Relegation won't hamper West Ham's stadium bid

West Ham could still finance a move into the 2012 Olympic Stadium if the club were relegated from the Premier League.

I understand that the east London club, who are struggling at the bottom of the table, has told the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) that the repayment on the loan needed to pay for the conversion of the stadium is relatively small.

Officials have told the OPLC that it would be able to cover the repayments if the club's income dropped in the Championship.

West Ham are currently bidding against Tottenham Hotspur for use of the stadium from the 2014-15 season. The OPLC is expected to make a decision on the stadium's anchor tenant by the end of the year.

The conversion of the stadium for football, which will include a new roof and floodlights, is expected to cost around �100m.

West Ham, whose bid is supported by Newham Council, are regarded as the favourites in the battle but there have been serious questions asked about whether the club has enough money to pay for the move.

Some of the conversion costs are already included in the �9.3 billion Olympic budget. The rest of the funding will come from selling the naming rights for the stadium and from the sale of West Ham's Upton Park ground for redevelopment.

West Ham are understood to have told the OPLC that the rest of the cash would come from a loan from Newham Council.

Neither West Ham nor the OPLC want to discuss the size of the loan in public. But the club is believed to be confident that it can pay back the loan every year to the council. Officials have worked out how they can do that in worse case scenarios such as relegation.

It has also emerged that Westfield, the company building a large shopping centre at the edge of the Olympic Park, is also backing West Ham's bid.

This is a major boost since Westfield has a huge amount of influence on the future of the developent, given that it is providing the majority of the new jobs there.

I've said on this blog before that I believe West Ham will win this battle and these new developments will certainly help the club's cause.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adrianwarner/2010/11/relegation_would_not_hamper_we.html

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