by Staff Writer
Saturday, 1st November 2025
London mayor Sadiq Khan has suggested that West Ham could be released from their 99-year lease of the London Olympic Stadium - if there was a desire to do so by the club.
West Ham have been playing their home matches for nine years now, having left Upton Park in 2016. Yet the general feeling amongst the fanbase that the stadium is not fit for purpose continues to grow.
While the club's board continue to insist that everything at the stadium is hunky dory, and that they have no interest in moving to a purpose-built, fully functional stadium designed for football and not athletics, Khan has suggested for the first time that the option to cancel the "onerous" arrangement is on the table.
Speaking to football.london earlier this week, the mayor admitted that he would be willing to listen if the club - possibly under new ownership - were prepared to consider moving the club's home.
"The London Stadium is a fantastic asset to our great city, in terms of not just the football that takes place there, but the things that take place in other periods, whether it's athletics, whether it's concerts, whether it's baseball and so forth," he said.
"We're always more than happy to speak to people who want to organise events. The London Stadium is a gorgeous stadium, and so, hypothetically speaking, if in the future West Ham wanted to vacate that stadium, I'm sure we'd have lots of other uses for it.
"I've been hearing about new owners of West Ham for the last nine years since I've been mayor, so let's wait and see if it materialises. If there was a new owner at West Ham, we'd be more than happy to talk.
"We talk really well, we get on really well with the current owners and staff, but I'm more than happy to always speak to people who run sporting events. London, in my view, is the sporting capital of the world."
And Khan recognised that Hammers fans are far from universally happy watching football in the 62.5k capacity arena.
"These stadiums are fantastic ways for fans getting to watch the team they love," he added. "Some stadiums, frankly speaking, whether it's the poor form of the team or the way the stadium's been built, not all fans love. But we'll speak to the new owners, if there are new owners, if and when that occurs.
"At the moment we're in a contract with West Ham, but if there are new owners for West Ham we'd be happy to talk to them - and the current owners as well."
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