The London Stadium was valued at £1.5m in a report presented to the London Legacy Development Corporation board last week but the reality is it’s not worth a penny and is in fact laden with debt!
In a word the place is a huge financial liability.
Although the former Olympic Stadium cost over £750m to build it continues to lose taxpayers money at the colossal rate of nearly £30m a year.
So even if a buyer could be found for the loss-making stadium new owners would almost certainly be looking for a major government subsidy -maybe as much as £200m – to take on the massive risk.
Onerous contracts with UK Athletics, West Ham United and Delaware North mean it would take tens if not hundreds of millions to buy them out or renegotiate.
Each West Ham game costs £280,000 to host at the full 60,000 capacity with only £150,000 per game coming in rent the the way from the Hammers.
Add to that over £3m in local council rates plus massive insurance premiums, the staff to operate and maintain it and the expensive roof which is only designed to last ten years.
Suggestions that West Ham would be prepared to the buy the Stadium for £1.5m or even a pound could not be more wrong!
The Hammers would insist on a large government subsidy which probably wouldn’t be palatable to politicians,
However, the club West Ham taking on management and operations seems a much much realistic proposition in the short term.
Really interesting article, Sean. Given that the LS is a dead duck as a concert and sports venue, what’s the potential in the contract between the LLDC and West Ham for the stadium to be demolished and the land sold for housing? As a concert and sports venue it’s worth £1.5m, but as land for housing is it worth more, once West Ham have been compensated (if, contractually, that’s a scenario) and demolition costs have been taken into account?
The roof lasts only 10 years???
So it’s met it’s shelf life in 2026? Then what?
Presumably the taxpayers fork out again
What was the cost of the roof the first time around? Surely if it’s more benefitial to spend once up front a large sum of money putting in a permanent fix / reconfiguration, than frittering away a medium lump of money every decade, someone will have the foresight to make that choice?!
Move athletics to Birmingham after 2024 Commonwealth Games and buy it and freeholdfor a quid. Then turn into football only stadium with hopefully an additional wealthy investor who will have an investment based on site ownership.
No way will tax payers/politicos bale us out.
It’s only fantasy figures. We need a number for our Report. Anyone? £1.5 million? That will do – put it down. Nobody in their right mind will try and rationalise the figures. A bit like predicting the spread of a virus based on what we think tomorrow’s announcement will be. Numbers taken out of context are infrequently misleading.
Don’t lose any sleep over this one.
Legacy planning is working.
COYI