Nothing to hide: London mayor happy to publish West Ham's Olympic Stadium contract
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has no problems with releasing the details of West Ham's controversial move to the Olympic Stadium next year.
A coalition of football supporters' trusts lodged a freedom of information request last September in order to see the full financial details of the rental agreement between West Ham and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), which runs the Olympic Stadium. A local information commissioner granted that request on Tuesday.
Johnson said his office has "nothing to hide," but warns that West Ham could consider legal action.
Related: Report - West Ham's deal with Olympic Stadium ordered to be made public
"I'm perfectly happy to publish the details of this arrangement," Johnson told reporters. "I understand the football club concerned is not so keen because they think it will give other clubs an insight into their finances. I think they may be trying to take legal action on that point."
West Ham is only paying £15 million of the £272 million needed to convert the former site of the 2012 Summer Olympics into a venue fit for Premier League football. Concerns over the use of public money on the stadium led to the inquiry, as a campaign backed by 25,000 people in the area called for more transparency.
The BBC reported in August that the taxpayer and not West Ham would cover the majority of overhead costs, including facilities and services. The club would also pay a "peppercorn rent" believed to be £2.5 million a year as the main tenant of the 54,000-capacity stadium.
The LLDC has a month to decide whether it wants to appeal the order to publish the contract.
West Ham also released a statement last month assuring that the club was saving the stadium from financial ruin.
"Without us, the stadium would lose money," it said. "With us, the public purse will see a return on the hundreds of millions of pounds that were committed to build the stadium, long before West Ham's association had begun."