The Premier League football club have so far refused to vacate the stadium for three weeks at the start of the 2029/2030 season.
There is a real possibility that West Ham United’s sheer stubbornness and sense of superiority could undermine London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Despite support from the UK government and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, with the promise of £45m of public money, the football club have so far refused to vacate the stadium for three weeks in September 2029.
Since World Athletics has made it clear that the end of the season, the global championships should take place in September. With Tokyo 2025 and Beijing 2027 no exception, there is a real risk that London could lose out to a rival.
This past week The Guardian: revealed that Rome, Munich, Nairobi and a controversial Indian city were in contention. That should have raised alarm bells for those involved in the London bid. Munich and Rome have hosted the last two respective European athletics championships, while Nairobi could also be an attractive prospect, given that no African country has ever hosted a major global outdoor sports championship.
India has not been shy about its bid to host the 20236 Olympics, and after being awarded the 2028 World Indoor Athletics Championships and the 2030 Commonwealth Games, the outdoor championships could be another opportunity to showcase its ability to host a major event.
So any hurdle to London’s bid should be taken seriously. Just because world athletics president Seb Coe is British and led London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, there is no guarantee that London will win.
“It’s really difficult for me because I have a view, but I have to be thoroughly neutral because London is obviously not the only bid out there,” Coe told reporters in Torun at the weekend.
“I would just say that I hope there is recognition that outside of the Olympics and the World Cup, this is the third biggest sporting event in four years. I am asking cities to try to accommodate us. You have to realize that it is a big global sport. This does not allow anyone.”
Which makes West Ham’s position all the more frustrating. Earlier this month the club, which has leased the stadium from Greater London Authority Holdings Limited since 2016, said: The Daily Mail that the terms of the deal, signed by then London mayor Boris Johnson in 2013, gave them “priority” during the football season, adding that they could defend their position through legal means if necessary.
The deal gives the club a 99-year lease on the stadium and means West Ham pay just £4.4m a season in rent, although that will drop by 50% if they are relegated. When the announcement was made a decade ago, it was dubbed the “deal of the century” because it gave the club an exceptionally low rent; Spurs paid around £1.2 billion for their stadium, while matchday operating costs are largely subsidized by the taxpayer.
When asked if West Ham should be more appreciative of the athletic fit, Coe replied: “I’ve sat on the board of one Premier League club and I’m very close to another club and I think they’d be quite happy with that deal.”
Since West Ham moved to the London Stadium a decade ago, elite-level athletics has taken place (bar 2020 due to Covid-19) every summer, courtesy of the Diamond League. London, of course, hosted the 2017 World Athletics and Para-Athletics Championships as well.
The sticking point on this occasion is the club’s reluctance to leave at the start of the 2029/2030 football season.
The solution seems quite obvious to the naked eye. There is an international break from 24 September to 9 October 2029, a two-week window when West Ham will not play at the stadium.
So why can’t the club play home games on the weekends of September 1-2 and September 9-10 before vacating the stadium for the rest of the month? That would mean back-to-back away games on the weekends of September 15-16 and September 22-23, but that shouldn’t be a problem at all. They’ve done it four times this season alone.
West Ham’s argument against leaving the stadium for an extended period of time is that they may have to play three away games in a row. Perhaps that will benefit the club, given that they have won more away games (4) than home games (3) this season.
In all seriousness, there is precedent for that. At the start of last season, York City played four consecutive away matches (16 August to 6 September) to host the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. They won two and drew two.
Next season’s Community Shield (August 16), traditionally held at Wembley, will be moved to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium as The Weeknd plays five matches in London between August 14 and August 19.
And Tottenham Hotspur has played away from home several times over the past few seasons due to NFL games, the most recent being the Minnesota Vikings vs. Cleveland Browns on Oct. 5 of last year. Spurs played away to Leeds United that day and won 2-1.
All in all, it just makes West Ham’s obscene obstinacy look rather childish. By essentially holding London’s ransom bid, it gives the impression that the club’s owners believe other sports are unreasonable in asking to use their leased stadium.
If London cannot host a global championship in a sport that put the stadium on the map at London 2012, what does that say about the Olympic and Paralympic legacy from those Games?
Therefore, you would like to think that some compromise is possible. West Ham will certainly not be blind to the fact that a feasibility study predicted that a successful London bid in 2029 would generate an economic and social impact of more than £400m.
With the 2029 international break at the end of September, could the championships be delayed by a week? Tokyo hosted the year’s showcase event for athletics from September 13-21, while Beijing will host it from September 11-19.
In recent years, a gray area has also emerged as to when the athletics season “ends.” Many of the athletes who competed in Tokyo flew to New York to attend Alexis Ohanian’s Atlas meet in New York, featuring Keeley Hodgkinson, Faith Kipyegon and Tara Davis-Woodhall on October 10.
This highlights that elite athletes should not have too much trouble competing in London in three years’ time if the championships are slightly later than in Tokyo and Beijing respectively.
Unsurprisingly, some of Britain’s top stars have voiced their views on social media. Fresh from winning the world 800m title in Torun, Keeley Hodgkinson cheekily mocked West Ham, saying: “The Great Britain team will bring more medals to that (London) stadium than West Ham have seen in their entire history.”
Dina Usher-Smith, who went from bag-carrying at London 2012 to world silver medalist in the 4x100m at the same stadium five years later, said she was at the Olympic Park today to kick things off ahead of London 2029, adding: “West Ham, please don’t play us!”
Other athletes will no doubt share the same sentiment. Given how much is at stake, you can imagine that it is inconceivable that the various stakeholders involved, including the UK Government, City Hall, West Ham, UK Sport and Athletics Ventures, could not find a viable way to make this work.
The initial application deadline is April 3rd, and final submissions are not required until August 5th. If London 2029 is to succeed, West Ham need to stop ranking and talk to others behind the scenes. The stadium does not just revolve around them.
