[London Stadium](https://www.claretandhugh.info/london-stadiums-poisoned-chalice-losses-continue-to-mount/) owners have admitted a significant risk of no naming rights until at least 2028 and most likely beyond.
In March this year, the London Stadium changed ownership from the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to Greater London Authority Holdings Limited.
The CEO of LLDC, Lyn Garner, received £532,000 in compensation for her final year in charge, made up of £304,000 salary and £228,000 pay off after stepping down.
CEO of LLDC Lyn Garner
Two years ago, Garner claimed a naming rights deal was close, but it failed to materialise. In 2023, reports claimed Allianz was keen to do a deal, but that failed to happen, like previous doomed deals with Vodafone and Indian tractor manufacturer Mahindra.
The cost of building the London Stadium and losses operating it have totalled £1.2 billion and continue to grow at the London taxpayers’ expense.
West Ham have the right to approve any sponsorship deal
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West Ham would need to sign off on any naming rights sponsor, as is their contractual right, but have yet to be approached with any serious deal.
West Ham’s concessionaire agreement for the London Stadium, signed in 2013, suggests that anything over the first £4m of naming rights will be shared with the Hammers 50/50. This is likely to be interpreted as the total contract value and not the annual sponsorship revenue. A ten-year £40m contract at £4m per year could net West Ham £18m.
Next year will mark ten years without a naming rights partner, and sponsors could be wary of doing a deal with a stadium that everyone has got used to calling the London Stadium for so long.
Garner, who has been in charge of the London Stadium since 2018, remains in charge despite her half a million pound payoff.
She is now the non-executive chair of the London Stadium, but the salary and expense package has not been advertised or published.
She is also the independent chair of the Bristol Temple Quarter LLP and a member of the New Towns Taskforce, both government-funded housing schemes.