With a new stadium comes plenty of change. Some of this can be seen and experienced by the fans, but there is also plenty of change behind closed doors. Whether it’s the players changing room and warm up facilities, or, in our case at ReadWestHam, the press experience.
Upton Park was an incredibly old stadium and the press facilities matched it. Old and not very spacious, they weren’t suited for a big club. In fact, one of the classifications for West Ham’s new ground becoming a UEFA Category 4 stadium was the press situation. There has to be a minimum of 100 seats in the press box (50 with desks), 25 commentary positions, 2 TV studios, 75 seats in the press conference room and a media working area of 200m2 for every 75 people. The Hammers have delivered on all of these and it makes for much more pleasurable experience.
Only once you are inside the stadium itself can you truly appreciate how big it is. For every single room there was at Upton Park, there are four at the London Stadium and they’re each twice the size. Walking from the press entrance to the sign in desk is a workout in itself but once you’re there, you’re well catered for. The sign in process is efficient and you’re given all of the necessary details and directions. The only negative is that the press lounges, interview area and press conference room are quite far away from the press box which is only immediately accessible by a lift which didn’t prove to be very reliable (it broke at half time). Aside from this little mishap, though, the experience was brilliant, as was the view from the press box (upper tier of the West Stand).
While many people are not fortunate enough to have this experience and it seems to hold very little significance in the grand scheme of things, it is yet another sign of the giant stride West Ham are taking forward. They are now a match for any other Premier League team in terms of the match day experience and this is one of the many positives the London Stadium has provided.
