Speculation has abound that West Ham could take over the London Stadium but the city’s mayor had other ideas.
One of the big issues West Ham fans had with the club’s move to London Stadium was the fact they no longer owned their own ground.
Instead West Ham are anchor tenants of the former Olympic Stadium having signed up to a 99-year lease described by some as the ‘deal of the century’.
Although the Hammers have made some minor changes to the stadium to appease disgruntled fans, the gaps between the upper and lower tiers and from the stands to the pitch is a major bone of contention.
Especially as West Ham originally promised fans a world class retractable seating solution.
The nature of the bowl-shaped arena means major work would need to be undertaken to transform the London Stadium into a bonafide football ground.
West Ham fans were excited last year when a report from The Times claimed Czech billionaire co-owner Daniel Kretinsky could launch a full takeover and buy the London Stadium.
It proved to be a false dawn, though.
The subject arose again recently when the matter of naming rights emerged.
Top journalist makes Khan look silly for West Ham stadium snub
The stadium has become a financial drain for the London Legacy Development Corporation as its long-term contracts with both West Ham and UK Athletics continue to make a loss.
That prompted suggestions that the Hammers could take the 62,500-capacity arena off the hands of the LLDC.
But London mayor Sadiq Khan poured cold water on talk of selling the London Stadium to West Ham, saying he considers the venue one of the city’s “crown jewels”.
And he insisted he is not interested in offloading it unless there is an offer that is “too good to say no to”.
“We’ve got to make sure that we recognise that this is a London asset. It’s owned by the taxpayers,” he told City AM last week.
“We have a good relationship with West Ham. In the past that wasn’t the case. We’ve had a great Diamond League athletics event and a great Major League Baseball event there. Some great gigs as well.
“I think people need to realise that if you sell off this asset, it’s gone for good. It’s one of our crown jewels. So I’m keen to work with West Ham and other partners to make sure we can make it more successful going forward.
“If a deal was too good to say no to then we’d have to have a conversation, but I hold it in trust for Londoners, just like the other legacies from the 2012 Games – the Copper Box, the Aquatics Centre and other great things in London.”
Now a top journalist has made Sadiq Khan look silly for his West Ham London Stadium snub.
Every West Ham game costs taxpayer £500k
The Times’ chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler has revealed West Ham’s home ground cost London taxpayers £20.9m last year.
That’s equal to half a million pounds for every single West Ham home game.
“The accounts also show that the LLDC had budgeted £2million in income for naming rights for the stadium which never materialised,” Ziegler reveals.
“Its hopes of clinching a deal with Allianz were dashed after the insurance giant signed a contract with the RFU for Twickenham.
“The long-term costs of running the London Stadium compared to the income received from West Ham and UK Athletics are so great that its value to the LLDC is stated in the accounts as only £910,000. E20 Stadium’s valuation is even lower — it says the long-term value assessed by independent experts is nil.”
If anything Khan should be getting around a table pleading with West Ham to take the ground on.
Not dismissing the idea out of hand when the stadium is clearly a massive drain on the public purse.
If West Ham were in charge of the ground they could and would bring in a naming rights partner. And the arena would undoubtedly be a more profitable.
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