West Ham could be handed a significant financial boost thanks to a potential increase in capacity at the London Stadium, according to a finance expert.
Despite what many rival fans expected, West Ham sell out the London Stadium every single Premier League game without fail. Through good times and bad times, the Claret and Blue army never fails to turn up. Over the seven years that the Hammers have occupied the 2012 Olympic Stadium, they have seen the capacity increase multiple times and they are now looking to allow 10,000 more fans to attend games than when they originally left Upton Park.
The increase would see a maximum matchday capacity of 68,000, making it the second largest stadium in English football. While in the short term it may cost the club money due to the fact they will need to increase the number of facilities in the ground due to regulations, in the long term it is expected to be very beneficial from a financial point of view, that is according to finance expert Kieran Maguire.
Last year, the club earned £41 million from matchday revenue and this could increase by “a seven-figure sum” according to Maguire. “West Ham will certainly benefit from an expansion to 68,000 at the London Stadium,” he told Football Insider. “They’ve already got a waiting list in terms of season tickets and season tickets are relatively competitively priced, so we’re not talking huge increases in revenue.”
”Every little helps, especially with the Hammers competing in Europe. They’ve now got to hit targets when it comes to wages as a percentage of revenue.”
Maguire does not expect “a significant increase in rent” for the Hammers and “overall, we will be talking about a seven-figure sum increase in marginal revenue as far as West Ham is concerned. That goes into the overall pot to help the coach to recruit and retain talent, which is what all fans want to see.”
As our own ExWHUEmployee revealed, our Irons are on a limited budget this January. Spending big over the past few seasons has resulted in us being close to breaking FFP rules. Going forward, an increase in matchday revenue may be able to help prevent this from happening again. We are not talking a ridiculous amount of money but our extremely cheap rent means that any extra ticket sales can go a long way in helping our budget.
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