West Ham rubbishes London Stadium buying bid

Article posted by Coliseum, March 30^th, 2023

Image: Coliseum GSVA

The Premier League club West Ham United F.C. are reportedly not considering buying the London Stadium in London (UK), despite reports in the media claiming the contrary.

‘WEST HAM ZONE’ stated that several media outlets reported on March 27^th that ‘The Hammers’ could buy the loss-making stadium which has been their home since they moved out of Upton Park in London.

The West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their former home, the Boleyn Ground, in 2016.

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The 66,000-capacity London Stadium is a multipurpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford district of London, UK. It is located in the Lower Lea Valley, six miles East of Central London.

The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, East London. It was the home of West Ham United F.C. from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years of financial difficulty. The seating capacity of the ground at closure was 35,016. The stadium was demolished in 2016 to make way for a new development.

‘WEST HAM ZONE’ further stated that latest reports suggest that buying the stadium is not on the cards and a more likely outcome is the model the Premier League club Manchester City F.C. operate on with their stadium – the 53,400-capacity Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England (UK).

One of the reports read, “Suggestions that West Ham could buy the London Stadium are completely wide of the mark. The former Olympic Stadium which is thought to have cost taxpayers up to one billion pounds to build twice and run at an annual loss of £30 million so it is practically worthless without any Government subsidy which seems equally unlikely.”

The model that is successfully used by Manchester City who signed a 250 year lease with the Manchester Council later buying the naming rights too.

The report added, “The City pay the Manchester Council a flat fee of £2.95m per year but with performance bonuses that amount reached £5.5m last season. For that money Manchester City get full control of the stadium and the naming rights for that sum.”

Makes More Sense

Going down the Manchester City route seems the more sensible option for West Ham and it will be surprising if they do anything else.

Buying a loss-making stadium does not make any sense even if they have grand plans to transform it into an all-experience arena.

The best thing to do is lease it and then buy the naming rights which they can sell to a big company and rake in tens of millions.

There needs to be progress shown by the Board in taking this club to the next level and that’s not only contingent on league finishes.

Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský arrival brought with it the hope that he would take over completely and take West Ham to the next level.

However, it’s understood that his plans for the club are something else and ‘The Hammers’ fans will not have been pleased with that development.

Křetínský is reportedly ready to invest £150 million in West Ham United. The businessman already owns a 27 percent stake in the East London club.

The latest reports state that Křetínský and David Sullivan (he owns 50 percent share in the top-flight) have no plans to change the ownership of West Ham before the end of the season despite the expiry of a 10-year penalty clause that in effect clears the way for a potential sale.

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