Kieran Maguire salutes ‘brilliant’ West Ham deal as document reveals £4m payout
West Ham still have a “brilliant” rental agreement at the London Stadium – even after a £1million price hike.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the latest official figures for the taxpayer-funded former Olympic arena.
The Hammers moved into the stadium in 2016, striking a deal worth approximately £2.5million per season.
Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request and published by Six Foot Two on Monday (3 October) show that the cost for 2021-22, however, was £3.5m.
The club also shelled out performance-related bonus fees for finishing 6th in the Premier and qualifying for the Europa League the previous season.
Those payments as well as utility costs and infrastructure improvements meant the total bill for the year stood at £4.38m.
But the increased payments do not detract from the overall appeal of what is a market-busting deal, insists Maguire.
“An increase of £1m still gives West Ham a brilliant deal,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“It is a contributory factor as to why prospective owners would be prepared to pay so much for the club.
“If you crunch the numbers, an extra £1m spread over a minimum of three Europa League matches works out as a fiver per fan.
“On top of that, if they get to the more advanced stages of those competitions, you could see the cost spread over six matches and it would work out as a couple of quid per fan, per match.
“You’re selling tickets for £20 to £30 in the early rounds, which will ratchet up.
“On top of that, there are merchandise sales and other matchday revenues generated by the club that will very quickly accelerate ahead of any minor costs incurred in terms of hosting those games and in terms of rent”
In other news, pundit suggests Michail Antonio could be frozen out at West Ham after latest development.