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The 2012 Olympic stadium will not be sold to a football or rugby club - according to an official report. Sources say consultants think the venue can survive as a stand alone athletics course. The £500m project has been rejected by clubs as the Olympic Delivery Authority is determined to hold onto the athletics track which keeps spectators at a distance from the action. Earlier this week Leyton Orient's Chairman said the design had "no commercial value." West Ham United FC, Saracens RFC, and Wasps RFC have all gone off the idea off moving to the Stratford site, which will be reduced to a 25,000 seater after the Olympics. It was originally budgeted for £280m. O's Chairman Barry Hearn told The Times: "A football or rugby club is the only way to fill it regularly – and we know that's what they think because they're keen for offers."
£300m conversion costs
It has also been reveled it would cost an extra £300-£400 million to convert the stadium for field sports after the Games. A bowl had to be dug out of the Manchester City grounds after the stadium was used for the Commonwealth Games in 2002. The Stratford area has a high water table and would inevitably be more expensive.
Mayor concerned
The report will be presented to Government ministers and Mayor Boris Johnson next month, says it would be too expensive to convert the stadium into a multi-use venue after the Games. Johnson is also said to be concerned about the prospect of no permanent tenants. The London organising committee was adamant they should be found in the near future. A question of legacy Former 1500m athletics gold medalist and ODA chief Lord Coe, has insisted an "athletics legacy" with a sports academy and, according to the London 2012 website: "a variety of sporting, educational, cultural and community events". This is despite comments in October by Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee that athletics is not the leading priority. The IOC has been emphatic in its determination that there will no longer be Olympics white elephants. He said: "If the best solution is to transform the track into something else then we would be in favour of that. "We had the same situation in Atlanta where the Olympic stadium was changed into a baseball stadium, which kept an interest for sport. We don't have problems with that. I don't want to enter into specifics but we don't want to leave white elephants."
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