The true cost of running the London Stadium has been revealed through a freedom of information request. Stadium owners have released all invoices submitted to them by French operator London Stadium 185 which has a twenty-five-year contract to manage the former Olympic Stadium.
Although the fixed quarterly fee has been redacted it is thought to total £4.8m including VAT per year given to the operator. The operator also bills the stadium owners for West Ham’s usage fee quarterly which totals £3m per year including VAT.
The French subsidiary also re-charge any additional costs they incur on top of the £7.8m they receive while the stadium owners pay directly for the £8m cost of moving the seats each year themselves bringing the base running costs closer to £16m.
The invoices reveal other costs which are recharged to the quango which owns the stadium which funded by the taxpayer. These include:
36 x Catering kiosks £340,717
Pitchside LED advertising boards £838,646
Daktronics LED large screen £993,960
Mid-tier LED advertising boards £101,329
Temporary Wifi £203,943
On top of the £7.8m they receive, the operator keeps certain revenue from catering and other events such as music concerts and sporting events.
In 2015 they revealed they received £494,656 from caters Delaware North, £138,279 from the Great Newham run, £474,590 from UK Athletics, £434,750 from Rugby events and £456,572 from the Race of champions motor racing events.
The operator turnover for 2015 was £6.9m but that has almost doubled in 2016 to £13.3m with a £4.9m gross profit.