By Paul Nicholson
October 4 – Leyton Orient owner Barry Hearn (pictured)may have lost his £750,000 legal battle to allow the club to ground share London’s Olympic Stadium with Premier League club West Ham United, but he hasn’t given up hope and he could be handed a lifeline by the EC.
Orient are the closest club to the Olympic Stadium in London’s East End, but the High Court’s decision last month denied them the right to challenge the Olympic Stadium tenancy and a judicial review of the decision to grant West ham the tenancy.
Hearn’s lawyers argued that the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) tenancy agreement with West Ham was “entirely flawed”. The League One club says it was “never properly considered as a co-tenant with Premier League side West Ham”.
The LLDC argued that some of Orient’s points were “wholly illogical”, their case was “devoid of merit” and their Decision Letter clearly explained the process.
But for Hearn the fight will not end there and he is hoping the House of Lords in the UK will recommend the issue be re-opened in a report to be issued next month. The House of Lord no longer carries judicial power in this regard, so Hearn will be banking on what he hopes is “common sense” if his case is to proceed further.
However, as insideworldfootball columnist Mihir Bose points out in his column (http://www.insideworldfootball.com/mihir-bose/13363-mihir-bose-brussels-not-westminster-may-turn-the-tide-for-barry-hearn-s-olympic-stadium-bid), the European Union may be a more fruitful route for him to take, where the competition directorate has been looking at Dutch clubs where state aid could be deemed to “distort or threaten to distort competition”.
The European Commission is also looking into the issue of illegal state aid for Spanish clubs. The EC has received complaints, believed to be from other European clubs competing in the European competitions, that state money is being illegally funnelled to the clubs creating an unfair advantage for the Spanish. (http://www.insideworldfootball.com/world-football/europe/13056-no-threat-to-status-of-barca-and-real-madrid-but-ec-still-investigating-illegal-aid?highlight=WyJzcGFuaXNoIiwiY2x1YnMiLCJzdGF0ZSIsImFpZCIsInNwYW5pc2ggY2x1YnMiLCJzdGF0ZSBhaWQiXQ==).
Hearn argues that the deal with West Ham was “the deal of the century”.
“West Ham are paying £2 million a year rent (a figure disputed by West Ham) but the stadium owners, LLDC, are paying for all the security, police, stewarding and ground maintenance. That comes to more than £2m a year. So effectively they are getting the stadium rent free. West Ham also get all the normal match day revenue and part of the catering income, we don’t know how much. Yes they are contributing about £15 million from the sale of Upton park towards the capital costs but we would all like to get a £600 million asset for £15 million,” said Hearn.
He went on to say, in an interview with Bose for London’s Evening Standard: “The Olympic Stadium has added £100 million to the value of West Ham. It could be a most attractive purchase for a foreign buyer: a 54,000-seater stadium in an iconic building on the Olympic Park. The British taxpayer could end up funding a trophy asset for a Qatari.”
Well, probably not for a Qatari as they have enough football issues of their own at the moment. But the point, if pursued, that state funding is potentially distorting the football market, will not be lost on the EC, nor West Ham’s Premier League (and, ultimately, European rivals) if the award of the stadium pushes the Hamers up into the next financial league.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1738745086labto1738745086ofdlr1738745086owedi1738745086sni@n1738745086osloh1738745086cin.l1738745086uap1738745086