Sullivan targets Olympic Stadium for West Ham 20/01/2010 |
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New West Ham United owner David Sullivan wants to make the Olympic Stadium the club’s new home after London 2012.
Lifelong West Ham fan Sullivan and business partner David Gold have taken control of the club after buying a 50 per cent stake from Icelandic bank Straumur.
And they have set their sights on moving from Upton Park to the new arena being built for the 2012 Games.
“It is nice to get the club back in the hands of east Londoners and these are exciting times,” said Sullivan.
"We hope to persuade the Government to let us move into the new Olympic Stadium and I believe the people of east London would support that move."
A final decision on the stadium’s future post-2012 will be taken by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), but a London 2012 spokeswoman pointed out that if Sullivan was successful in his bid he would have to keep the running track.
Asked whether he would be happy to live with the track around the pitch, he told Sky Sports News: "Ideally no, but there may be a way we could lay the running track for three months or something. It may be cheaper to build a running track somewhere else. I don't think running tracks work, particularly behind the goal. The customers are so far back it doesn't work.
"We don't want to buy [the Olympic Stadium], we want to rent it. The Government promised to keep it alive for 30 years – it’s going to cost them more to keep it alive. With us it's going to cost them nothing – we would pay all the running costs."
Sullivan added: "It is a priority for West Ham that we move to the Olympic Stadium, three miles from where we are now.
"If we have a huge ground, we can take football back to the people, reduce admission prices and become the cheapest Premier League ground in the country.
"If [our chances] are not better than 50-50, I'd be very surprised. It can't be comprehended that a government can build a huge ground, then reduce it and use it for rugby, which would be empty.
"There's a precedent with Manchester City getting the Commonwealth Games stadium so, to a large extent, we should get it, but we are in negotiations."
Sullivan also revealed that West Ham is £110m in debt and admitted that it made “no commercial sense” to buy the club.
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