West Ham United will pay £2.5m (US$3.5m, €3.1m) a year to rent the Olympic Stadium in East London, although all running costs for the stadium will be covered by the taxpayer subsidised London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC).
The LLDC – which operates the Olympic Park on behalf of City Hall – published the full details of the deal it struck with its new tenants following a
court order this week, which will see the Premier League club move in for the start of the 2016/17 season.
Running costs such as undersoil heating and floodlighting, dugouts, changing room and toilet maintenance, security, cleaning and corner flags will be covered by the LLDC.
The 207-page document produced by the LLDC also revealed that the operator will keep the first £4m (US$5.7m, €5m) of any naming rights deal West Ham can strike for the stadium, with anything over that being split 50-50. The LLDC will take the first £500,000 (US$707,294, €627,842) of catering profits, with a 70-30 split thereafter.
Conversion costs to make the stadium suitable for football totalled £272m (US$384.8m, €341.5m), with West Ham chipping in £15m (US$21.2m, €18.8m).
West Ham has a 99-year lease on the ground. If the club is relegated to the Championship its rent will be halved to £1.25m (US$1.8m, €1.6m) per annum.
