The 2024-25 campaign will be one of transition for the Hammers, who are under new management in the form of Julen Lopetegui.
It does not look like there will be a change of ownership any time soon, however
Minority shareholder Daniel Kretinsky has reversed his plans to take full control of the club and, while Karren Brady has been dispatched to the Middle East to find investment, that does not look imminent.
A takeover would set any would-be investor back a huge amount. The East London club are worth somewhere between £600m and £800m, according to most analysts.
A huge element of their value comes from commercial revenue, which hit a club record £48m last season thanks in large part due to the club’s success in Europe.
And news from behind the scenes shows that the Hammers are not slowing down in the commercial department.
A post on X by West Ham Central shows what is allegedly the club’s away shirt for 2024-25.
Significantly from a commercial point of view, the black shirt with red trim shows what appears to be a new sleeve sponsor in QuickBooks.
The accountancy software company already have an existing relationship with West Ham, with whom they signed a partnership in March this year.
The terms of that deal were not revealed at the time, but it now looks like they are replacing JD Sports as the club’s sleeve sponsor.
JD paid West Ham around £2m a year for the privilege and the new deal is likely to be at a slightly higher rate.
West Ham extended their deal with Umbro earlier this year, which is believed to be worth £7m per season.
Their front-of-shirt deal with Betway meanwhile is worth £10m per season, while their retail income meanwhile is worth around £14m.
With the new sleeve deal and other more junior partnerships taken into account, the club can expect to once again surpass their commercial income record in 2024-2025
One source of frustration will be the lack of a stadium naming rights deal, which could be worth up to £10m per season.
However, the departure of a number of key figures at the publicly-funded company responsible for running the London Stadium could pave the way for them to finally get a naming rights deal over the line, nearly a decade after they moved into the arena.
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