is do-able, but along with all the other works needing doing, we're looking at 200 rather than 100 mil for it. Naturally GSB dont want to chip in 100 mil, so theyre poker facing the OPLC right now, who themselves seem somewhat intransigent on their position too. It would not surprise me at all if they walked away soon, and decided to wait instead for a couple of years of the OS slowly mothballing before it became clear to the government that the OPLC's position is unworkable.
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