FOI - West Ham Stadium naming rights [Mar 2023]

Your request

Any correspondence, whether email or letters to and from West Ham United and associated entities with the London Mayor and London Assembly committees and members in regard to the Naming Rights deal for the London Stadium.

The London Mayor at the Budget and Performance Committee on 5 January 2023, referred to considerable correspondence in the webcast of the meeting, which was publicised.  

Our response

We have identified that the following correspondence falls within scope of your request (attached):

•    24 December 2021
•    10 May 2022
•    13 December 2022
•    14 December 2022
•    15 December 2022

Please note that some of the content is exempt from disclosure under the exemption for Commercial Interests at section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Section 43(2) provides that information can be withheld from release if its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person. A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity and in this instance, the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) are currently in the market for the Stadium Naming Rights (SNR) and their Chief Commercial Officer has received complaints that information of this nature being released is causing confusion within the market for those interested in SNR. Releasing this information at this time would therefore prejudice those commercial interests.

Further, we consider that disclosure of information relating to costs and percentages around naming rights value and the exchange of views as to factors that can impact it, including the value of West Ham United in the context of other Premier League clubs, is commercially sensitive information. Disclosure would be likely to prejudice the value of SNR in the marketplace.

The GLA is satisfied that in this instance disclosure of the this information would be likely to, prejudice or harm the commercial interests of LLDC and West Ham United. Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the FOIA and consideration has to be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information. 

In this instance the GLA recognises the legitimate public interest in the transparency regarding the securement of a naming rights deal for the London Stadium. In balancing the public interest in disclosure, we consider the greater good or benefit to the community if the information is released or not. The ‘right to know' must be balanced against the need to enable effective government and serve the best interests of the public. 

Although in many cases disclosure promotes competition, there is undoubtedly a public interest in allowing public authorities to withhold information which, if disclosed, would negatively affect their ability to negotiate or to compete in a commercial environment. In this case, it is felt that the public interest would not be met by revealing information which would be likely to be detrimental to the way in which sponsorship deals are secured in relation to SNR. 

Finally, the names of some junior level officers are exempt from disclosure under section 40 (Personal information) of FOIA. This information could potentially identify specific employees and as such constitutes as personal data which is defined by Article 4(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. It is considered that disclosure of this information would contravene the first data protection principle under Article 5(1) of GDPR which states that personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner. 

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting reference MGLA090123-6994.