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London Stadium pre-season friendly unlikely

The chances of a pre-season home friendly at the London Stadium is unlikely Claret and Hugh have learnt.

The London Stadium concessionaire agreement signed by West Ham in 2013 does include a provision for up to two friendly games and or a pre-season tournament but the clause says for the full match operating costs incurred by operator London Stadium 185 must be paid by the Hammers.

In the case of the Juventus match in 2016, this amounted close to £250,000, last season the World Athletics Championship dismissed any chance of a pre-season friendly but this summer there is a small window for a pre-season friendly this summer should West Ham choose to host one.

Claret and Hugh understand that the stadium operator wants to charge a facility fee of £300,000 on top of operating costs which could reach as much as £250,000.

At a rent of £550,000, the financial viability of a pre-season friendly could be brought into serious question.

If you ignore the novelty value of Juventus with an attendance of  53,966 as being the official opening ceremony at the London Stadium, friendlies have often been poorly attended by West Ham supporters. The last season at the Boleyn Ground against Werder Bremen drew a crowd of just 9,919 and the season before that a pre-season friendly against Sampdoria had an attendance of just 13,693.

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

One comment on “London Stadium pre-season friendly unlikely

  1. Hammers on tour then !!!

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