Some West Ham fans are confused whether West Ham will share in any revenue generated by the sale of the naming rights of the Olympic Stadium.
Earlier this year the club repeatedly stated that naming rights income would be shared.
These quotes are still published on West Ham’s website WHUFC.com
Olympic Stadium Q+A dated March 2013
Can you tell me more about the the deal between West Ham United and the LLDC?
An upfront capital contribution of £15m which along with a share of Naming rights income will assist with the cost of the overall transformation works.
http://www.whufc.com/articles/20130322/olympic-stadium-qa_2236884_3118486
WHUFC.com Statement on Olympic Stadium decision dated March 2013
Vice-Chairman Karren Brady said: “Anyone who thinks we got a free ride, we most certainly haven’t. We want to pay our way and accept that we have to pay our way and the two owners of West Ham have been very clear on that. We will put in a lump-sum and pay a rent that will cover most of the running costs and then we will share naming rights and other revenues.”
Olympic Stadium Master Q&A dated April 2013
Will the move affect the Club in a negative way commercially?
The full terms of the agreement cannot be disclosed at this stage. We retain full commercial control of our business. Catering and naming rights revenue is shared. The Club has no current naming rights partner at the Boleyn Ground.
David Gold even clarified the situation on twitter on 22nd July this year saying the LLDC own the naming rights but we have a share of them.
Two days after that tweet Karren Brady faced the House of Lords select committee. This is the transcript of what she said on naming rights during her interview.
Lord Bates: You mentioned the naming rights of the stadium. Could you just say a little bit about how that will work and how the bidding process will work? If you are able to say so, how much do you think you will get for the naming rights of the stadium?
Karren Brady: The naming rights are not West Ham’s to sell; they are the LLDC’s to sell. The LLDC will operate that process. It will probably appoint somebody to sell them for it, and it will determine the value and the amount of money that they take for them.
Lord Bates: That will all go to the LLDC.
Karren Brady: Yes.
Some fans have asked what has changed from West Ham sharing the naming rights and the LLDC keeping it all as suggested in the House of Lords interview.
It is believed that West Ham can indeed receive a share of the naming rights but only if the naming rights sale achieves a very high valuation for any revenue share to kick in.
As the agreement remains confidential we do not know what that figure might is and whether there is any realistic prospect of receiving any naming rights income.
So I guess both versions are correct! We do have a share but we are unlikely to see any of it!