Season ticket holders to double at the OS

West Ham Joint Chairman David Gold appears to have officially confirmed the plan for the first time to double the number of season ticket holders at the Olympic Stadium next season.

West Ham are thought to have sold 26,000 season tickets this season which is the last at the Boleyn Ground, up  21,000 from last season.

After factoring  in the 3,000 maximum away allocation for visiting fans it means than less than 6,000 tickets are available for Academy members and general sale this season which explains why each and every match has sold out so far in the 35,000 capacity ground.

ClaretandHugh understands the board has a strategy to increase the season ticket holders at the Olympic Stadium to at least 40,000 in the first season and Gold seems to have confirmed that plan by tweeting out: “Last Season WHUFC had 20,000 season ticket holders, next season in the Olympic stadium we will have over 40,000. dg” 

Driving this season ticket demand is the new plus two policy where the existing 26,000 season ticket holders  called founders by the club can introduce up to two additional season ticket holders.

We have been told there has been a 20-25% take up of this offer with the £99 Under 16 tickets proving extremely popular. If, as Gold claims, the Hammers do sell 40,000 season tickets, it will leave less than 7,500 tickets for general sale at the Olympic Stadium after allowing for the 3,000 away allocation and 3,500 corporate seats.

From these 7,500 remaining tickets per match, West Ham could give up to 5,000 per match free of charge to Newham Council as part of it’s commitment to give up to 100,000 tickets away per season. Expect sell-out crowds next season at the Olympic Stadium to mirror that of this season.