OS Pre-Season friendly maybe in doubt

West Ham Chairman David Gold has hinted that there will be a pre-season friendly at the Olympic Stadium.

He tweeted to his 129,000 followers on twitter “The plan is to play a big pre-season friendly at the new stadium. dg”

His statement has left some Olympic Stadium insiders worried whether it will be possible as there is a very tight schedule next Summer with the rebuilt multi-use Stadium.  Last week ACDC became the first band to confirm a concert at the beginning of June. Cricket and Baseball organisers are also looking at the possibility of June events at the former Olympic stadium. The Stadium will be handed over for four weeks to UK Athletics whose main event will continue to be the Anniversary Games which Usain Bolt will headline next summer. UK Athletics are thought to have paid just £1m towards the rebuilding costs of the stadium but it is rumoured they pay no rent or at best a small peppercorn rent for the stadium. Sharing ticket revenue is thought to be very small or non-existent. The deal is said to generate up to £9m for UK Athletics.

The stadium is due to handed over to UK Athletics on the last Friday in June and they return it back at the end of July. As it takes 7 days to convert the Stadium from athletics mode to football mode it means that the window to schedule a pre-season friendly is very small.

Last year the Premier League season started on Saturday 8th August.  Earlier this year the Anniversary Games ran between 24th-26th July. Assuming the 2016-2017 Premier League kicks off on Saturday 6th August it would mean that the pre-season friendly would need to be played on Saturday 30th July. When you consider that the 2016 Anniversary games is scheduled on  the 22nd, 23rd and 24th July it means there is just five days between the UK Athletics event finishing and the following Saturday when a pre season friendly could be played. Unless the conversion process can be speeded up, the pre-season friendly looks in doubt.

Alternatively, it may be a hint that the Premier League season will start later next year on Saturday 13th August leaving the 6th August free for a pre-season friendly. The Premier League have yet to announce the start date of the 2016/2017 season. Maybe David Gold is our very own Premier League ITK.