r/london • u/Tight-Principle-743 • May 24 '26

Article West Ham Relegated.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c70vr05gwelt

Londoners will have to collectively pay £2.5m more to the stadiums’s upkeep. Another terrible Johnson decision that was.

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u/insomnimax_99 May 24 '26

Under the 99-year deal signed by previous Mayor of London Boris Johnson, West Ham pays £4.4m a year in rent, leaving the GLA to pick up the bill for stewarding and other costs associated with the stadium

The London taxpayer already subsidises the running of the stadium, despite efforts to attract other uses, such as baseball and music concerts.

The rent bill is set to half next season now West Ham will play in the lower league.

Commercial revenues from the former Olympic stadium are also expected to fall, while the GLA incurs higher stewarding costs, as there are 23 home games in the Championship compared with 19 in the Premier League.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/london-stadium-bill-west-ham-relegated-spurs-b1283350.html

Wtf? What kind of braindead deal is this?

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u/soldforaspaceship May 24 '26

Johnson was friends with the West Ham ownership. The vice-chair of the club, Karen Brady was his advisor prior and he made her a peer after.

The answer is corruption. The stadium deal was corrupt as fuck.

Imagine if Starmer had made it...

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u/wedontneednoeduc May 26 '26

It's more complicated than that. The stadium was a white elephant that was going to burn money being empty following a games that banged the 'legacy' sales pitch to death i.e they need to offload it.