West Ham on Friday were awarded the backing from the OLPC (BBC News - Feb 11) to take on the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 London Olympics. West Ham are not the only club to have benefited from public events, with Manchester City proving a fine example from the Commonwealth games in 2002.
The cost of the conversion for West Ham is estimated to be around £95M to help them be able to move into the new ground for the start of the 2014 season (Just over 2 year after the Olympics is over). This conversion would include a new roof, which currently is not going to be covering the bottom tier of the stadium, fine for the summer dwellers during the athletics season, but for the average football fan, getting wet during a midweek replay in late January at home to Burnley does not sound too appealing. The other main issue that West Ham have with the stadium, and the issue that has provoked most controversy within the public domain is that of the running track ("Athletics Legacy", some may call it ).
Now that the OLPC have guaranteed that the running track is there to stay, West Ham are being pressured into signing a contract if they are to be future tenants from preventing them from ripping it up in the future. This running track can be covered over with retractable seating at the cost of £10m, but with West Ham currently harbouring a £75M debt, it is unknown whether they will be able to afford such a commitment. However, without it, surely this will see the end of the atmospheric away trip that many fans of the top two tiers of football have enjoyed in recent years with fans being sat back away from the action.
West Ham are not the only professional club in East London with Leyton Orient being one of the main losers from the OLPC decision. Leyton Orient fans, along with other Football League fans are clamouring to get this decision over ruled on basis that the move into the Stratford area "harms another professional team", this being against a major Premier League rule. Not that the rules are strictly followed, enforced or even known in most cases it seems (Ian Holloway and the Aston Villa fine anyone?). This protest could lead to West Ham being taken to court for the second time this century over a large law suit, after the Argentinians saga which eventually sent Sheffield United back to the Championship. The Premier League is not altogether known for it's kind heartedness to the smaller teams in the league system, and one would hope that Leyton Orient can do something to keep the big boys encroaching on "their turf".
Of course, this may all be made completely redundant if Avram Grant can not improve the on the pitch performances of the Hammers, with West Ham fighting what seems to be yet another relegation battle, the Olympic Stadium could already be threatening to become a white elephant legacy even before the games have taken place.
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