London Stadium 'should be sold to West Ham'

The deal allowing West Ham United to rent the London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Park has been "disastrous" for taxpayers and the venue should be sold to the club, a London Assembly member has said.

Labour's Bassam Mahfouz has written to Lord Sadiq Khan urging the mayor to consider a sale to stop the stadium losing millions of pounds a year.

The stadium is run by London Stadium LLP, which is wholly owned by the Greater London Authority, so its losses of about £19m a year are ultimately met by the public purse.

A spokesperson for the mayor said he would consider "any credible proposal" that offered value for taxpayers and protected the public interest. West Ham declined to comment.

Since its relegation to the Championship, West Ham pays up to £2.5m a year in rent under its 99-year deal, signed in 2013. The costs of stewarding, policing and pitch maintenance fall to the stadium rather than the club.

To raise income, the operator has applied to Newham Council to increase the number of concerts it can host each year from 10 to 24.

However, the club has priority during the football season. Stadium boss Lyn Gardner told the assembly in July it could take two weeks to turn the venue back into a football ground after other events, and that West Ham's say over naming rights had scuppered sponsorship deals.

Mahfouz said the club had "very little incentive" to agree to more concerts during the season.

"The deal cannot be renegotiated," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"If you can't renegotiate the deal you need something new on the table and that has to be a sale."

He added that any sale should ensure athletics could still be held at the venue, which was built for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Fans at West Ham's match against Wrexham in September said they backed a sale, with one, Jamie, saying it "would be better for the club".

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