Olympic Stadium
The Design and Access Statement for the rebuilt Olympic Stadium shows that there are now 52,000 upper tier seats meaning 3,000 seats have been removed in the last two rows around the stadium to allow the reconstruction of the new roof.
The rebuilt lower stand will hold 19,000 in football mode including a further 2,000 in a new de-mountable area in the east stand to create a Kop style stand. This is a reduction of 4,000 from the 25,000 used in the 2012 London Olympics games. There is a further 1,400 new seats in a new West Stand mid tier.
This means the overall capacity for the new stadium now stands at 74,400. Planning permission remains at 54,000 for football which will require 20,400 seats to be covered up on match days.
How the stadium operators plan to cover such a large number of seats remains to be unveiled. Maybe Claret and Blue tarpaulin might be planned or images of West Ham heroes rather than just empty seats.
Rip the covers off and sell them cheap .. lets get a crowd that only Man U can compete with. I know they will be along way from the pitch but thats the same at every major stadium.. ive been to Real Madrid, Barca & the Miami dolphins & players look like ants.
I would laugh my ass off at the faces of Spuds, Gooners & Chelski fans everywhere 😀
Is there scope for these extra seats to be made available in the future if needed??
I guess it is a contractual thing but I would have though the sensible approach would be to sell additional tickets and open additional areas if the ticket demand was there for certain games, that way the taxpayer would get a better return on their investment as they get a share of matchday revenue if I am not mistaken ? It would definitely be good to laugh at the so called bigger clubs by having 74,000 attend some matches.
not to sure if i,m right but west ham get (all) match day revenue not the taxpayer but i cant for the life of me understand why they would just remove the seating? surly they could be covered up in football mode it just makes no sense to have empty spaces all the way around
only reducing the stadium from 8+k to 74k Ray. 74k seats will still be in the stadium with 20k covered during football mode
thanks m8 that clears that up lol that picture looks like 4 rows have been removed i assume all the way round thats a BIG void wonder what they will do with it cos its a waste tbh
I agree mate, Id sell them dirt cheap and get the party started 🙂
its 2 rows, the seats sit on one step the the one below for your legs, its quite a roomy area at the OS compared to most stadiums which will help those with long legs or mobility problems.
The three top rows of seats, two rows in places have been removed to create the required amount of headroom for the new roof. They account for 3,000 seats between them.
Hi Ray, I was basing it on a quote from this interview when Karen Brady was questioned in the House of Lords regarding the deal.
“In Karren Brady’s Select Committee interview in front of the House of Lords she said:
“A significant amount of money is being invested by West Ham into the stadium, into the retractable seating and the reconfiguration to make it a sporting arena. That could not be done without West Ham, without our rent, without the money that we generate naming rights, catering and pouring income. All those things that amass to many, many
millions of pounds will be going into the stadium, and not into West Ham’s pocket.”
Even if we couldnt sell all 74,000 ourselves we could still sell a huge amount of away tickets against 7 or 8 sides and they can bump up our bank balance, I dont mind Chelski, Gooners, Spuds, Man u, liverpoo fans giving us the cash to buy better players
You couldn’t make these things up – is there some sort of sensible reason for covering up 20,000 seats – some sort of Health & Safety thing or summat?
It more related to the UEFA category 4 guidelines which says fans should not be more than 190 metre from the pitch.
“For all major competitions, UEFA and FIFA exclude from capacity calculations those seats which are located at a distance of more than 190m from the pitch or which have
impeded sightlines.”
But we only need cat 4 if we apply to hold a major comp final or something and we could reduce the capacity to 54k for those — premier league, fa cup dont require cat 4 stadiums
A cat4 stadium is a cat4 stadium Dainon.You cant mix & match for the purpose of prem or european football.You cant ask to be cat4 for some games & a lesser cat for the prem 😉
why not ? if the stadium meets cat 4 regulations in every other way then of coarse you can. Cat 4 = 54,000 because of the 190 meter rule, then increase the capacity when cat 4 is not required .. Seams very simple to me
Because once you are granted a category 4 license it is i presume granted for a period of time.Not for you to want to change whenever you feel like it.Pretty sure if the club could they would dont you 😉
Cat 4 is a bit of a status symbol really it is only advisory and at the OS a good 60,000 seats will fall within it anyway. The capacity for a FIFA comp is based on those that fall within it however it does not stope them from using seats that fall outside of it as the recent example of the The Berlin OS stadium amply showed. There is nothing to stop the club using seats outside of that area if they so wish either in the future. The present limit for 54,000 is purely down to 2 reasons. 1) the limit put on it by the regulating authorities because they are concerned about the size of the crowd around the stadium, getting to it and away from it and if all proves well this can change as it will for one off and other events anyway. 2) The lack of toilets and other facilities to properly deal with more than 54,000 which again with investment can be changed too. So potentially the capacity can be much increased and the club indeed has already said it is looking at some stage to increase to 60,000. Hope that helps.
For those who want to see the diagram.
http://postimg.org/image/88d9fdvkt/
Its a joke.Welcome to the brave new world of the OS.Where almost a quarter of the seats will be empty,lol,fantastic 😀
The clue to most of the above points is above in para 3. We have planning permission only for 54,000 seats so it isn’t a question of what we ought, would like or could do, it’s what we are legally able to do. Maybe we can appeal that limit in time but for the moment that’s legally the limit.
i think thats the point we are trying to make .. apply for a bigger limit
it says the reason in the post, its planning permission, you can only build to current planning laws. so theres no point in surmising about whys and wherefores of bigger capacity just to beat local rivals, however once its built and used you can then re apply and amend change of use, so who knows in the future it will be very easy to upgrade the cueing capacity.
i think thats the point we are trying to make .. apply for a bigger limit
indeed the limit was already successfully increased by a couple thousand only recently. the present limit is a practical one whereby it has to be proven that there won’t be negative results from increasingly it further as like it or not a football crowd does not have the most positive of images amongst many, especially those who are or will be sharing the park.
The catering at the OS last Friday was pathetic, long queues all evening. Will also need to be sorted before we move in.
As the planning permission says linked below, capacities above 60,000 will require more toilets and refreshment facilities. So West Ham could apply to increase capacity up to 60,000 over time. Above 60,000 then more toilets and refreshment facilities need to be built. I don’t quite yet how is OK for 80,000 concert goers but not 70,000 football fans.
http://planningregister.londonlegacy.co.uk/swift/MediaTemp/2291-36180.pdf
Interestingly The planning permission describes a sports event as:
“Sports Event” means any of the following:
1. A Resident Football Team football match with a capacity of up to 54,000 spectators;
2. Any sports event (either pitch sports including athletics or non-pitch sports),which is not a Resident Football Team match, with a capacity of up to 60,000 spectators or a Resident Football Team match with a capacity of more than 54,000 spectators;
3. A World Championship Athletics Event with a capacity of up to 59,000 spectators.
“Sports Events Day” means any day during which the Stadium is to hold a Sports Event.
Heskey’s available apparently.
He can buy a season ticket if he likes
haaaa thats why we’re leaving the seats free,he’s put some timber on has old emile.
him,razor, miccoli from birkikara jan molby andy reid they all want one,oh yeah and hartson in pre season.who else?
Maybe the club just don’t want to push past 54,000 at the moment. They will have a challenge filling those seats week in, week out. It would be embarrassing to have a half empty stadium every week, Better to have 54,000 capacity and a chance of regularly filling it. If they manage that consistently, only then will it be time to talk to the council about changing the planning and licences to increase capacity.