Report: Vodafone close to £20M deal for Olympic Stadium naming rights

Telecommunications company Vodafone is close to reaching a £20-million, six-year agreement with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to rename the London Olympic Stadium, according to Sky News' Paul Kelso.

The arena, currently inhabited by West Ham United, will reportedly be named after Vodafone in time for the start of the next Premier League season.

But Kelso reports that proceeds from the transaction will not go to West Ham but rather stadium owner LLDC, which counts the Hammers as a primary tenant.

LLDC has apparently been searching for a main sponsor since the London Stadium opened for the 2012 Olympics.

The deal is, as Kelso writes, a major score for both the development and West Ham. The stadium has undergone a massive transformation to accommodate Premier League football, as it required retractable seating to function as a multi-sport facility. Conversion costs rose to £323 million - of which West Ham paid just £15 million - and London mayor Sadiq Kahn subsequently ordered an investigation to review the stadium's bloated financial situation.

Violence also troubled West Ham's first few matches in Stratford, which involved multiple arrests for incidents outside the premises.

The total cost to taxpayers has soared above £700 million, according to Kelso, with West Ham paying just £2.5 million a year to rent out the space for all home matches.