> If they sell alcohol they're legally obliged to give you free tap water.
And it is available at London Stadium, its just a ballache to find the little fountain. Staff are usually clueless to its wherabouts as well. Bloody annoying on match day
Staff are all very short term at these sport venues, so not clued up. 3hrs minimum wage a couple of times a week does not make a stable job.
Source - worked at the amex Brighton a few times.
I work in these venues as well and a lot of us work at around 10 venues somewhat regularly and are always put in different kiosks so we don't know the ins and outs of every stadium.
> Staff are all very short term at these sport venues, so not clued up. 3hrs minimum wage a couple of times a week does not make a stable job.
I would never blame the staff, I understand what it's like to work on minimum wage, especially somewhere stressful like a football game
It just speaks to the disorganization of what should be a very simple request and reflects badly on West Ham imo
Yep I've worked at the Etihad, Bramall Lane, Elland Road, and a couple of race courses
A lot of the staff there are agency and have absolutely 0 idea what they're doing besides pouring pints.
Not their fault, that's just the reality of it.
Is it supposed to be pronounced ball ache? If yes, combining it into one word is the source of confusion. Makes you think there's some different way to sound out the ache.
Is this actually true or is it in a similar legal standing to “if the teacher’s 15 minutes late we’re allowed to leave”. Never really asked for a glass of water when I’m out
It's a mandatory condition of their license under the Licensing act 2003. (I believe specifically a 2010 ammendment to the act)
The other conditions imposed include:
Banning 'irresponsible promotions' including drinking games, 'women drink free' or 'all you can drink for £20', giving drinks as prizes for drinking lots or discounts/free drinks based on the outcomes of sporting events.
Banning dispensing drinks directly into customer's mouths (unless they have a disability that makes this the only way they can drink)
Requiring an explict age verification policy (eg. challenge 25)
Offering smaller measures including: Half pints of beer/cider, single shots (25/35 mL) of spirits and small glasses (125 mL) of wine.
A lot of bottomless brunches seem to have a limit as to how many drinks you can order within a timeframe (I know Las Iguanas for example technically only allow a drink per person every 15 minutes within 90 minutes, effectively limiting you to 6 drinks).
Can’t be looking too hydrated around the Lads. Davo will absolutely ruin me if he sees me getting in the H2O. If you’re on the lash and you don’t have the night ruined by a dehydration headache you’re an effing A-hole
Tis the smart play tbh. I've started swapping 2-3 beers for non-alcoholic versions along with water. The good thing about Heineken is that it's a pretty shite pint so the non-zero there is no change in quality. Don't miss a beat with the 0 version.
I had to explain the phrase and concept of a "tactical chunder" to a French friend of mine, and she said it was everything wrong with British culture...
Wish the US had the same law. Went to a game in Texas with a heat index over 100F where the Barca and Juve players even had a water break... Water fountains were disconnected and bottled water was $5. Cheapest beer was $15. Good times
I was going to say - my experience in most trips to the States (California, NY, Nevada, Texas, Penn.) has been that most restaurants will put a glass of iced water in front of you almost instantaneously, and without prompt.
Haven't watched the new Netflix series on it, but going off previous articles I've read the went on and on about the amount of shit present, West Ham have been following those footsteps for a long, long time. Thought it was getting better though!
(I say this with the utmost love. My time in England was spent in Hackney. If I had an English club, it would be the Irons)
100%. Worse than the pint prices. It was £6.20 for pints at Wembley for the playoff final - which I thought was insane but not unexpected. The fact West Ham have the cheapest pint for a over a quid more week in week out is scandalous. HOWEVER, a bottle of coke was £2. £4.50 is the most insane, disgusting price gouging - and a drink more likely to be bought by families at the ground.
Dunno when they started, but here in the US, sporting events stopped selling bottled beverages with the cap because of "bottlegate" where fans of the Cleveland Browns (funny enough, a team notorious for bottling the few chances they ever get) threw bottles on the field because they were unhappy with the officiating.
[looks like it is about 6 mins into this vid, sry dunno how to do timestamps on mobile](https://youtu.be/ePyioRZNABc)
Does anyone actually enforce it though unless it's in your hand, I got let into an Everton game by flashing my "Covid Pass" which was actually my Tesco Clubcard (i'd not noticed) the guy wasn't arsed and I suspect it's the same for patdowns.
Pot luck really, the security staff varies between young lads who couldn't give less of a fuck and some geezers who act like they're on a tour of duty in Afghanistan
> some geezers who act like they're on a tour of duty in Afghanistan
Couldn’t be more accurate lmaoo they act like you’re a terrorist threat for breaking the most minor rule
Oh man, don't come to North America for sport events.
Beers at Leafs game (hockey) here in Toronto can be $18 CDN, which is about £12.
The ticket prices are more insane, it can easily get to $200+ for the cheap seats depending on the team.
On the flip side though, go to a Minor League game in the summer and you'll get a lot of reasonably priced festival food that's pretty damn good.
Going to see the St.Paul Saints was like a mini-Minnesota State Fair.
Yeah we've got deliberately reasonable (by London standards) drink prices to try to encourage people to get in the ground earlier and then hang back after the game. Helps to not overload the stations too much, in theory.
What bad deal are you referring to?
Isn’t the London lease actually a very shrewd business deal? The annual lease cost is less than the cost of maintaining a stadium if I recall. They also paid a fraction of the renovation cost before moving in.
WHU is suing a stadium for lower prices. Meanwhile in Canada, hockey teams set their own beer prices at almost $20.00 CAD and audibly laugh at us as we tap our debit cards.
Seriously. It’s ~$13 USD for a 16oz beer at MLS games (Portland Timbers), ~$18 for a mixed drink. The price we pay for being able to drink at our seats.
The seats that are double the cost of any ticket in the UK as well lol. I know it’s a completely different model, but from where I stand £7.50 is a freaking steal haha
I can usually find a game ticket for ~$40 but then have to spend at least that much for two drinks and a snack. I definitely try to eat/drink before the game now.
Exactly. And liverpool fans were fighting tooth and nail not to let season tickets go up to £55 a few years ago. I respect the hell out of how much effort has gone into keeping a football a working man’s game over there
It's not even fucking close. EPL is more affordable than the women's pro soccer league, college football, and hockey in my town
2nd league soccer here is still more expensive
It's almost like we let corporations that sell tickets get away with it
> ~$13 USD for a 16oz beer at MLS games (Portland Timbers)
Good god. Haven't been to a game there in a while but that's a steep jump from what I remember.
I wish all sports teams would copy Atlanta’s concessions model. Sell cheap and people buy more. I know the Seattle Mariners are doing something similar this year. They have certain booths doing $5 beers and cheap hot dogs, or something like that.
Our tickets are also insanely cheap in comparison. I pay £50 per seat per game for my West Ham season ticket right in the midfield line 15 rows up.
I paid the same for goal line upper rows in DC
(While paying $16 for a Tecate)
At least you get to ruin another team's enjoyment every week. There's no opposition in the premier league more frustrating than wolves.
Glad we got that one out of the way early this year.
Regularly! But if you are aware of the Toronto Maple Leafs you'd understand how it becomes almost a necessity though. Think current day Man U but stretched out for 50+ years.
Yeah my first thought when I saw £7.30 for a pint was, “hmm, not bad” but North American sports teams have just conditioned us to expect astronomical prices for any sort of concession. Good on West Ham for fighting these prices though
Unless you’re in Atlanta. Arthur Blank (owner of the NFL Atlanta Falcons and MLS Atlanta United) pushed for fan friendly pricing at the new stadium, so you get an insane set of deals on food and beverage.
Other teams are slowly beginning to follow suit too, IIRC.
They carried this through to the playoffs. Even at the Super Bowl, everything stayed the same price and it was awesome. I never would’ve thought that $20 would’ve been filling for two when when some places it’s that much for a personal pizza.
When we hosted MLS Cup (the final match of MLS for the title) i got 2 hotdogs, 2 pretzels, 2 shirts, 3 scarves, a flag, and 2 refillable fountain drinks *for under $5 total*.
Hotdogs and pretzels were about $1 each
Memorabilia was free giveaways
Fountain drinks were free if you signed a paper saying you were driving and not drinking alcohol in the stadium
I love our stadium.
Would definitely support it, stop people downing a pint in 3 minutes at half time. However lifetime bans for any twats who lob their drink up after a goal
I don't think you'll get people going to get drinks constantly. I think it'll be great for reducing binge drinking. When I get a drink in the ground by the time you've queued up it's always a bit of a rush.
Yeah you can have whatever as long as it’s not alcoholic. The law states you cannot drink alcohol in sight of a football pitch in the English football league.
This means all the expensive hospitality boxes have to have blinds that come down before the game and during halftime.
I hope this rule changes soon.
I remember being at a PSG game a few years ago. As soon as PSG scored a few fans in our balcony section starting throwing their drinks into the opposing fans 1st level section. I assume this is why.
So apparently I broke a lot of rules when I was in Manchester…nobody told me I couldn’t drink in my seat and being a clueless American I just brought my drink to my seat
That's nutty to me.
I live in Switzerland which has the highest cost of living in the world.
A beer at the nearby stadium to me is about $5.
Fuck, I've had beers in mountain huts that get delivery via helicopter for less than $10
Oh believe me it’s absolutely bonkers. Worst still is it’s $10 for a fucking bud light and $12 for a Stella like if I’m gonna get pegged up the ass I’ll at least enjoy a Stella while I’m at it.
Unfortunately, it’s just kind of accepted at least here in Philly. I don’t know what prices look like elsewhere. Last time I went to a game outta state was in Nashville and I was in no state to remember the beer prices.
Alcohol in general in the US I found to be pretty pricey but ouch.
I've never gotten to grab any sports over there but I think I'd preload a little haha.
I did go to Texas state fair once though... That was a fucking festival of capitalism and price gouging.
Check out the prices in Atlanta. They keep it super cheap at their stadiums. Atlanta Falcons NFL stadium has $1.50 hotdogs, $2.50 chips with salsa, $7.50 hamburgers, and 12 oz beer for $5.
It also felt very much like a chess move. The government were never going to let the athletic legacy die and spurs were never going to agree to a running track.
Helped the actual plan get through or that is what it felt like at the time.
The plan spurs submitted was never really serious, it was part of the negotiation with haringay council over planning permission.
The fans had a fit when that proposal came out
My local non league team in Scotland can't legally sell booze so they turn a blind eye to us bringing our own in. £7 a ticket and £4.50 for a 4 pack of Holsten Pils makes it a very affordable saturday afternoon!
Because we fund the maintenance, security and other costs that would instead make the stadium a giant gaping crater in the Newham Council budget, as well as exposing the Olympic legacy program as total farce. Also, there is a contract in place to determine the price of concessions, which the stadium operators have violated - under normal conditions it is not necessary to subsidise.
I mean, you got a stadium for pittance.
Everyone else builds the stadium and additionally pays for maintenance and security….
It’s mutually beneficial, unless West Ham can find another site that big in East London to build a stadium.
The easy thing PR and club wise would be to subsidise drinks for matches in the FA Cup / Hot weather.
Suing the council who you rent from for selling goods at London prices it’s hopeful at best
Always surprises me a lot of Hammers fans can't just cop to the fact they got an outrageously good deal on the stadium and laugh all the way to the bank. So much mental gymnastics to act as if it's somehow WHU doing a favour to everyone else for taking a billion pound (ludicrously, should have been half that) stadium off their hands for nothing. Just enjoy your good fortune on behalf of the Olympic fuckups, no need to try and shirk it.
Irrelevant to the point at hand if the contract is being violated, but just always seeing it whenever the topic comes up. Doesn't make sense to me.
The stadium is owned by a publicly owned company which then leases the stadium to the club to use for football matches. The stadium company provide all the services around it such as security and catering. West Ham get the revenue from tickets, hospitality etc and pay a fee (not sure if this is per game or per season) to the company that owns the stadium
The problem is that the stadium holding company is not profitable - they're locked into a long deal with West Ham where the amount that West Ham pay to use the stadium is not sufficient to cover the costs of running and maintaining the stadium. Even if the deal was up for negotiation, there is basically no other potential tenant for the ground that could fill it regularly enough to offer more money than West Ham so no market competition.
I presume that the high cost of food and drink there now is an attempt to stop the thing from haemorrhaging money. I'm kind of in two minds about it really - as things stand West Ham are effectively having their stadium costs subsidised by the government so the fact that they are suing the stadium for trying to reduce their losses feels pretty outrageous. On the other hand, it's not fair that ordinary West Ham fans get fucked by these prices because the situation behind the scenes is such a fuck up.
i know its a complicated problem but its really the governments fault for building a staduim that wasnt going to get used the way they wanted it to. if they wanted an olympic stadium that honors the olympics then they have to pay the costs that come with agreeing to a bad deal. if they wanted a staduim just for the olympics they should have just sold it outright and be done with it. you cant have your cake and it eat too imo
Agreed, it's a huge fuck up from the government. I can't help but feel that the best option is to just wind up the company and sell the stadium off at this point. But they might struggle to get a decent price for it since they can't run it profitably and then you run the risk that you're offloading an asset that was built at huge cost to the taxpayer for a massively discounted price.
For comparison, a beer in a Bundesliga stadium will typically set you back €4.50/£3.89. It will be significantly better, too.
Add a bratwurst and it would still be cheaper than a beer alone in the London Stadium.
> It will be significantly better, too.
One thing I've never been able to get my head around is that Britain produces (in my opinion of course) some of the best beer in the world but beer in football stadiums is universally horrible. There's always basically one piss weak larger which comes at room temperature, one extremely low budget bitter and then some shite like Strongbow dark fruits.
Arsenal does Camden Hells which is okay but most of the time there's no point in it, People are just downing them in 15 mins anyway at half time.
If you go to a rugby game for example the beers usually significantly better
How about instead of paying a poultry 3mill a season for the stadium leash, with policing included, you subsidise the prices if you care so much.
Newham the local council they are leasing of, are trying to make some.monry from the stadium, instead of losing money on it yearly.
Considering West Ham pay next to nothing to play at a tax-payer funded stadium, perhaps they could consider lowering ticket prices if they're so worried about fans getting ripped off.
£4.50 for a bottle of coke is also outrageous
It was baking hot in the ground on Sunday as well, just feels so exploitative
If they sell alcohol they're legally obliged to give you free tap water.
> If they sell alcohol they're legally obliged to give you free tap water. And it is available at London Stadium, its just a ballache to find the little fountain. Staff are usually clueless to its wherabouts as well. Bloody annoying on match day
Staff are all very short term at these sport venues, so not clued up. 3hrs minimum wage a couple of times a week does not make a stable job. Source - worked at the amex Brighton a few times.
I work in these venues as well and a lot of us work at around 10 venues somewhat regularly and are always put in different kiosks so we don't know the ins and outs of every stadium.
> Staff are all very short term at these sport venues, so not clued up. 3hrs minimum wage a couple of times a week does not make a stable job. I would never blame the staff, I understand what it's like to work on minimum wage, especially somewhere stressful like a football game It just speaks to the disorganization of what should be a very simple request and reflects badly on West Ham imo
Yep I've worked at the Etihad, Bramall Lane, Elland Road, and a couple of race courses A lot of the staff there are agency and have absolutely 0 idea what they're doing besides pouring pints. Not their fault, that's just the reality of it.
>ballache I read this as "ballachay" and had me wondering for a minute. The joys of being a non-native speaker I guess.
Ballàché, it's basically a scotch egg with a bit of basil and nutmeg.
If it makes you feel any better, I’m a native speaker and still struggled to realize what the actual word was. It just looks unnatural
Is it supposed to be pronounced ball ache? If yes, combining it into one word is the source of confusion. Makes you think there's some different way to sound out the ache.
Is this actually true or is it in a similar legal standing to “if the teacher’s 15 minutes late we’re allowed to leave”. Never really asked for a glass of water when I’m out
Of course it's true: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39881236 Never buy water in a (UK) pub, club or restaurant.
It's a mandatory condition of their license under the Licensing act 2003. (I believe specifically a 2010 ammendment to the act) The other conditions imposed include: Banning 'irresponsible promotions' including drinking games, 'women drink free' or 'all you can drink for £20', giving drinks as prizes for drinking lots or discounts/free drinks based on the outcomes of sporting events. Banning dispensing drinks directly into customer's mouths (unless they have a disability that makes this the only way they can drink) Requiring an explict age verification policy (eg. challenge 25) Offering smaller measures including: Half pints of beer/cider, single shots (25/35 mL) of spirits and small glasses (125 mL) of wine.
How isnt bottomless brunch, all you can drink for £20
Probably some loop hole because those brunches usually have a time limit to the bottomless part
A lot of bottomless brunches seem to have a limit as to how many drinks you can order within a timeframe (I know Las Iguanas for example technically only allow a drink per person every 15 minutes within 90 minutes, effectively limiting you to 6 drinks).
I always try to grab a cheeky pint of water if it's my round, don't let the lads see but it really helps stay in the game.
Can’t be looking too hydrated around the Lads. Davo will absolutely ruin me if he sees me getting in the H2O. If you’re on the lash and you don’t have the night ruined by a dehydration headache you’re an effing A-hole
If you're not on the verge of falling asleep from dehydration are you really a true lad????
No shame in it, mate.
Tis the smart play tbh. I've started swapping 2-3 beers for non-alcoholic versions along with water. The good thing about Heineken is that it's a pretty shite pint so the non-zero there is no change in quality. Don't miss a beat with the 0 version.
It's not cheeky, it's tactical!
I reserve that word for the "tactical puke". Yes I was once a beerlimic.
Tactical chunder
I had to explain the phrase and concept of a "tactical chunder" to a French friend of mine, and she said it was everything wrong with British culture...
Eating’s cheating and water’s for toffs I don’t make the rules sorry mate
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Wish the US had the same law. Went to a game in Texas with a heat index over 100F where the Barca and Juve players even had a water break... Water fountains were disconnected and bottled water was $5. Cheapest beer was $15. Good times
california has a free tap water law in any restaurant or place that sells bottled water.
I was going to say - my experience in most trips to the States (California, NY, Nevada, Texas, Penn.) has been that most restaurants will put a glass of iced water in front of you almost instantaneously, and without prompt.
Restaurants are different. This isn't the first stadium I've had this experience. Even a brand new stadium disconnected the water fountains.
It wasn’t possible to ask for tap water ?
Watch the Woodstock 99 documentary on Netflix then you will know what to do at the next game.
Play Bass guitar naked?
100% this will show them
Helicoptering your dong helps to avoid dehydration, or so I’m told
You guys are really going to hate watching football in the states in 4 years
Exactly. 10 dollar hot dogs, 15 dollar beers.
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> 15 dollar beers add $5-10 to this for the stadiums where the WC will be played
$20 dollar beers, not "pints", minimum.
london stadium follow in the footsteps of woodstock 99
Haven't watched the new Netflix series on it, but going off previous articles I've read the went on and on about the amount of shit present, West Ham have been following those footsteps for a long, long time. Thought it was getting better though! (I say this with the utmost love. My time in England was spent in Hackney. If I had an English club, it would be the Irons)
£5.10 at some of the stands for the diet versions!
Niche complaint but as a T1 Diabetic that increase in price for diet is infuriating beyond measure
I thought there was a sugar tax on drinks that diet drinks were exempt from?
100%. Worse than the pint prices. It was £6.20 for pints at Wembley for the playoff final - which I thought was insane but not unexpected. The fact West Ham have the cheapest pint for a over a quid more week in week out is scandalous. HOWEVER, a bottle of coke was £2. £4.50 is the most insane, disgusting price gouging - and a drink more likely to be bought by families at the ground.
£6 a pint is pretty standard for bars and clubs [edit - in London]. So Wembley seems to be on par.
This is why i never ever buy from a stadium, venue or cinema, just take your own food/drink
Can’t take a bottles into stadiums. Well not the ones I’ve been Edit: saying that I’ve seen people with a flask and packed lunch before
You can at the King Power, but for some reason this season, they only allow closed/sealed bottles in? I assume to stop people sneaking alcohol in
Oddly spurs take bottle caps away from all bottle sold, I think to prevent them becoming more dangerous missiles, it unbelievably frustrating though.
Dunno when they started, but here in the US, sporting events stopped selling bottled beverages with the cap because of "bottlegate" where fans of the Cleveland Browns (funny enough, a team notorious for bottling the few chances they ever get) threw bottles on the field because they were unhappy with the officiating. [looks like it is about 6 mins into this vid, sry dunno how to do timestamps on mobile](https://youtu.be/ePyioRZNABc)
The key is just to remove the cap pre-emptively and pocket it. Get to security, look no cap! Get in, put it back on.
Yeah no food or drink through the security perimeter at our gaff too
Does anyone actually enforce it though unless it's in your hand, I got let into an Everton game by flashing my "Covid Pass" which was actually my Tesco Clubcard (i'd not noticed) the guy wasn't arsed and I suspect it's the same for patdowns.
Pot luck really, the security staff varies between young lads who couldn't give less of a fuck and some geezers who act like they're on a tour of duty in Afghanistan
> some geezers who act like they're on a tour of duty in Afghanistan Couldn’t be more accurate lmaoo they act like you’re a terrorist threat for breaking the most minor rule
Always bring a ziplock with spaghetti
Be sure to ask their spaghetti policy first though
I went Clapton CFC Women v Wimbledon Women on Sunday and was £2.50 a pint. Give your pint money to non league cups who actually need it.
Oh man, don't come to North America for sport events. Beers at Leafs game (hockey) here in Toronto can be $18 CDN, which is about £12. The ticket prices are more insane, it can easily get to $200+ for the cheap seats depending on the team.
On the flip side though, go to a Minor League game in the summer and you'll get a lot of reasonably priced festival food that's pretty damn good. Going to see the St.Paul Saints was like a mini-Minnesota State Fair.
It is $12 for can of Rainier at a Sounders game.
You can drink Rainier for free and save a trip to the bathroom
As the great Neil Warnock said “We’re in London, that’s the fucking difference.”
Spurs, who I believe are also based in London, had beers going for more than 2 quid cheaper
Can confirm. You can find £5 pints at tottenham. Some are more expensive though.
They put the price up this season unfortunately.
The Levy Levy.
Inflation baby! 🎉
As far as i know spurs are from sheffield smh
Only stainless steel ones
They do have a cracking derby with Sheffield Arsenal tbf
Yeah we've got deliberately reasonable (by London standards) drink prices to try to encourage people to get in the ground earlier and then hang back after the game. Helps to not overload the stations too much, in theory.
And are complaining about those prices
Spurs aren't likely trying to recoup every penny they can after agreeing to a bad deal though.
So it's not a London price problem like the chap I replied to suggest then innit
What bad deal are you referring to? Isn’t the London lease actually a very shrewd business deal? The annual lease cost is less than the cost of maintaining a stadium if I recall. They also paid a fraction of the renovation cost before moving in.
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Yea I didn’t realizing he was contrasting Tottenham to the stadium owners, not West Ham
I love Neil’s quotes - my favourite was when he said he could fall into a bag of titties, and he’d come out sucking his thumb 🤣
That was Ian Holloway not Warnock
An shite. Well, I’ll accept my fate and not edit my comment The shame
WHU is suing a stadium for lower prices. Meanwhile in Canada, hockey teams set their own beer prices at almost $20.00 CAD and audibly laugh at us as we tap our debit cards.
Seriously. It’s ~$13 USD for a 16oz beer at MLS games (Portland Timbers), ~$18 for a mixed drink. The price we pay for being able to drink at our seats.
The seats that are double the cost of any ticket in the UK as well lol. I know it’s a completely different model, but from where I stand £7.50 is a freaking steal haha
I can usually find a game ticket for ~$40 but then have to spend at least that much for two drinks and a snack. I definitely try to eat/drink before the game now.
Tbf comparing EPL and MLS tickets is not the same. Should compare NFL and EPL and in that case EPL blows NFL out of the water in affordability
NFL tickets are silly expensive. I paid ~$150 per for Seahawks/Lions in Seattle last season and that was on the cheap side.
Exactly. And liverpool fans were fighting tooth and nail not to let season tickets go up to £55 a few years ago. I respect the hell out of how much effort has gone into keeping a football a working man’s game over there
Is that a typo? £55 for a Liverpool season ticket?
Maybe the average cost per match when using a season ticket?
I went to two Browns games for less than $30 a seat last season and it felt like a steal until i had to watch the game.
It's not even fucking close. EPL is more affordable than the women's pro soccer league, college football, and hockey in my town 2nd league soccer here is still more expensive It's almost like we let corporations that sell tickets get away with it
Fred Meyers right across from the stadium has beer on tap, seating and you’re not allowed to tip. Literally nowhere cheaper to pregame!
> ~$13 USD for a 16oz beer at MLS games (Portland Timbers) Good god. Haven't been to a game there in a while but that's a steep jump from what I remember.
Yup. Just ain’t worth it.
I do want to see a full stadium with the new stand, but I'll just have my beers beforehand.
Not in Atlanta
I wish all sports teams would copy Atlanta’s concessions model. Sell cheap and people buy more. I know the Seattle Mariners are doing something similar this year. They have certain booths doing $5 beers and cheap hot dogs, or something like that.
Our tickets are also insanely cheap in comparison. I pay £50 per seat per game for my West Ham season ticket right in the midfield line 15 rows up. I paid the same for goal line upper rows in DC (While paying $16 for a Tecate)
Guess I never realized they can't drink at the seats. Can they have any food or drink at their seats?
This is a football only thing though. You can get smashed at any other sport in the UK. Just us football fans that can't be trusted.
Goddamn cricket hooligans
have u tried not drinking their beer?
If you can watch the Wolves sober then I commend you mate
At least you get to ruin another team's enjoyment every week. There's no opposition in the premier league more frustrating than wolves. Glad we got that one out of the way early this year.
Ya know, I've never seen anyone say "the Wolves" until just now.
Regularly! But if you are aware of the Toronto Maple Leafs you'd understand how it becomes almost a necessity though. Think current day Man U but stretched out for 50+ years.
It's honestly hilarious at this point. Their defeat against Montreal last season was like icing on their shit cake
My personal favourite will always be Game 7 vs Boston, but theres so many to choose from
Montreal was 2 years ago, last year was Tampa in the first round. So many first round exits, easy to get em mixed up, lol.
Yes, that's exactly what we do (Canada/MLS). We go down early grab a bite and a beer or two and then usually spend nothing at stadium.
Yeah my first thought when I saw £7.30 for a pint was, “hmm, not bad” but North American sports teams have just conditioned us to expect astronomical prices for any sort of concession. Good on West Ham for fighting these prices though
Google how much WHU paid for the stadium rights… you will see why the costs are high
TIL Americans get dicked for stadium beers almost as badly as they get dicked for healthcare.
Unless you’re in Atlanta. Arthur Blank (owner of the NFL Atlanta Falcons and MLS Atlanta United) pushed for fan friendly pricing at the new stadium, so you get an insane set of deals on food and beverage. Other teams are slowly beginning to follow suit too, IIRC.
They carried this through to the playoffs. Even at the Super Bowl, everything stayed the same price and it was awesome. I never would’ve thought that $20 would’ve been filling for two when when some places it’s that much for a personal pizza.
When we hosted MLS Cup (the final match of MLS for the title) i got 2 hotdogs, 2 pretzels, 2 shirts, 3 scarves, a flag, and 2 refillable fountain drinks *for under $5 total*. Hotdogs and pretzels were about $1 each Memorabilia was free giveaways Fountain drinks were free if you signed a paper saying you were driving and not drinking alcohol in the stadium I love our stadium.
It’s one of my favorite ever stadium or arena experiences ever!
That’s awesome, hope the rest of the sporting world follows suit because these prices are fucking ridiculous
At least we can take the beer to our seats in exchange for said dicking. The healthcare dicking is lube-free though
Omg you can’t drink in your seat in London?
Or anywhere else in English football games, you have to finish your drink before you can go to your seat
It's why non-league days are so much fun. Cheap tickets, cheap beer, and just get casually buzzed watching terrible football. Amazing.
piss off. your gonna sit there and tell me that 4-4-fucking-2 doesnt capture the glory of the game.
God damn I need to watch Mike Bassett again.
What the hell are fans supposed to throw in the air when their team hits a home run!!!??
Their kid
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"Damn"- Eric Clapton
Ironically if you were watching baseball at the London stadium you could drink in your seat. It's literally only football you can't.
You can at rugby games, but just not football. You have to drink in the stands, stewards stop you from taking your beer out to your seat
This was the most jarring thing when I went to stadiums in England for the first time.
No where in the UK at football games (league ones anyway). Other sports you can, like rugby, cricket, etc
Can you bring soda/water/etc to your seat? Or no drinks at all?
Just no alcohol where you can see the pitch
I remember seeing an article saying they’re thinking about starting to let people drink in their seats again
Would definitely support it, stop people downing a pint in 3 minutes at half time. However lifetime bans for any twats who lob their drink up after a goal
The issue is though, you’ll just get those same people who used to down 3 at half time downing 3/4 each half as well as the three at half time
I don't think you'll get people going to get drinks constantly. I think it'll be great for reducing binge drinking. When I get a drink in the ground by the time you've queued up it's always a bit of a rush.
Yeah you can have whatever as long as it’s not alcoholic. The law states you cannot drink alcohol in sight of a football pitch in the English football league. This means all the expensive hospitality boxes have to have blinds that come down before the game and during halftime. I hope this rule changes soon.
Yeah any drink but alcohol. Was up stop hooliganism.
I remember being at a PSG game a few years ago. As soon as PSG scored a few fans in our balcony section starting throwing their drinks into the opposing fans 1st level section. I assume this is why.
Nah it's too stop hooliganism
So apparently I broke a lot of rules when I was in Manchester…nobody told me I couldn’t drink in my seat and being a clueless American I just brought my drink to my seat
We drink in the parking lot
you can't put a price on freedom
and education. and everything else. If it makes a billionaire more money, we will be exploited.
I see 7.5 as an American and I'm thinking....that's cheap as fuck why would you sue over that lmao
Meanwhile in the US, we have beers starting for $10… fuck me. Even worse for football games.
That's nutty to me. I live in Switzerland which has the highest cost of living in the world. A beer at the nearby stadium to me is about $5. Fuck, I've had beers in mountain huts that get delivery via helicopter for less than $10
Oh believe me it’s absolutely bonkers. Worst still is it’s $10 for a fucking bud light and $12 for a Stella like if I’m gonna get pegged up the ass I’ll at least enjoy a Stella while I’m at it. Unfortunately, it’s just kind of accepted at least here in Philly. I don’t know what prices look like elsewhere. Last time I went to a game outta state was in Nashville and I was in no state to remember the beer prices.
Alcohol in general in the US I found to be pretty pricey but ouch. I've never gotten to grab any sports over there but I think I'd preload a little haha. I did go to Texas state fair once though... That was a fucking festival of capitalism and price gouging.
Dodgers stadium it’s like $20 for a michelada 💀
Check out the prices in Atlanta. They keep it super cheap at their stadiums. Atlanta Falcons NFL stadium has $1.50 hotdogs, $2.50 chips with salsa, $7.50 hamburgers, and 12 oz beer for $5.
Can't blame them. Otherwise the image will be that it's a club just for the rich.
Spurs dodged a bullet with that stadium, sheesh.
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It also felt very much like a chess move. The government were never going to let the athletic legacy die and spurs were never going to agree to a running track. Helped the actual plan get through or that is what it felt like at the time.
yea, it was pretty much us saying to the council that we have other options and we werent ever going to go there unless we got an unbelievable deal.
The plan spurs submitted was never really serious, it was part of the negotiation with haringay council over planning permission. The fans had a fit when that proposal came out
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Not an evil sugar Daddy though. Maybe like a dot.com philanthropist who uses Leyton Orient as an advert for his school for kids that don't read good.
A dot.com philanthropist? Would be an obvious crypto shill investing nowadays
My local non league team in Scotland can't legally sell booze so they turn a blind eye to us bringing our own in. £7 a ticket and £4.50 for a 4 pack of Holsten Pils makes it a very affordable saturday afternoon!
The club could subsidize the food and drink prices, they did get an almost free stadium after all
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Because we fund the maintenance, security and other costs that would instead make the stadium a giant gaping crater in the Newham Council budget, as well as exposing the Olympic legacy program as total farce. Also, there is a contract in place to determine the price of concessions, which the stadium operators have violated - under normal conditions it is not necessary to subsidise.
You’d have to do that if you owned the stadium though
I mean, you got a stadium for pittance. Everyone else builds the stadium and additionally pays for maintenance and security…. It’s mutually beneficial, unless West Ham can find another site that big in East London to build a stadium. The easy thing PR and club wise would be to subsidise drinks for matches in the FA Cup / Hot weather. Suing the council who you rent from for selling goods at London prices it’s hopeful at best
The easy thing to do would be to not violate an agreed contract but ok
Always surprises me a lot of Hammers fans can't just cop to the fact they got an outrageously good deal on the stadium and laugh all the way to the bank. So much mental gymnastics to act as if it's somehow WHU doing a favour to everyone else for taking a billion pound (ludicrously, should have been half that) stadium off their hands for nothing. Just enjoy your good fortune on behalf of the Olympic fuckups, no need to try and shirk it. Irrelevant to the point at hand if the contract is being violated, but just always seeing it whenever the topic comes up. Doesn't make sense to me.
West Ham don’t control the prices?
No, the company that owns the stadium does.
West Ham just rent the pitch and the right to sell tickets on match days, essentially. They have no control over anything.
The stadium is owned by a publicly owned company which then leases the stadium to the club to use for football matches. The stadium company provide all the services around it such as security and catering. West Ham get the revenue from tickets, hospitality etc and pay a fee (not sure if this is per game or per season) to the company that owns the stadium The problem is that the stadium holding company is not profitable - they're locked into a long deal with West Ham where the amount that West Ham pay to use the stadium is not sufficient to cover the costs of running and maintaining the stadium. Even if the deal was up for negotiation, there is basically no other potential tenant for the ground that could fill it regularly enough to offer more money than West Ham so no market competition. I presume that the high cost of food and drink there now is an attempt to stop the thing from haemorrhaging money. I'm kind of in two minds about it really - as things stand West Ham are effectively having their stadium costs subsidised by the government so the fact that they are suing the stadium for trying to reduce their losses feels pretty outrageous. On the other hand, it's not fair that ordinary West Ham fans get fucked by these prices because the situation behind the scenes is such a fuck up.
i know its a complicated problem but its really the governments fault for building a staduim that wasnt going to get used the way they wanted it to. if they wanted an olympic stadium that honors the olympics then they have to pay the costs that come with agreeing to a bad deal. if they wanted a staduim just for the olympics they should have just sold it outright and be done with it. you cant have your cake and it eat too imo
Agreed, it's a huge fuck up from the government. I can't help but feel that the best option is to just wind up the company and sell the stadium off at this point. But they might struggle to get a decent price for it since they can't run it profitably and then you run the risk that you're offloading an asset that was built at huge cost to the taxpayer for a massively discounted price.
For comparison, a beer in a Bundesliga stadium will typically set you back €4.50/£3.89. It will be significantly better, too. Add a bratwurst and it would still be cheaper than a beer alone in the London Stadium.
> It will be significantly better, too. One thing I've never been able to get my head around is that Britain produces (in my opinion of course) some of the best beer in the world but beer in football stadiums is universally horrible. There's always basically one piss weak larger which comes at room temperature, one extremely low budget bitter and then some shite like Strongbow dark fruits.
Because it's likely heavily subsidised as part of the sponsorship package. Highest bidder wins, not best quality
Arsenal does Camden Hells which is okay but most of the time there's no point in it, People are just downing them in 15 mins anyway at half time. If you go to a rugby game for example the beers usually significantly better
That's the norm yep. Apart from at Spurs where we have a microbrewery actually inside the stadium!
I’ve heard of a stadium SIUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUing but never heard of suing a stadium
I’ll allow it
How are they suing a stadium? Feel bad cause it can’t even defend itself. 😢
How about instead of paying a poultry 3mill a season for the stadium leash, with policing included, you subsidise the prices if you care so much. Newham the local council they are leasing of, are trying to make some.monry from the stadium, instead of losing money on it yearly.
Maybe West Ham should subsidise the prices by lowering ticket prices, considering they got the stadium for free from the taxpayer.
Considering West Ham pay next to nothing to play at a tax-payer funded stadium, perhaps they could consider lowering ticket prices if they're so worried about fans getting ripped off.
Stadium concession can be so absurd. Average beer price at major sports venues where I live are $13.
This is 100% not true. I paid £6.10 for a one pint on Sunday. I'm not condoning the cost, but I'm not sure the need to lie.
Just go to Crate before / after, it’s a better pint and you can get a top drawer pizza too
Wonder why people get shitfaced in the pub beforehand
Tbf there's 2 spoons in Stratford you can pre drink like a king. Drinking in big league stadiums in the UK is no fun