West Ham United set to win battle to take over Olympic Stadium

By Andrew Warshaw in London

February 9 – West Ham United have beaten Tottenham Hotspur in the bitter race to take over the 2012 Olympic stadium after next year’s London games, it was reported tonight.

Although the decision by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) is not due until Friday (February 11), the BBC reported that West Ham, who have long been favourites, would be given the green light to move to the Stratford site from its current ground at nearby Upton Park.

According to the BBC, the 14-strong OPLC Board will announce the Hammers as its preferred bidder, with the Government and London Mayor Boris Johnson then needing to ratify the recommendation, probably within two months.

The OPLC’s recommendation has already been delayed once after a concerted effort by Spurs, whose campaign is mainly privately funded, to prove that its bid is the more commercially viable.

The two clubs have waged an increasingly bitter war of words in recent days.

West Ham, who have enjoyed widespread support from leading sporting and political figures despite relying on a considerable amount of public money, have staked their bid on retaining the athletics track. Hammers chief executive Karen Brady described Tottenham’s plans to bulldoze the stadium as a “corporate crime”.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy counters that Tottenham’s bid, which includes a rebuilt athletics venue at Crystal Palace, makes far more commercial sense and provides for a far greater legacy.

“We have to have a solution that stands the test of time,” said Levy, adding that merging football and athletics “will end in tears”.

Tottenham’s claim that the stadium will quickly become a white elephant if athletics is retained has been backed up by a number of independent architects.

Sources at both clubs insisted last night they had not been informed of any concrete decision but BBC London said OPLC executives preferred West Ham’s bid.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe is among those calling for the track to be maintained but Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), who are partnering Tottenham, claimed the Olympic Stadium would “go broke in 10 years” if an athletics track is retained.

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