London Stadium Owner Estimates £5M In Losses From West Ham Debacle

LLDC expects legal costs from disputes with West Ham to total £5M.GETTY IMAGES

The owner of the London Stadium predicted that the legal costs of its disputes with EPL side West Ham United will total £5M ($6.3M) for the three years to the end of its present financial year, according to Gary Jacob of the LONDON TIMES. The London Legacy Development Corp.’s outlay includes an estimated £3.6M ($4.5M) to defend an action taken by West Ham over the capacity of the stadium. The dispute was resolved last month and "ended the club’s fight to increase the number of seats available for matches" by 3,000 to 60,000 and then eventually to 66,000. Other legal costs "derived from four cases" including an argument over the color of the material surrounding the pitch. West Ham won all the cases, which were referred to an independent senior legal figure. The others were about "who should pay for a series of costs including providing draught beer, televisions and hospitality staff" (LONDON TIMES, 12/15).