West Ham will pay €3.1m (£2.5m) a year in rent for their new home at the Olympic Stadium, it has been confirmed, after the London Legacy Development Corporation was forced to reveal full details of the contract.
While the annual rental figure, which will halve if West Ham are relegated, was widely known, the publication of the full 207-page document reveals a host of other details about the controversial deal.
The 60,000 capacity stadium will eventually have cost £701m following an extensive £272m conversion to make it suitable for football. The contract also confirms that West Ham will pay £15m towards the conversion cost.
The LLDC had fought hard to keep the contract a secret in the face of a determined Freedom of Information campaign backed by a coalition of 14 Supporters Trusts and a petition signed by almost 30,000 people. But earlier this week a tribunal ruled that it must publish. The contract reveals that the LLDC will keep the first £4m of any naming rights deal for the stadium over a 20-year period and that anything over that will be split 50-50.
The LLDC will also keep the first £500,000 of any profit on catering, with anything over that amount being split 70/30.
It also confirms that the LLDC will meet all the running costs for the stadium, providing everything from stewards to corner flags, and that West Ham must pay an additional £100,000 for each match they play over an agreed total of 25 per season.
West Ham must also pay up to £100,000 per season extra if they finish in the top half of the Premier League and various bonuses if they win domestic cups or qualify for Europe, up to £1m in the unlikely event they win the Champions League.
“We are disappointed by the tribunal’s decision. Our motivation in bringing this case has been to protect millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. The stadium needs to be a profitable and successful commercial operation otherwise it will rely on public subsidy,” said an LLDC spokesman of the decision to publish the contract in the wake of the tribunal ruling.
“We were concerned that the publication of this contract and the precedent it may set for future agreements could make it harder to do this. However, we have decided not to seek leave to appeal, and have today made the contract available on our website.”
A spokesman for the coalition of clubs said: “The hard work now begins to understand the deal, its costs to the taxpayer, and to football, and any further implications. This is a victory for the power of football supporters: organised, focused and willing to work together to achieve a collective goal.”
The agreement outlines the extent to which West Ham take primacy during the football season, underlining the need for it to retain the “look and feel” of its home ground.
The venue is also to host the 2017 IAAF and IPC Athletics World Championships and there is a 50-year agreement for British Athletics to use the venue each July. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said last week that West Ham's deal to move into the stadium was akin to "winning the lottery".
Guardian services
