London Stadium says hosting more gigs is 'vital'

London Stadium says it has lost out on bids to host artists such as Jay-Z, Harry Styles and Bad Bunny because of planning restrictions.

The stadium, in Stratford, east London, has applied for planning permission to host more concerts, with louder noise limits and larger attendances, to "compete with other major venues" that it said it was otherwise struggling to do.

London Stadium 185 (LS185) – which manages the venue – wants Newham Council to approve the application as part of a plan to offset financial losses of £19m.

A statement included with its planning application says these limits "are increasingly restrictive, inhibiting LS185's ability to compete with other major London venues".

London Stadium also says increasing maximum attendance is "vital" for its bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.

Under the current planning permissions, the stadium can host up to 10 non-sporting events for up to three nights in a row with a maximum capacity of 80,000 people.

The proposed changes would increase the number of concert days to 24 and maximum attendance to 85,000 for eight of the 24 event days, and would see a new noise limit of 75 decibels. Currently, noise is capped at 75 decibels for six of its permitted annual events, and 65 decibels for the remaining four.

The changes would also reduce the number of sporting events from 87 to 70 and increase the maximum attendance for all sports events to 62,500.

Currently, only West Ham United – which uses the stadium as its home ground – is allowed to host this number of spectators. Attendance at other sports events is capped at 60,000.

The stadium also wants to include boxing matches among its 24 other permitted events. Its planning statement noted that 96,000 people were allowed to attend a match between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in 2024.

In July, London Stadium told the Greater London Authority – which owns the stadium – that it needed to host more major non-sporting events to mitigate financial losses.

It said the stadium loses £19m a year as the rent it gets from West Ham United does not cover running costs.

Speaking at the London Assembly in July, London Stadium chair Lyn Garner said the stadium's annual losses had been in the "ballpark" of £19m "for some time".

However, she also said 2025-26 had been a "particularly bad year for London Stadium, with only two summer concerts".

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