So Sadiq Khan is "seizing control" of the London Stadium (or more accurately the London Legacy Development Corporation). Shame he can't seize control of the team as well. The Mayor's 169-page report, compiled by accountants Moore Stephens, estimates that the London Stadium, managed by the E20 company, will make losses of around £20 million per year which the taxpayer will have to subsidise. It also estimates the cost of converting the retractable seating to athletics mode and back again as, "in excess of of £10 million per annum" compared to the budgeted £300,000 per annum.
It implies West Ham got a very cheap deal at £2.5 a year rent (this deal should be watertight legally and the rent goes down to £1.5 m pa if the club is relegated) and that the lack of naming rights has lost £4 million per annum. While the really big error was not planning to convert it to football in the first place, as with the Commonwealth Games stadium in Manchester.
All of this might be good news for West Ham in the long term. Khan says it is "a dire financial situation" and blames Boris Johnson. If the stadium is losing a possible £200 million a decade then it puts West Ham in a good position to either offer to take it off the hands of the state and buy it (this is more likely if West Ham is bought by some billionaire investor) or insist that athletics be dropped and at least one of the retractable stands be rebuilt and positioned permanently closer to the pitch. Or the club could offer to renegotiate the rent in exchange for concessions. Khan is under pressure to find a solution so we should be hearing a lot more about this in the coming years.
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