West Ham Must Pay Bank Debt Before Olympic Stadium Move

July 24, 2013

West Ham United’s vice-chairman Karren Brady (pictured centre) has revealed that the Premier League club will have to pay off all their bank debt before they can move into the Olympic Stadium.

The Hammers currently have debt of around £70m ($107.5m), with half of that being bank debt secured on Upton Park.

That debt must be cleared when the ground is sold, before West Ham move into the Olympic Stadium in 2016.

West Ham were close to securing a buyer for Upton Park but because of delays in their proposed move to the Olympic Stadium, the deal fell through.

Brady was giving evidence to the House of Lords committee on Olympic and Paralympic legacy and said: “We did have a tentative deal [for Upton Park] but that fell away. We hope the money generated from the sale of Upton Park will be enough to fulfill our commitment and to help pay off some of our bank debt.

“When we bought the club and took on more than £100million ($153.6m) of debt that was guaranteed on the ground. We have to pay off all our bank debt to move, we can’t take the debt with us.

“If there is any excess [from Upton Park sale] it will meet some of that debt but I don’t expect there will be.”