£450,000 of taxpayers' cash spent to try and find Olympic Stadium sponsor

The stadium's owner, the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) have come under fire for wasting so much money, without any sign of an imminent result.

Two companies have been paid to find a sponsor, and their fee so far has been £447,000 of the taxpayers money.

Following two potential deals collapsing, there are currently no talks taking place with any sponsors.

The stadium was built for the 2012 London Olympics, and has been surrounded by financial controversy since.

Despite an initial estimate of £190m to convert the stadium into a football ground, it ended up costing around £323m.

West Ham pay an annual rent of £2.5m to use the stadium, but the venue is still set to lose £140m over the next 10 years, which sponsorship would offset.

Vodaphone reportedly pulled out of a £20m six-year naming rights deal in May 2012, while Mahindra, an Indian conglomerate had also shown interest.

An LLDC spokesperson said: "Two deals with global brands came close to being delivered but this is an extremely competitive and narrow market which requires significant time and effort to identify the appropriate brands able to enter into such major commercial deals."

Gareth Bacon, who is Chairman of the London Assembly's budget and performance committee has not been impressed with the way the stadium sponsorship has been dealt with:

"It's taxpayers' money that has been wasted. When you pay that kind of money and get absolutely nothing in return, that's not great," said Bacon.

"There is a Premier League club playing in the stadium which held the most successful Olympic Games ever, in a major European country."

It's understood that West Ham have offered to help find a naming rights partner.

The Hammers were awarded the 99-year tenancy in 2013, and do not have to pay for some running costs as part of the deal.