EPL side West Ham is "embroiled in a fresh legal dispute" with London Stadium's landlord over "who should pick up the bill" for a series of costs including providing draught beer, Sky TV and hospitality staff, according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. The club is "already involved in a lengthy court case" with the publicly-owned London Legacy Development Corp. over increasing the stadium capacity, and the "latest legal clash shows relations are at an all-time low" over the tenancy agreement signed in '13. The stadium is facing a £140M ($198M) loss over the next 10 years and the LLDC said that it is "determined" to minimize costs to the London taxpayer. The club claimed it is "being denied services promised" under its £2.5M ($3.5M) annual rental agreement. The dispute, to be resolved by an independent senior legal figure via an "expert determination" process, covers several issues, including:
- The club has "asked for draught beer to be provided in all the stadium's bars but the LLDC insists the cost of installing the pumps should be covered by West Ham."
- There is a disagreement "over Sky Sports being shown on TVs inside the stadium." West Ham pays the business license fee of about £150,000 ($212,220) and wants all TVs to show Sky but the LLDC said that the club "should pay extra for that to happen."
In a statement, West Ham said, "West Ham United does not ordinarily comment on legal matters, but our supporters need to know that recent reports do not paint an accurate picture. We are seeking no more than we are entitled to under our contract and for which we pay rent. In simple terms the issue in dispute is this: if you entered into a contract to rent the whole of a house and afterwards the landlord said that you could not use one of the upstairs bedrooms without paying extra, you would not pay up" (LONDON TIMES, 3/21).
