Irons and Gold
Back to the London Stadium and Wheelchair Rugby triumph
This isn’t the article I expected to write. I went back to the London Stadium to bury it not to praise it. Instead, I came away with a deeper understanding of just what a valuable asset West Ham United Football Club has become.
Nine years on from London 2012 and four from the World Athletics Championships, I’d been warned by an insider that I’d be dismayed to find what was the Olympic Stadium now in a shabby state. And my ticket for the match was at the back of the away end in the curve behind a notoriously distant goal. Just about as sub-prime as you could get.
Maybe 50,000+ supporters milling around masked any dilapidations. Perhaps I was seduced by the palpable air of anticipation in a crowded West Ham Stadium Store a full ninety minutes before kick-off - one fan reverentially admiring the rescued John Lyall gates from the old Boleyn Ground that now stand inside the shop. Not much sign of unhappy Hammers here.
Or it might have been the relief that my vantage point was excellent, even if it took until watching TV highlights the next day to realise that my old colleague Stuart Attwell was the speck of a referee on the horizon.
I’d been at the press conference in 2011 that announced West Ham as the anchor tenants for the Stadium. I’d lobbied for West Ham’s bid in preference to Tottenham Hotspur’s to ensure a future for the athletics track. I witnessed, fascinated what appeared to be a tear of joy roll down the cheek of co-owner David Gold that day. I then watched a fractious relationship develop between West Ham and the Legacy Company - the Stadium landlord acting on behalf of London’s Mayor.
And I’d lived the crass, low-tech solution deployed by the Legacy Company to move the venue’s seats backwards and forwards each year to accommodate both football and athletics. A false economy that cost millions of pounds and valuable weeks of downtime each season. Throw unhappy football fans into the mix and it is little wonder that the London Stadium is an Olympic legacy that few now want to applaud.
It is surely no coincidence, though, that a consortium is reportedly interested in buying West Ham, its pursuit of the club currently playing out as something of a phoney war in the media. Last month Tony Cottee was declared as the latest former Hammer to support the putative bidders. This weekend’s matchday programme advertised official tours of the Stadium led by Cottee. Could be interesting…
A lease on a 60,000 seat venue that lasts until current supporters’ great great grandchildren will be donning claret and blue shirts, at a minuscule rent, and with upkeep largely at the expense of the landlord, is an incredibly valuable asset. And all without the £1 billion cost Tottenham incurred building its own new home.
Forbes recently estimated that West Ham United has a value of $508 million (£369 million). On the basis of the club’s Stadium arrangement alone, this looks far too low to me.
The wannabe bidders, PAI Capital, have confirmed they have discussed new lease arrangements with the Legacy Company. Smart move. There can be little doubt that the Mayor would like to reduce the burden of management and upkeep of the London Stadium.
“As things stand, divergent interests prevent the Stadium from reaching its full potential. There has been too much controversy and contention over the past few years. We genuinely believe that the Club, Stadium and Park will thrive when the stakeholders are all pulling in the same direction.” PAI Capital
There’s clearly a deal to be done with the Legacy Company, whether by West Ham’s current owners or any new ones in future. Extend the lease, take over management for 52 weeks of the year, enjoying the profits from summer gigs and other sports, and come up with a new rental figure that carries with it greater responsibility for repair and maintenance. The Mayor could then breathe a sigh of relief at shucking off a loss-maker while West Ham furthers control of its own destiny.
What of athletics? The pandemic and the costs of seating moves put paid to any events at the London Stadium this summer. Next season’s calendar, crowded by global championships because of Covid rescheduling, might not even have a gap for a London Diamond League meeting. And as each barren year goes by, the argument for elite athletics in the Stadium grows weaker.
As I handed over the chair of UK Athletics, I advised its new leaders to decide urgently whether they wanted to continue to use the London Stadium and, if they did, to go all in against the constant pressure to give it up. If not, they should do an early deal with the Mayor to relinquish UKA’s 50 year rent-free sub-lease - accept either a very chunky sum of cash to support the sport (north of £25 million), or a fully redeveloped athletics venue at Crystal Palace. So far, frustratingly, they appear still to be undecided which way to go and their negotiating hand just gets weaker.
If it was still up to me, I’d be arguing for retro-fitting an automated seat moving system. This would pay back in only a few years, wouldn’t cramp West Ham, and would maximise the opportunities for summer revenues for whoever controls the London Stadium outside the football season. No reason why this shouldn’t be in the mix in any three way negotiations between the Legacy Company, West Ham and UKA. And athletics would still have its iconic Olympic home.
Every Sport Did Matter
And it was GOLD for GB wheelchair rugby in Tokyo - our team’s first ever global medal. A hugely proud moment, even though I’ve come to this party rather late. My first involvement was in a fury when the sport was chopped from lottery funding after Rio 2016. Over the past few days some have encouraged me to look back to that moment, but now is not the time.
By my reckoning, the board of UK Sport has entirely changed since the iniquitous decision which spawned 2017’s Every Sport Matters campaign by the unfunded Olympic and Paralympic sports. As one CEO involved in the lobbying said to me this week: the GB wheelchair rugby gold has shown that every sport did matter. Why point a finger though at an organisation that is now under fresh, enlightened leadership with those culpable long gone? Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned and tweaks to the lottery funding system that could be made for the better. I’ll return to this once the Paralympics are over. In the meantime, here’s to more excitement in the final few days of the Games!