West Ham relegation spells bad news for Londoners

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If Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea today, West Ham will be relegated to the second tier of English men’s football for the first time in 15 years. This will be remarkable for a club with a stadium capacity of 68,000, more than twice the size of Championship winners Coventry City. It will also be a drag for Londoners who face a £2.5m annual bill. West Ham rents the former Olympic stadium for £4.4m a year under a 99-year lease agreement, but the Greater London Authority is responsible for stewarding and other running costs. If West Ham go down, commercial revenue will fall while stewarding will become more expensive due to the larger fixture list. The stadium deal was signed in 2013 when Boris Johnson was London mayor.