Olympic Stadium

[Gash]

Apparently the deal is scandalous with WHU actually paying negative rent after me and you pay for the upkeep of the stadium etc. Apparently they could be in breach of some competition fairness rules because WHU are essentially being state funded.

Yeah, I got that impression from the BBC piece. The state are even funding policing etc for matchdays which straight away gives them something no other club gets as they need to pay for that themselves.

[Eddie]

Yeah, I got that impression from the BBC piece. The state are even funding policing etc for matchdays which straight away gives them something no other club gets as they need to pay for that themselves.

Yeah that's how they end up with negative rent with the £2-3m being less than the costs of policing/stadium-pitch upkeep. That's not to mention the extra hundreds of millions it cost US to convert it for West Ham.

[The Analog Kid]

Apparently the deal is scandalous with WHU actually paying negative rent after me and you pay for the upkeep of the stadium etc. Apparently they could be in breach of some competition fairness rules because WHU are essentially being state funded.

Sounds like Real Madrid.

[Major Clanger]

Sounds like Real Madrid.

Who are also under investigation for the same thing.

[The Analog Kid]

Who are also under investigation for the same thing.

Aren't they constantly getting bailed out by the king of Spain as it's the team he supports?

[Jimmywhack]

Aren't they constantly getting bailed out by the king of Spain as it's the team he supports?

Good for the country and tourism was the old excuse

[The Analog Kid]

Good for the country and tourism was the old excuse

I see. Who does Liz and Phil support then? Probably a German side.

[GLewis]

Aren't they constantly getting bailed out by the king of Spain as it's the team he supports?

No.

The biggest thing for them was that they sold their training ground to the council for something ridiculous like €300m.

An obviously over inflated price.

[GLewis]

That was at a time when €300m made a huge difference at that level.

[GLewis]

Apparently the deal is scandalous with WHU actually paying negative rent after me and you pay for the upkeep of the stadium etc. Apparently they could be in breach of some competition fairness rules because WHU are essentially being state funded.

If they're involved in a deal that isn't considered consistent with the market then they'll have breached the rules.

Of course it'll take a robust judiciary to go against the state when central government want someone in that stadium.

[Eddie]

If they're involved in a deal that isn't considered consistent with the market then they'll have breached the rules.

Of course it'll take a robust judiciary to go against the state when central government want someone in that stadium.

Even if they did get charged with breaching the rules it's one of them things that's probably get quashed on appeal.

[GLewis]

Even if they did get charged with breaching the rules it's one of them things that's probably get quashed on appeal.

It's a real offence though, not just some arbitrary footballing one. If they got done for it, it'd probably stick.

Just getting them done in the first place would be difficult I'd imagine.

[Eddie]

WHU being forced to disclose how they managed to get the OS at everyone else's expense....

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/15/west-ham-details-olympic-stadium-deal?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Gash]

I know it was a few years ago, but it's mental when you see the cost of the likes of Wembley and the Olympic Stadium yet they managed to build the Millennium Stadium for about £120m. And that includes a retractable roof.

[GLewis]

I know it was a few years ago, but it's mental when you see the cost of the likes of Wembley and the Olympic Stadium yet they managed to build the Millennium Stadium for about £120m. And that includes a retractable roof.

I'm sure on a pro rata basis Juve's new stadium was very cheap compared to Wembley/the OS and that was built to be energy efficient etc so wasn't dumbed down on spec.