Labour Opens Door For West Ham To Finally Own London Stadium

By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)

The prospect of West Ham finally owning the London Stadium has taken a significant step forward after a Labour London Assembly member called on Sadiq Khan to explore selling it to the club.

City AM report that Bassam Mahfouz has written to the Mayor of London urging him to carry out a full assessment of the stadium’s long-term ownership options, including a potential sale.

The numbers explain why.

The current arrangement is reportedly costing London taxpayers around £19million per year, while West Ham’s rent has fallen following relegation to the Championship.

Mahfouz believes the existing arrangement could represent a £1.75billion burden over its lifetime and has called for a “better deal for Londoners”.

Frankly, I think selling it to West Ham is the obvious solution.

West Ham Were Originally Supposed To Own It

It’s worth remembering how we got here.

When West Ham originally bid for the Olympic Stadium, the intention wasn’t to become the tenants we are today.

The original agreement would have seen West Ham and Newham take control of the venue following the Olympics. However, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy challenged the process, while Leyton Orient under Barry Hearn also launched legal action.

The original deal eventually collapsed amid the legal wrangling and was replaced by a new process which kept the stadium in public ownership, with West Ham subsequently becoming anchor tenants.

So in many respects, purchasing the stadium would bring things full circle.

I’d love West Ham to own it.

It’s the only realistic way I can see the club ever having enough control to properly configure the place for football.

At the moment it’s a very good athletics stadium which happens to host football matches. The supporters are simply too far away from the pitch.

London Stadium Continues To Haemorrhage Money

We’ve reported repeatedly on Claret & Hugh about the extraordinary financial problems surrounding the stadium.

The latest published accounts revealed a £68million group loss, while the stadium itself was valued at nil because of its onerous contractual arrangements.

We’ve also previously highlighted more than £12million spent on external legal costs surrounding the stadium and the continuing difficulty of making the operation commercially viable.

Even naming rights, long touted as a way of generating significant extra revenue, appear further away than ever.

At some point somebody has to stop haemorrhaging money.

That’s why I don’t necessarily think the purchase price would be enormous.

City Hall’s incentive isn’t simply to receive a huge cheque for the building. It’s to remove an asset which continues to require enormous taxpayer subsidies year after year.

There could come a point where getting it off the books becomes more valuable than squeezing every last penny out of a sale.

The Staveley Property Angle Gets Even More Interesting

This is also where Amanda Staveley’s proposed investment in West Ham becomes particularly interesting.

Staveley has already spoken publicly about wanting a “big property play” alongside her next football investment, while the Reuben brothers have previously been linked with potential West Ham investment.

As Claret & Hugh previously reported, the Reubens have considerable experience in property and previously owned a 50 per cent interest in the original Stratford City development surrounding what became the Olympic Park.

That combination immediately makes me think that something is brewing behind PCP’s Hammers bid.

I’ve long suspected that the real opportunity here isn’t simply buying West Ham or purchasing one stadium.

The wider regeneration potential surrounding Stratford could involve residential, retail and commercial development alongside a vastly improved football ground.

Staveley herself has already talked about property forming part of her next football project, while we’ve previously looked at what that could mean for the London Stadium.

Could Křetínský Fund It?

There is another question, though.

Daniel Křetínský has already had plans drawn up to make the London Stadium more suitable for football, according to information C&H received earlier this summer.

Claret & Hugh revealed in June that plans had been drafted to improve the stadium rather than demolish it.

But I’m yet to be convinced he has demonstrated the working capital required for a project on this scale.

The proposed purchase of Vanessa Gold’s shares has dragged on, while the £90million injection which had been suggested would help address club debts hasn’t materialised.

Křetínský has also been involved with West Ham since 2021, during which time the club has continued to use expensive external financing.

None of that proves he couldn’t finance a stadium purchase, of course.

But I’ve yet to see enough to convince me that he would.

Sell The London Stadium To West Ham

City AM report that Mahfouz wants any assessment to consider protections allowing the London Stadium to continue staging major athletics and sporting events.

Personally, that wouldn’t particularly concern me. I firmly believe any reconfiguration of the stadium has to be without track & field included.

The stadium is involved in London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships and I’d imagine any major change of ownership and redevelopment would take considerable time anyway.

Beyond that, much of Britain’s major athletics programme has increasingly centred on Birmingham.

The important thing for West Ham is gaining enough control to finally turn our home into a proper football stadium.

For years we’ve been told how difficult or even impossible that would be.

Yet the stadium continues to lose enormous amounts of public money and now a Labour Assembly member is openly asking a Labour Mayor to investigate selling it.

That feels significant.

Perhaps the solution to one of the most expensive problems left behind by the London Olympics has been sitting there all along.

Sell the London Stadium to West Ham.