Kieran Maguire discusses West Ham and the London Stadium
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been speaking on the latest edition of the Price of Football podcast about West Ham and their ownership of the London Stadium.
The Hammers don’t currently own their ground, and they essentially rent it out for their home games every season, and that is it. However, if new owners were to come in, then it is possible that they could buy the stadium from the London Legacy Development Corporation.
The latest group to be linked with a move to buy West Ham has been PAI Capital, who have seen their bid to purchase the Hammers rejected [The Athletic].
He said when asked about West Ham buying their stadium: “Never say never in business.
“The stadium is owned by the London Legacy Development Corporation.
If you take a look at their accounts, they’re horrendous.
“If somebody came up with a decent offer to take the stadium off their hands, which isn’t too embarrassing from the taxpayer’s perspective, it could be welcomed.”
Will West Ham ever own their stadium?
Given that the Hammers pay just £2.5m in rent to loan the London Stadium, it seems unlikely that West Ham will ever own the London Stadium under this current regime [the Independent].
Now, if PAI Capital were to take over the club anytime soon, you could argue that it would be more likely for the Hammers to put together an offer and buy their stadium.
Of course, all of this is just speculation at the moment, but it is good to know that should West Ham want to buy the London Stadium, they could because the company that currently owns it is in dire need of money.
It would be nice to think that the Hammers could actually own their ground one day rather than simply rent it.
Unfortunately, though, that could be a long way off with Sullivan and Gold still running the show for the foreseeable future, unless a new and improved offer arrives from PAI Capital.
In other West Ham news, Kieran Maguire has revealed his concern for the potential PAI Capital takeover.
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