- New West Ham Stadium
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The New West Ham Stadium was the working name of a proposed football stadium to be built in East London. It would replace the Boleyn Ground (Upton Park) as the home of West Ham United F.C., but plans to develop a new stadium have been shelved in the wake of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis. In 2010 the club submitted a bid to take over the 2012 Olympic Stadium after the games.
Contents
Proposals
The Boleyn Ground has a capacity of 35,000, tenth-largest in English football, leaving West Ham at a financial disadvantage compared to its competitors with bigger grounds. Three options have been considered :
Olympic Stadium
Artist's impression of the proposed redeveloped Olympic Stadium
The stadium for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics is close to Upton Park and is is seen as a possible location.[1] However the stadium has an athletic track. These are few amongst British football grounds. The City of Manchester Stadium was the athletics venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was converted to football use by removing the running track and digging down and building a new lower tier holding 12,000 new seats, but the legacy requirements of the Olympics prevent that option as the track has to remain.[2]
West Ham's chairman Eggert Magnusson offered to buy the Olympic stadium for £100m and reduce its capacity to 60,000, with 20,000 retractable seats allowing the continuing use of the athletics track.[3] However it would cost £400m, and this option was considered too expensive.[4]
Parcelforce site
The London Development Authority wanted the club to build a new ground on the site of a Parcelforce depot southwest of West Ham station. However this site was intended for a new bus station, and gas holders on the site are listed buildings. The new stadium would have a capacity of 50,000 spectators, with the option of extending to 60,000.[5]
The club could have bought the 31-acre (130,000 m2) Parcelforce site from the LDA for £15m, and built the ground and a hotel for £200m.[4]
Redevelopment of Upton Park
Redevelopment of the existing ground is currently the least likely option. Under Magnusson it would have expanded from 35,000 to 50,000 capacity.[4] As of 2009, they have planning permission for the redevelopment of the East Stand by 2014, increasing capacity to between 43,000 and 44,000.[6] In 2011 West Ham chairman, David Gold announced that the Boleyn Ground would not be redeveloped saying, "I am ruling out developing the Boleyn, that would be pouring money down the drain."[1]
Status
Plans for a new stadium have been on hold since the financial crisis of October 2008. West Ham were badly affected as they were owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson who also controlled Landsbanki, the Icelandic bank at the centre of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis. In June 2009 he sold the club to a consortium of Icelandic banks to whom he owed money, and declared bankruptcy a few weeks later.
The club's CEO Scott Duxbury indicated in June 2009 that the club's priorities were a new training ground and players, and that they would see what happens with the Olympic stadium after 2012.[6] The idea of using the Olympic stadium for football has been revived in 2009 as part of England's bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but the Olympics Minister rejected this concept in July 2009.[7]
See also
- Ground developments to football stadia in the English football league system
References
- ^ a b "Hammers chairman Gold casts doubt on Olympic Stadium plan". www.dailymail.co.uk. 9 November 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2059416/West-Ham-chairman-David-Gold-casts-doubt-Olympic-Stadium-plan.html. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- ^ Conn, David (10 February 2011). "West Ham win delivers Olympic Stadium option nobody wanted". www.theguardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/feb/10/west-ham-olympic-stadium. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- ^ Hytner, David (2007-08-10), "Magnusson in talks over new site for West Ham stadium", Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/aug/10/newsstory.westhamunited
- ^ a b c Pritchard, Rob (2008-09-30), Olympic move just too dear, Echo Newspapers, http://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/football/westham/3713267.EXCLUSIVE__Olympic_move_just_too_dear/
- ^ "West Ham will make new 50,000-seater stadium decision by June", Daily Mail, 2008-03-20, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-540530/West-Ham-make-new-50-000-seater-stadium-decision-June.html
- ^ a b Howlett, Graeme; Thrower, Gordon (2009-06-29), Scott Duxbury: Part One, kumb.com Knees Up Mother Brown, http://www.kumb.com/qa.php?id=17
- ^ Minister makes 2012 stadium vow, BBC Sport, 2009-07-09, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/8143452.stm
Future and proposed sports stadiums in Great Britain Under construction Proposed Stanley Park - Liverpool (60,000) · Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - London (56,250) · City of Birmingham Stadium - Birmingham (55,000) · New Stadium - Everton (50,401) · Crystal Palace Park - London (40,000) · City Stadium - Bristol (30,000) · New Stadium - Aberdeen (22,000) · Fossetts Farm - Southend (22,000) · Community Stadium - Brentford (20,000) · UWE Stadium - Bristol (20,000) · New Stadium - Bridgend (15,000) · Conoco Stadium - Grimsby (12,000) · Newmarket Stadium - Wakefield (12,000) · The Failsworth Project - Oldham (12,000) · Olive Grove (10,000) · Stadium for Cornwall (10,000) · New Stadium - Gateshead (8,000) · Moston Community Stadium - Manchester (5,000)Categories:- West Ham United F.C.
- Sports venues in London
- Proposed football venues in England
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