West Ham would end up in serious financial trouble if they are relegated from the Premier League this season.
The Hammers enjoyed a record turnover of £189m last season but that would significantly fall by up to half if they dropped down the Championship next season.
The biggest drop would come in TV income, West Ham earned £122.5m from TV money last season but the Championship TV money is tiny in comparison.
The Hammers would receive a parachute payment of £48m in their first year outside the top flight with Sky paying between £100,000 and £140,000 for home Championship matches televised, as well as £10,000 for away matches.
With ten home games and ten away games broadcast as a best-case scenario, this is likely to bring in just £1.5m more in revenue with a further £2m in a basic award payment that all clubs receive.
When West Ham were last relegated in 2011 matchday ticket revenue the following season fell by 30% and commercial revenue fell by 25% while retail income remained the same.
If a similar fall was seen that would mean a £8.5m annual drop in ticket sales and a £6.5m drop in commercial revenue like corporate hospitality and sponsorship.
With a massive wage bill of around £110m players would have to be sold if they didn’t already have a relegation clause in their contracts.
This would mean players like Declan Rice, Felipe Anderson, Issa Diop, Seb Haller and Pablo Fornals would be most likely to sold.
Although West Ham’s London Stadium rent would drop from the basic £2.5m to £1.25m it would pale into insignificance to the estimated 50% drop in revenue.
The owners would have no choice but to inject tens of millions of cash as they did in 2011 or borrow money from elsewhere.
Having followed West Ham since 1975 I’ve experienced many ups n downs but right now with the London Stadium, VAR, Sullivan and Brady my 1st thought is “who cares what happens”
thats the way i feel right now am i wrong in saying i dont care if we get relegated
100%. i’d personally be reinvigorated with championship football, the increased possibility of getting away tickets etc.
The thought that the pockets of the board would be hit would also add to the whole scenario.
Send this article to the Board, not sure they understand that we are allowed to be relegated
It will be a massive problem for the club, not just financially. The fan base is now split, with the LS a real target for many Hammers. I have supported the club for over 60 years & have stuck it out during ( I think ) 5 relegations. These were not too bad in some respects. The first one saw us keep most of our top players (a different world then) so even though it took us three years there was plenty of good football. The other spells in tier two were shorter & had their good times. And we always had a reasonably full Boleyn ground (unless I am using my rose tinted specs today).
I have a feeling this one, if it happens, could be different. The thought of the LS monstrosity with 20,000 in it is not good. Even fans who stay with the club may not enjoy the match day experience & decide to stay away. I have spoken to a few younger fans recently who refuse to attend home games even now because they don’t want to put money in the owners’ pockets. A lot of the more recent recruits to the fan base may drift off to watch other London clubs.
I have to say that after the last few years, although the club is too much part of my life for me to cut the ties, if I was 30 years younger I think I might find something more rewarding & less depressing to do with my time until I could see signs of real change at the club. Let’s hope it still doesn’t come to this, but I feel there are grim times ahead.
YOU ARE right my friend i went first season at the flying saucer bowl gave it up after that ,iam at the point were i dont really care any more ,the 3 at the top have ruined it 4 me now
or they could sell and let a buyer or investor run a club and business how it should be run.
Showing ambition in all departments
Moving the club forward and being a united front.
I believe we will get relegated and would be a blessing in disguise we are West Ham united not West Ham united premiership or London.
Let’s cut the dross and dead wood and move again.the supporters that arnt real fans in that ground can clear off.
Agree with this. It would be further proof, if any were needed, that the LS move has been a footballing and commercial disaster for WHU, relative tonthe promise/hope, and that GSB’s strategy of keeping WHU in the PL, whilst attempting (and not being wholly succesful) to increase matchday ticket sales and commercial revenue, but at mininal capital cost is the root cause. It would all be laid bare.
It would also mean more Sat 3pm kick offs. It would mean more young players getting a chance. It would mean watching West Ham competing in a competition that there is a chance of winning.
All of which is good news.
I couldn’t give a toss about the media-driven mantra that ‘football is a business’ these days. Football is a sport. Football clubs are social and civic institutions. Football has been financialised, and that is a very bad thing indeed. A slip down the divisions may be a welcome reminder of what football and football clubs are meant to be about.
Do you have a buyer lined up?
Newcastle has been ‘up for sale’, at a much lower price than we’d be worth, for years.
Do the owners realise this???
Yep
How do you know that hugh?
I think they fully understand the cost of relegation – why wouldn’t they given it’s all their investment in the club? It’s not only us fans who understand such issues
OK Hugh, I accept the owners know the real cost of relegation, but do they understand the real cost of staying up?
Clever response. Probably LOL
Relegation would only be boards fault. It seems now that we are in financial trouble picking up freebies and targeting loans and with one man scouting department. Relegation would hurt sullys pockets so there is the silver lining.
All fair points Sean, although I think the ticket income is harder to calculate and may even be a worse scenario. There is a wider spread of prices than at UP I think and I find it hard to believe many would be taking up the corporate hospitality packages. Indeed, from one ex box holder I understand the club are already finding it a tough sale at the moment.
Equally, if the frequent anecdotes of long time Hammers not ‘transferring’ from UP to LS I presume many are younger fans who have been brought up on Premier League football or tourist fans. I believe there will be a much higher drop in these ticket sales.
So the 30% drop in ticket income may be optimistic, albeit if much of The drop in tickets is from the cheaper seats then this may dilute the impact.
If we go down, as Hammer64 says, 20k, even 30k in the LS will leave even more soulless than now.
Oh hang on……..what about the 50k waiting list LOL?!!!!,
All that said, injuries allowing I can’t see us going down this time. Long term loss of Dec, Haller (as our only target man) or Nobes (as our only leader on the pitch) would be serious. We have a tough few matches coming up but providing the confidence is not damaged too much if results go completely against us then we will surely get enough points…….providing it is not another 2003!
I remember topic on here two years ago about fans confronting Sullivan in the Wigan car park – Why do I think it felt like yesterday ,just change Wigan car park and Sullivan,allegedly, claiming that “Shelvey was useless” to,maybe,”Allen is useless” and it could have been.
it really dawned on me last night how close to relegation we actually are.Watford have come good and borunemough WILL come good i have zero doubt. villa are still buying and even norwich tho will prob go down are not adrift. I sense Brighton will come into it but my overriding thoughts are, with only 8 points covering 8th to 19th and wth nothing beween teams this season, we are as likely as anyone else to go down.. If we do, well i for one wont care as ive been through several heartbreaking relegations worse of all was the Grant one when we were abysmal. For some reason that one hit me. But with the bitter acrimony over the LS dominating, i think a relegation this time will be different, it will focus and crystallise minds far more than previous relegations when we came back with more of the same. Wil moyes be with us for that jouney if he takes us down? No he wont. Will eddie Howe? Yes possibly. But what if we stay up – that wil also focus minds as the board look to moyes to finally build a squad which can stay in the top 10 for the next 10 years. The next few months are going to be a white knuckle ride. One thing I DO know whatever happens, G&S will NOT sell the club in the short term (5 years). Anyone thinking protests will make a difference are kidding themselves. However i for one just hope that at the very least Brady moves on. I honestly believe that by getting rid of such a divisive individual the board can at least look at employing someone who isnt so hated. Only Ed Woodward is disiked more by any PL clubs fans. Then by installing a more progressive individual they can start to build some bridges. Brady is a bridge destroyer – at the very least I hope she is a victim of the current malaise.
I share everyone’s frustration but I feel premiership survival is the only aim at the moment (whatever it takes). Compared with constant relegation battles even becoming a mid table mediocre team seems a relief at the mo and at least gives the club stability. I don’t think WHU had any other strategic option but to take the LS – its a crap stadium but if say Spurs took it, in 5-10 years they would’ve captured the Essex fan base and WHu would shrink to a Charlton. It takes decades of stability and acheivement in the top flight to become like Man U/C, Liverpool etc
So does that mean 11 years after the David’s took over we would be in the championship and owing 100 million to the bank ?
Yep, but owed to the Bank of Sullivan and Gold and at a nice interest rate (for them).