Newham Council Admits £40M Loan To West Ham May Never Be Repaid

Newham Council admitted that the £40M loan "to help Premier League club West Ham United move into the Olympic Stadium may never be repaid," according to Adam Shergold of the London DAILY MAIL. The east London borough said that the loan was "damaged" and not currently being paid off because the stadium was "failing to make a profit." Newham stressed the loan had not been "written off" but appeared to "give up any hope of getting back the cash." The deal was agreed by the council in '12 through Newham Legacy Investments in conjunction with the London Legacy Development Corp. NLI reportedly currently owes £44.4M ($59.5M) after declaring a loss of £41.6M for '15-16 and a further deficit of £2.5M in '16-17. It is "because of a poor year financially for the London Stadium," which has not "made the expected income from events" (DAILY MAIL, 9/13).