West Ham are hoping for a mass Europa Conference League final, denied by Major League Baseball
The Hammers are gearing up for their first major European final in 47 years, but while David Moyes’ side travel to Prague on June 7 to meet Fiorentina, their home turf will be set for a doubles game between the Chicago Cubs and the Alternate St. Louis Cardinals.
West Ham have been exploring alternative options but it’s understood a major event in London is now understood to be unlikely. However, the club plans to set up a fan park for fans without a ticket to follow the match in Prague, with staff on site this week for reconnaissance.
West Ham have been allocated just 4,890 tickets for the game at the 19,370 seat Eden Arena and while many times that number is expected to travel to the Czech capital, tens of thousands more are expected to watch the game in London.
It is typical of English clubs for such encounters to be shown at their home stadium. Manchester City are expected to welcome their fans to the Etihad Stadium for next month’s Champions League final against Inter Milan, following their defeat by Chelsea two years ago .
Major League Baseball returns to London Stadium for two games in June
/ Getty ImagesHowever, West Ham’s situation is complicated by the fact that they do not own the property but pay an annual lease to the London Legacy Development Corporation.
After Sunday’s 3-1 win over Leeds, the Irons’ last home game of the season, the stadium was handed over in advance of a concert by Grammy-winning artist Burna Boy in early June, ahead of MLB’s return to London for the first time since four years.
Two of baseball’s biggest names, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, met for the first game in London in 2019, but the following year’s planned visit was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and only one happened last May new partnership has been announced to run until 2026.
In this year’s series, the Cardinals and Cubs will meet on back-to-back nights on June 24 and 25, but the scale of the transformation required to convert the stadium into a ballpark means that work ahead of the finals of the Conference League must be started.
The process, which in 2019 included laying 13,600 square feet of artificial turf and building temporary “clubhouses” to house the baseball teams’ larger rosters, is expected to take about three weeks.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/west-ham-europa-conference-league-mlb-london-stadium-b1082997.html West Ham are hoping for a mass Europa Conference League final, denied by Major League Baseball
