For more than a century, West Ham United hosted its home matches in the legendary Boleyn Ground in Upton Park. This era came to an end when it was decided to apply for the legacy use of the Olympic Stadium of the London 2012 games.After some discussions the Hammers were granted the stadium use and after a re-construction hpase whic htook up several years, West Ham moved into its new home for the season 2016/17.

This consituted the move into a new world. The Bolyen Ground was commonly recognized as one of the traditional, beuatiful grounds in London and England and was synonym for football in its homeland. The London Stadium however, is a modern newly built stadium and pretty much just a revamped atheltics ground, with the track being still there, but jsut covered up with flexible stand elements. This results in quite a distance from the seats to the pitch, espeically in the upper tier.

Then again, teh move is a step into the future for West Ham. The capacity is nearley doubled compared to the old stadium and the ground might sell out for years to come. 52.000 out of the 60.000 seats are taken up by season tickets. The infrastructure is state of the art and the location in the scenic olympic park in Stratford is a major improvement compared to the run down Upton Park area.

It will take decades until the London Stadium reaches the status of the Boleyn Ground, with the incovenient question being, how well a potential Championship team West Ham might do in such a big stadium.