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Expert: GSB Have ‘No Desire’ to Buy Stadium

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Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has poured cold water on any fan hopes of seeing their ownership buying up the London Stadium.

However, his claims came with a caveat – a new regime of ownership may have a greater willingness to invest, with that threshold potentially manifesting in new lucrative uses of the stadium.

“The stadium is not designed for acoustics and it doesn’t lend itself to football,” he told Football Insider.

“Gold and Sullivan have kept season ticket prices the same. So fans are getting a discount but that’s because they’re watching a discounted product in terms of the atmosphere.

“There’s no desire from the present owners to buy the stadium because they have a limit in terms of what they want to invest.

“Could they buy it? Everything has a price. Would they want to? I think the present owners would be crazy to.

“Unless they get new owners in who want to operate it as a multi-function stadium similarly to what we’re seeing at Spurs. In that sense, it would be an investment that would start to pay itself off, especially if the club was more successful on the pitch.”

However, that is not to say that the owners are opposed to any stadium improvements.

West Ham are noted as having announced that some cosmetic renovations to the stadium would be made ahead of a potential fan return.

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It seems as though the current arrangement suits the investment threshold of the owners.

Content with cheaply renting the grounds from local authorities, Maguire’s case is strong – GSB will not be keen to upset their financial apple cart so long as they look destined to remain at the helm of West Ham.

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