Latest Opinion

First time of writing in the New Year, a year that brings the promise of much joy, success and happiness. Probably not at West Ham though, so we will scoot past all of that.

Last time out I was advocating the need for new leadership, ownership and a new home for West Ham United and it’s fair to say the mail bag contained lots in agreement with the first two of those but, surprisingly to these eyes, a number in disagreement about the third item.




In particular one piece of correspondence, simply signed "disgruntled of Kelvedon" was adamant that the London Stadium could be transformed. More on that next week, I hope.

This week however, I’m going to raise the subject of Athletics, specifically the World Athletics Championship 2029 which the UK has bid to host, backed by both Central Government (the department of Culture, Media and Sport) and the London Mayor.

Now, personally I’m not a huge fan of Athletics but I’ll admit when the very best British Athletes are giving it plenty, I cheer them on like everyone else. The sight of Mo Farah or Paula Radcliffe back in the day storming home to win is, without a doubt, a fantastic sight.

And, let me tell you, as someone who completed a race that finished with a lap of the Olympic stadium when you run into it, gasping for air, clinging on for dear life (and I was), it does inspire – and you won’t find a bigger critic of the Olympic stadiums suitability for football on the planet, than me. For Athletics though, it’s superb.

In addition to the 2012 Olympic Games, the London Stadium has hosted various major athletics events including the Diamond League as well as the 2017 World Athletics Championships, which had been bid for and won before West Ham United moved into the London Stadium.

The timetabling of those games was such that it caused West Ham United to have to play three away games on the spin and our first home game that season was not until 11 September. By that stage the season was going off the rails, and the then-manager Slaven Bilic departed a few months later. Such is the Premier League, a poor start is notoriously difficult to recover from.

These days of course, all the appropriate agreements are in place and West Ham United have absolute control over the stadium calendar. That means the club has, effectively, the power of veto if they feel the proposed dates of any activity interferes with scheduled football matches.




Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t a fixed set of dates: sometimes we, as a football club need the ability to be able to start a season earlier or have it finish later – such as when there is a mid-season World Cup, for example. Flexibility was built in, and wisely so. The bottom line though is everyone else has to work around West Ham United, not the other way around.

The dates of the 2029 WAC are not, as yet, cast in stone. They form part of the bidding process, but the most likely dates will be the first two weeks of August, possibly 3-12th. There is an initial qualifying bid process, to assess each candidate city’s suitability, followed by a more detailed discussion. For that, read negotiation.

World Athletics will want to gain maximum exposure for their sport and factors such as time zones for TV contracts are crucial. There is a reason why London is often referred to as the sports capital of the world. With Government backing, there is a decent chance London could win the bid.

The decision as to who is awarded the games will be made at the end of September, with, the qualifying candidate cities having been told this coming June who, if anyone, they are competing against. Should the UK win, and should those be the dates, given the fact it takes up to three weeks to reconfigure the stadium back to football from Athletics mode it’s possible West Ham United would not be able to host a home fixture until 8 September.

By any measure, that is well inside the normal football season and as such, the Government and the Mayor need to have a conversation with West Ham United. Given the fact those discussions are almost certainly taking place right now, a drop into the Championship would not be helpful to anyone given the fact it usually kicks off a week ahead of the Premier League.

Major sporting events, especially ones where the additional capital investment is relatively small are seen as good stimulants of local economies. The last WAC in Stratford was attended by 705,000 people, nearly 70% of whom were from out of town.

Insert your own gag here about the London Stadium being the global capital of tourists if you wish, but the bottom line is these events are money spinners for host cities. World Athletics assess the total economic impact for Budapest in 2023 at over $450m.




London, in 2029, would be undoubtedly several multiples of that. Throw in a bit of National prestige, a bit of waffle about “legacy” – and let us not forget, our very own Vice Chair was quick to remind us all that Olympic legacy was made in the Queen's name, and you can see the appeal for the political classes.

What though is in it for us? For the club this could represent an opportunity to address some of the longstanding issues around the stadium concession agreement, but only within reason. Overplay our hand and it could be yet another PR disaster.

West Ham United, who play in the 'Taxpayers' Stadium' torpedoing the opportunity to host such a prestigious event would not be a good look and our vice chair would do well to bear that in mind when negotiating with the nation's power brokers.

They could always, if push came to shove, call upon the FA to have Wembley converted to Athletics mode – it was the recipient of a £120m lottery fund grant for that option to be designed in when it was being built. Yes, there would need to be a new warm up track laid nearby, but a suitable site exists for that.

Somehow though, I doubt our VC would be daft enough to put herself in the position of being a national villain. Athletics is a sport that is enjoyed in almost equal numbers by both women and men and our VC has a self-created image of being a strong woman to promote. Better to be the heroine of the hour than the opposite.

None of that though means the vice chair should not have her shopping list ready, after all business is business. That list will of course be ambitious – if you don’t ask, you won’t get, and the Vice Chair is certain to refer to the difficult start to our season in 2017.

Her list is sure to include a discussion around the naming rights for the stadium, the number of days that West Ham United can hold events, the type of event – maybe the Women's team will be permitted, maybe the Under 21s. The VC may even push hard for a change to full tenant status rather than concessionaire though, in this regard, the widely-held view that the taxpayer loses a fortune operating the stadium is a little bit exaggerated.




The day-to-day losses incurred by LS185 were reduced to just £1.1m last year (2024/25), and the E20 Stadium llp losses for the previous year were only £13.4m. The key point is if the stadium was left in permanent “football mode”, those loses would be less than £4m, or put another way, a slice of whatever stadium naming rights deal could bring would see the whole thing at break even, even when remaining in public ownership.

The same mathematical argument works if only Athletics remains and football departs. The point being, push too hard in any negotiations, and you could end up removing the argument for why you think the taxpayer needs to sell the stadium.

To get to permanent football-only mode would of course require UK Athletics to walk away from its lease. An argument could be made that given the ongoing upgrade to the National sports Centre at Crystal Palace, using public money and the revamping of Alexander Stadium in Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth games, that Athletics has done very nicely in recent years, especially so if a successful bid saw a second WAC to go on top of an Olympic Games in living memory.

Sometimes you need to recognise when your race is run. Get out, literally, while the going is good. That though is probably a long shot and with the economic impact being of the scale it is when hosting a major event, the taxpayer is in no rush to see Athletics depart the stadium. Football, on the other hand...

So, much for the vice chair to discuss with the Mayor and the Government ministers on the club's behalf, but what about the needs of supporters? Could there not be a place in those discussions for some modest improvements too?

Could the licence of the stadium be changed to permit standing, see the introduction of rail seating, a change to the security arrangements with airport style scanners being introduced to shorten queuing times? Maybe additional turnstiles and/or an upgrade to the fabric of the building itself, or a solution found to the hated 'Stop/Go' crowd control system? That would surely please the owners of Westfield shopping centre, as well as supporters.

With a bit of vision, and a collaborative spirit, common sense could prevail and everyone could get a little bit of what they want. For our vice chair it means showing a willingness to compromise. For the other parties, an opportunity to show generosity, within reason. Nobody holds four aces, each though can play a smart hand.

* Like to share your thoughts on this article? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.

* Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the highlighted author/s and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official policy or position of KUMB.com.