West Ham told to pay £300k a year for claret carpet
WEST HAM’S offer to pay for a claret-and-blue carpet to cover the London Stadium track has been rejected by their landlords, who instead want a yearly fee of £300,000. The club’s vice-chairman Karren Brady last month penned an open letter saying they would pay the cost of having a new cover installed on top of the running track — replacing the current green one. It would have cost a one-off £380,000. But Lyn Garner, the recently installed chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, now wants the club to make an annual payment to cover the commercial benefits of pitch-side branding. Garner did not try to hide where she thinks the LLDC’s financial struggles originate, as she said West Ham’s £2.5million-a-year rent does not cover day-to-day costs. ‘No other Premier League football club has such an opportunity to have a track cover with its colours on,’ said Garner. ‘We think the club should pay not a oneoff cost for the track cover but an annual fee. It is not unreasonable. What is really driving the problems here are the low rents paid