West Ham owner Daniel Kretinsky could suffer a setback with London Stadium having appointed architectural practice Populous to investigate the possible expansion of leisure opportunities around the arena.

The group have stated they have been called in to see the potential of developing the area around the Hammers’ ground.

The London club moved into the stadium in 2016 and they secured a 99-year lease which gives them to use it as their home.

The stadium was built for the 2012 Summer Olympic games, and as such it incorporates a running track, which has led to much anger among supporters due to the distance between the stands and the pitch.

However, West Ham do not own the stadium and hence cannot make any definite plans for its development.

This also involves development of the surrounding region which is owned by the city.

West Ham suffer blow in London Stadium development

Populous have announced the terms of their engagement by London Stadium to investigate the feasibility of developing the surrounding region of the ground.

They have promised to look at suggestions to develop the campus as a leisure-led mixed use attraction.

They hope to attract more visitors to the area, targeting various sports, concerts and other significant events to help establish a more sustainable venue for the city.

But it had been previously stated that Kretinsky’s aspirations as West Ham owner included developing the London Stadium.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has suggested he would be open to discussions about selling the stadium to the Hammers.

But if that region around it gets built then there will be less space for the Championship side if they buy the stadium from the city.

It might also make it impossible to remove the running track in the future, adding even more pressure on West Ham to negotiate a deal with the city as soon as feasible.

West Ham attendance stats

West Ham were relegated from the Premier League last season and they boast the biggest home ground in the Championship by a country mile.

They have managed to keep attendance levels high even after being relegated to the second flight. The London Stadium has a capacity of 62,500.

Championship top 5 stadium capacities 2026/21 (according to Transfermarkt)

Stadium (Clubs)

Capacity

London Stadium (West Ham)

62,500

Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium

33,746

Pride Park (Derby County)

33,597

Cardiff City Stadium (Cardiff City)

33,280

Bramall Lane (Sheffield Utd)

32,707

The last home league game was a 6-0 drubbing of Wrexham in front of 58,712 supporters, while a crowd of over 60,000 saw the 3-0 defeat of Derby County (all numbers courtesy of Fotmob).

Nuno Espírito Santo’s team take on QPR at home next on 9 October with an 8pm kick-off.

Daniel Kretinsky’s London Stadium dilemma Kretinsky has had to cope with a behind the scenes power struggle at West Ham in recent months and any progress with the London Stadium has fallen by the wayside.

But that development suggests this is something he’s going to have to pull back into focus, as the surrounding area could be key to his long-term goals.

If West Ham want to develop the stadium, then owning the developing area too could be fairly vital to completely fulfilling their aspirations for the site.

If the city follows forward with these proposals, it could limit what the team can do with the stadium in the future, which would be a big frustration for fans.