How important is owning the stadium?

[threesixty]

I believe the club have a 99yr lease at a few million a year or something silly.
Other clubs have had to take huge loans with massive interest rates that they have to pay to build a new ground. 
I don’t understand how West Ham can have any money problems whatsoever?
Why would we better off owning the stadium as if its land value, well, your using the land to play football so there is no other use for it.
Plus, clubs like Liverpool & Everton own stadiums in cheap areas of the country so it feels like ownership doesn’t really mean much.

Not sure I get it? (Apart from having the right to tear it down and rebuild something better).
 

[threesixty]

I just think the stadium is more of a proxy for our hate of the owners than anything else. If they rebuilt the stadium tomorrow to be closer to the pitch we’d still have Sullivan running the thing and it would still be shit. We could still get relegated but we would be “closer to the pitch” so that would make up for it.. errr. No.

Conversely if we had a decent non pornographer running the club in an honest way, and they brought success, I think the stadium would bug some of us, but wouldnt really be a big deal.

Thats how I see it I suppose.



 

[Mike Oxsaw]

It would be nice to have the club own it's own home again, but where?

Redeveloping the Olympic Stadium in a non-starter for various reasons and almost any land within the M25 will be viewed as prime residential development areas; them's just the facts of having a need to provide housing for the unknown growing  population size of the UK.

Buy and redevelop the O2 arena site? No chance - south of the river.

Wanstead Flats? The burghers of Wanstead would never have it.

Upminster/Hornchurch/Rainham/Purfleet? Nope, not only will the locals not have any of it, those areas will be inundated when the next climate change enhanced 1953 sized storm strikes, and, in any case that's getting too far from our roots - we're not the Arsenal, for fuck's sake.

Where the fuck can we set down our roots again?

[honky cat]

Maybe one day an owner will come along with serious dough and build exactly what we want, or there'll be a world cup and a new proper football stadium built in London that will be available to rent. And we'll just give the keys to the bowl back and fuck off. 
I know no one likes the current set up but we are 'free' to a certain extent. I don't think owning a stadium is important, our 'home' is the mean streets of East London. 

[Russ of the BML]

If we weren’t allowed to own the stadium … due to Tottenhams interference… we should have turned it down and forced the governments hand 
Tottenham never wanted it and obviously feigned interest to get concessions from Haringey about paying for infrastructure around their rebuild & obviously a pub team like Orient were never getting it
Levy played a blinder & Sullivan was obsessed with selling UP (twice) & not giving a shit about it’s suitability for football 
Sullivan was the one who said he didn’t care about an intimidating end of pitch stand as everyone preferred to sit on the halfway line

 

Yep I recall (could be wrong) UP was mortgaged to the hilt and a bit of a financial millstone hence Sullivan wanted rid, which I can kind of understand financially, but in retrospect and from a fan perspective It was the terrible move we all feared it would be. We'd have been better off staying put and redeveloping the east stand and we'd be the envy of many a team, but that would have entailed our owners spending real  money in the face of the cheap shiny option dangling in front of them

But we wasn't allowed to do that as TFL wouldn't sell the bus garage behind the East Stand.... Y'know, they really wouldn't....nudge nudge wink wink......

Which they then sold as soon as we moved out....

You get the idea

[Westside]

I thought the reason Spurs and other clubs were upset with us getting the Olympic Stadium for peanuts was because they all knew that the big burden for each club competing in the league was the stadium they had to build to actually compete. So they all thought it was an unfair advantage.

Which is why it baffles me how this club can have any money problems whatsoever because I sort of dont see that owning a stadium is a useful asset compared to a 99yr lease for peanuts.
Spurs have to pay back 800m or something crazy over the next god knows how many years.

This club is so mismanaged it’s scary.

 

We have money problems, due to poor transfers and paying high wages.

Various posters have summed up the pros and cons of owning a stadium, but as others have also said, a stadium as security for borrowings, will only be of interest to a lender, if that stadium can be knocked down and the land used for something else. The Boleyn Ground, was regularly used as security for our loans, as ultimately, it has been knocked down and developed, so would have made good security.

[goose]

That's just a load of old bolony which suits their narrative.

why would it suit their narrative when they dont own the stadium?
the stadium site was previously a chemical storage facility, the issue with the ground was raised in 2010.

[Mad Dog]

was their stadium built on a toxic waste dump as well?

Pretty sure it was built on an Indian burial ground.
Most of the toxic waste is found in the board room

But I did hear there was some waste product buried beneath, one of the reasons we "cant" dig down further 

[Bondholder]

That's just a load of old bolony which suits their narrative.

[goose]

was their stadium built on a toxic waste dump as well?

[threesixty]

When I was growing up in the 80s I remember seeing clips of lots of European / international games where there was always a running track around the pitch. And the teams would come up from some underground tunnel or something! Used to think it was quite cool really…

I know I’m in the minority (as always!) but I really didnt think it was a big deal us going to the OS.

I feel like the club is the people, the fans, the players, the badge. It’s like when people complain about the decor in a nightclub but the rest of us was raving in some old car park with bird shit everywhere.. didnt matter ,we loved it. 

I suppose if you want to swear at players all day it helps that you’re closer to the pitch lol!


 

[Bondholder]

Conversion is possible. Read below regarding the stadium that held the Copa del Rey final earlier this year.

The match was played on 26 April 2025 at Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville – in the first event at the venue following its expansion and conversion from an athletics facility ahead of its use at the 2030 FIFA World Cup – between arch rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid.

This conversion took EIGHT MONTHS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estadio_de_La_Cartuja

[RBshorty]

It was always a land grab for Sullivan. Owning West Ham was the cost too getting the stadium. Now that ain’t going to happen. We have become a cost hindrance to him. Nobody is buying into a Premiership club which only real value is it’s league status.(Especially more so. When the richest owners on the planet can’t even invest into its squad. Without being told how much it can spend.?) Regardless of what you hear. We are in a World Wide Economic Depression. And even multi billionaire have to tighten their belts. And even the most ardent fan wouldn’t buy the Gold shares. Just too let Sullivan spunk away the money.

Owning the Stadium is important to the club and Sullivan. And the only people now who will buy us. Will only do so when we hit rock bottom. And the next few seasons will be rough. But it’s the medicine we going to have too stomach. To see the back of this ownership.

COYI.

[Fauxstralian]

I know it’s old history but we were told the Chicken Run stand couldn’t be redeveloped to enclose the stadium into something like 50,000 capacity because of the bus station behind 
Which then magically disappeared 
If that couldn’t have happened we could have done like Tottenham and moved the footprint given the space between the stadium and Green St
We were done like a kipper by Sullivan & he should never be forgiven 

[nychammer]

To get the seats next to the pitch, the playing surface would need lowering in order to add additional seats at a similar rake as the existing lower tiers.  Be interesting to know how many metres the pitch would need to be lowered and how many additional seats would need adding to achieve this.

yes I heard that may be possible, but also that its built on a toxic dump so digging down may also present a problem

[nychammer]

If we weren’t allowed to own the stadium … due to Tottenhams interference… we should have turned it down and forced the governments hand 
Tottenham never wanted it and obviously feigned interest to get concessions from Haringey about paying for infrastructure around their rebuild & obviously a pub team like Orient were never getting it
Levy played a blinder & Sullivan was obsessed with selling UP (twice) & not giving a shit about it’s suitability for football 
Sullivan was the one who said he didn’t care about an intimidating end of pitch stand as everyone preferred to sit on the halfway line

 

 

Yep I recall (could be wrong) UP was mortgaged to the hilt and a bit of a financial millstone hence Sullivan wanted rid, which I can kind of understand financially, but in retrospect and from a fan perspective It was the terrible move we all feared it would be. We'd have been better off staying put and redeveloping the east stand and we'd be the envy of many a team, but that would have entailed our owners spending real  money in the face of the cheap shiny option dangling in front of them

[northbankfrank]

The poxy athletics track that we can't get rid is a reason we need to own the stadium.

how does that make a difference - event if we own the place we literally need to knock down and rebuild, at least partially

To get the seats next to the pitch, the playing surface would need lowering in order to add additional seats at a similar rake as the existing lower tiers.  Be interesting to know how many metres the pitch would need to be lowered and how many additional seats would need adding to achieve this.

[nychammer]

The poxy athletics track that we can't get rid is a reason we need to own the stadium.

how does that make a difference - event if we own the place we literally need to knock down and rebuild, at least partially

[Fat, Bald n 50]

The poxy athletics track that we can't get rid is a reason we need to own the stadium.

[Fauxstralian]

If we weren’t allowed to own the stadium … due to Tottenhams interference… we should have turned it down and forced the governments hand 
Tottenham never wanted it and obviously feigned interest to get concessions from Haringey about paying for infrastructure around their rebuild & obviously a pub team like Orient were never getting it
Levy played a blinder & Sullivan was obsessed with selling UP (twice) & not giving a shit about it’s suitability for football 
Sullivan was the one who said he didn’t care about an intimidating end of pitch stand as everyone preferred to sit on the halfway line

[John Drake]

Newcastle and Manchester City do not own their stadiums. But their deals provide exclusive use which allows them naming rights and to generate income from other events.

The West Ham problem (aside from its not purpose built for football) is that it is meant to be multi-use including athletics

[Russ of the BML]

For me. Not that important. I just want a decent matchday experience. Which, right now, we don't really get. 

For the club, it depends on objectives. I mean, financially owning the stadium adds value to the club. It Also gives the club another borrowing stream if required. If you want to develop long term then its important. That's not Sullivan's view so the cheap rent is perfect for him. 

[threesixty]

Very important. Just ask Daniel Levy, who ironically is the reason we don't own the London Stadium

 

But why? Financially speaking.

I imagine they make a tidy sum from staging NFL games for starters.
Then there are other sports such as boxing, concerts etc.

 

 

But are they doing that just to pay the mortgage / debt? If you didnt have to borrow 800m to build the thing would you need to put on other stuff? (Plus you wreck the pitch doing it so you have to manage all that as well).

[goose]

Very important. Just ask Daniel Levy, who ironically is the reason we don't own the London Stadium

 

But why? Financially speaking.

Revenue streams.
Spurs as an example do very well through corporate tickets, matchday income (food etc) and 'other events' like NFL and concerts. They also have the opportunity to make money through naming rights, advertising etc etc.

[zebthecat]

Very important. Just ask Daniel Levy, who ironically is the reason we don't own the London Stadium

 

But why? Financially speaking.

I imagine they make a tidy sum from staging NFL games for starters.
Then there are other sports such as boxing, concerts etc.

[threesixty]

Very important. Just ask Daniel Levy, who ironically is the reason we don't own the London Stadium

 

 

But why? Financially speaking.