West Ham relegation would 'Hammer' Londoners with £2.5m stadium bill, reveals Sadiq Khan's top aide

Cost of running former 2012 Olympic stadium will soar if Hammers drop out of Premier League , warns mayor’s chief of staff

• West Ham’s relegation would cost London taxpayers £2m to £2.5m a year, as the club’s rent at the London Stadium would be halved and the GLA would face reduced commercial income and higher match-day costs

• The London Stadium already operates at a large deficit, with Londoners subsidising its £19.5m annual running costs under a 99-year “ball and chain” deal signed under Boris Johnson

• Mayoral aides officials warn the financial position could worsen, given additional Championship home games and a lack of progress on naming rights

London council taxpayers face a bill of up to £2.5m a year if West Ham are relegated from the Premier League , Sir Sadiq Khan’s top official has revealed.

David Bellamy, the London mayor’s chief of staff , said West Ham would only pay about half their current annual rent of £4.4m a year for the London Stadium if they dropped into the Championship.

In addition, commercial revenues from the former Olympic stadium – which is owned by the Greater London Authority – would be expected to fall while the GLA would incur higher stewarding costs, as there would be 23 home games in the Championship compared with 19 in the Premier League .

Labour assembly member Bassam Mahfouz, who uncovered the details at a City Hall hearing on Tuesday into Sir Sadiq’s new budget, said that Londoners face being “Hammered” if the east London team were to be relegated.

West Ham are currently in 18th place in the league - putting them in the relegation zone - but have recovered some ground under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo, having won their last two games.

However they may struggle to secure many more points in the run-up to Christmas with their next games including tricky ties against Bournemouth, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Manchester City.

The core GLA budget for 2026/27 – excluding organisations such as the Metropolitan police, Transport for London and the London Fire Brigade – is projected to have a £19.2m deficit, meaning that jobs are under threat.

Mr Mahfouz, who represents Ealing and Hillingdon, contrasted the deficit with the £19.5m cost of operating the London Stadium last year.

The former Olympic stadium results in a net loss to the Greater London Authority

Getty Images

Under a “ball and chain” 99-year deal signed by previous mayor Boris Johnson, West Ham currently pay £4.4m a year in rent, leaving the GLA to pick up the bill for stewarding and other costs associated with the stadium.

This means that the London taxpayer already subsidises the running of the stadium – despite efforts to attract other uses, such as baseball and music concerts – and the cost will grow if West Ham’s fortunes plummet.

Mr Bellamy told the London Assembly’s budget committee: “West Ham’s relegation would very broadly cost the [London] taxpayer £2m to £2.5m a year.”

He said it would not be easy for the GLA to get out of the stadium contract as there was no “break clause”.

However, he said the GLA was willing to listen to any suggestions from West Ham or other organisations about a new deal.

He also admitted the GLA was no closer to securing a naming rights deal for the stadium, despite having tried for seven years.

Mr Mahfouz told The Standard after the meeting: “Not only are Londoners being hammered by the worst football deal in Premier League history, signed off by the previous mayor Boris Johnson, but it now looks like things could get even worse.

“Londoners across the capital might end up cheering on West Ham once they discover they’ll be paying an extra £2.5 million a year if the club is relegated. It’s a financial fiasco so badly negotiated it could only be described as an own goal.”

During his evidence to the assembly, Mr Bellamy said West Ham would only be required to pay about half their current annual rent if they were relegated.

“It’s also worth understanding that there are 23 home games a season in the Championship versus 19 in the Premier League ,” he said.

“Because the stadium loses money each game it hosts, there is a bigger loss there.

“It’s clear that were West Ham to be relegated then we would need to find additional support. I’m very pleased they have won a couple of games recently. Long may that continue.”

He said the conversion of the stadium from one designed to host the 2012 Olympics into one able to host Premier League football “landed us with more than £350m of debt”.

He added: “The previous mayor negotiated and signed a contract that is a bad financial deal for Londoners.

“Also, as it happens, it was a badly written contract. That contract doesn’t provide any form of break clause. It’s regarded in an accountancy sense as an onerous contract. It is unavoidable to lose money on it. The previous mayor signed it. We are duty-bound to honour it.

“It is important to say that the stadium is a real asset for London and we want to get the best from that asset. If [West Ham] or anybody else wants to come forward with proposals, those are things we would consider and discuss with them.”

Asked if it could be sold, Mr Bellamy added: “We do believe the stadium is a positive asset for London.

“The naming rights market does remain challenging. We are not the only major stadium in London that hasn’t secured a naming rights partner yet.

“Any deal has to work for the sponsor, the stadium and West Ham. We continue to be open to approaches and pro-actively looking at opportunities.”