The Owners of London Stadium Are Close to Going Bust

By Adam Kopet

London Stadium has been a fixture in sports since it was built for the 2012 Olympics. This past summer the stadium hosted the IAAF World Outdoor Championships.

Now, five years later, the company that owns the stadium, E20 Stadium LLP, is close to going out of business, according to Dan King for the Sun.

The problem appears to be the low cost leases that were negotiated for the various tenants who signed on to use the stadium after the Olympic Games were completed.

West Ham United, the current primary tenant and English Premier League soccer team, pays E20 £2.5 million ($3.28 million) per year.

However, by contract with UK Athletics, the stadium must be converted for track and field use during part of the summer and back again for soccer. That cost comes to £8 million ($10.5 million) each year.

Public funds will likely be needed to keep E20 out of administration, the UK version of bankruptcy for companies.

Already £752 million ($987 million) has been spent to build the stadium and then convert it for soccer use after the Olympics, with nearly all of it coming from public funds.

One possible solution being discussed by local officials is another renovation that would make the conversion to and from a track and field facility to be cheaper. However, no decisions are close to being made.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that E20 Stadium LLP is both owner and operator of London Stadium. While E20 is the owner, VINCI has been contracted to operate the stadium. All financial difficulties mentioned in the article are attributed to E20 and none of the companies it has contracted with. The above article has been updated to reflect this fact. There was no intention to suggest other companies, including VINCI, are facing financial difficulty.