Fans and mayor unhappy about London Stadium

West Ham United’s relegation from football’s Premier League has reopened the debate about the legacy of London 2012, as ministers begin to look at whether the UK could host another Olympic Games in the 2040s. The east London club is set to pay less in rent for the stadium that was converted into a football venue after the 2012 Olympics when it starts in the English Championship next season, meaning less income for the public owners of the arena.

The episode is the latest pitfall to face the London Stadium, which shone during the Olympics but has struggled to satisfy the public since. Athletes have complained that the stadium now hosts too little athletics, while football fans have criticised the distance between their seats and the pitch.

The Hammers last week battled to avoid dropping into the second tier but North London side Tottenham Hotspur stayed up instead. Their tussle came 14 years after the two clubs vied to lease the Olympic Stadium, which hosted the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  West Ham won, signing a 99-year lease and moving into what is now known as the London Stadium in summer 2016.

It cost more than £800mn to build and convert it into a football stadium. West Ham, which paid £15mn of the conversion bill, later expanded its capacity to 62,500. West Ham’s exit from the top flight will cost London taxpayers, not just private shareholders, including David Sullivan and Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, who are the club’s co-chairs.

In the year to March 31 2025, West Ham paid £4.6mn in rent to London Stadium LLP, a publicly owned company overseen by London’s mayor Sir Sadiq Khan. But that fee is set to drop about £2.5mn a year owing to a relegation clause in the contract, according to Khan, who has blamed his predecessor Boris Johnson for giving West Ham the “deal of the century”, while taxpayers faced the “worst deal . . . imaginable”.

That clause exposes taxpayers to West Ham’s sporting performance. The longer the team stays in the Championship, the worse for the taxpayer. West Ham’s rental fee is small when considering the debt and interest that other clubs, including Spurs, have incurred to build stadiums, and in 2024-25 was a small portion of its match receipts revenue of £39.3mn.

West Ham’s total revenue amounted to £227.6mn in 2024-25. The club, which has cut season ticket prices by 10-30 per cent for adults ahead of the next season, is among the most valuable in the world. Consultancy Football Benchmark has estimated its enterprise value at about £885mn, albeit as of the start of this year.

The club’s supporters still miss Upton Park, the club’s former home. On April 21, the West Ham Fan Advisory Board said the move had delivered “a dilution of identity, atmosphere and belonging”.

London Stadium, in evidence published by a parliamentary inquiry in November, said its “most significant challenge” stemmed from West Ham’s rental deal. “The venue presents football at a substantial financial loss, while also restricting the range of other events that can be hosted,” it said, noting that staging a big event such as a World Athletics Championships meant taking into account “the requirements and wishes of the football club”.

Yet by becoming its anchor tenant, West Ham ensured that the Olympic Stadium did not become a “white elephant” after London 2012, avoiding the difficulties suffered by Greece after the Athens games in 2004. Only eight of the 34 venues used for London 2012 were permanent. No new permanent venues will be required at Los Angeles 2028.

As well as the Hammers’ home matches, the London Stadium has played host to events from baseball and rugby matches to concerts by AC/DC and the Rolling Stones over the past decade. “Unlike many former Olympic sites that have been left underused or abandoned, London Stadium continues to evolve and thrive,” it said. “It stands as a symbol of sustainable legacy: a venue that delivers global prestige, drives economic growth, and remains firmly rooted in the community it serves.”

Khan’s spokesperson said: “The Greater London Authority has no choice but to honour the contract, which doesn’t provide any form of break clause and delivers significant losses to the taxpayer.   “The mayor is committed to ensuring [the stadium] delivers even greater value for Londoners in the years ahead,” the spokesperson added.