Sadiq Khan Warns Taxpayers Face £2.5 Million West Ham Cost
Taxpayers in London could face an extra £2.5 million bill if West Ham United are relegated, Sadiq Khan said. The mayor urged Londoners who do not support Tottenham Hotspur to back West Ham instead, arguing the city would lose out if the club drops into the Championship.
Khan said the added cost would come from hosting Championship fixtures at the London Stadium. He framed it as a citywide hit, saying taxpayers and City Hall could lose up to £2.5 million a year if West Ham go down.
Sadiq Khan and London Stadium
The mayor tied the warning to the stadium deal struck in 2016, when West Ham and the government agreed terms to rent the London Stadium. He said Boris Johnson made “the worst deal that can be imaginable,” and added: “As far as West Ham are concerned, [it’s] a deal of the century where he basically gave them rent free, this amazing stadium for 100 years. Now if West Ham are relegated, we, the taxpayers, we City Hall, could lose up to £2.5 million a year.”
That figure sets the stakes for the final two games of the season. The relegation fight had narrowed to a duel between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham, leaving the outcome of one club’s survival to shape the financial burden on London rather than just the football side of the equation.
West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur
Khan was blunt about who he wanted neutral Londoners to support. “What I’d say to Londoners who don’t support Spurs is you should probably be cheering on West Ham,” he said. “So what I say to Londoners who don’t support Spurs is you should probably be cheering on West Ham, because the taxpayer will lose out if West Ham go down.”
The contrast in the battle is stark enough to explain the politics around it. West Ham’s relegation would shift more of the London Stadium cost onto taxpayers and City Hall, while Tottenham’s fate would fall on a different set of owners and a different financial scale. For Londoners who have no club stake in the last two rounds, Khan has made the choice he wants them to make.
Boris Johnson and the 2016 deal
Khan’s criticism of the stadium arrangement went straight at his predecessor. By pointing to the 2016 deal and the 100-year rent-free arrangement, he turned a football survival race into a public-finance issue that reaches beyond east London and into the wider city budget.
