Labour have called on Mayor Sadiq Khan to explore selling the London Stadium to West Ham United.
Labour assembly member Bassam Mahfouz has written to Lord Khan urging him to relieve the London taxpayer of the £1.75bn burden of the existing deal between City Hall and the Championship football stadium.
The long-term tenancy agreed by former mayor Boris Johnson and ex-West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady is already costing the taxpayer £19m per year, with the football club’s rent falling to less than £3m per season after being relegated from the Premier League this summer.
“I am writing to urge you to carry out a full assessment of the stadium’s long-term ownership options, including the potential sale of the venue,” the assembly member for Ealing and Hillingdon wrote.
London Stadium future
“This assessment should consider the financial benefits for taxpayers, as well as the protections needed to ensure the stadium can continue to host major athletics and sporting events.
“The London Stadium is one of the most important legacies of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We should continue to protect that legacy. But we must also commit to securing a better deal for Londoners.”
The mayor’s office has hinted that it would be up for discussions over a possible sale of the London Stadium, which is now at the centre of a bid to host the World Athletics Championships in 2029.
And the club could have new ownership interests, with former Newcastle United shareholder Amanda Staveley leading a bid to own part of the club. A key deadline for existing shareholders to buy Vanessa Gold’s shares expires this afternoon.
Mahfouz said the “likelihood of any significant changes to the financials of this deal through, for example, a naming rights deal, seem further away than ever before and that the reduction in the public subsidy over the decade or so of the contract has been minimal so far,” adding that potential new ownership could “provide a new opportunity”.