AEG: Spurs Olympic Stadium plan would sell out venue every week

11 April 2012

West Ham's bid to take over the Olympic Stadium has been boosted by support from more than 50 MPs and a new poll of Londoners - but the partners of Tottenham's rival bid claim their plan would sell out the venue every week.

A BBC poll showed 81% of Londoners are opposed to Tottenham's plan to demolish the stadium after the 2012 Games and build a new 60,000-seater ground without the running track.

Tottenham and their partners AEG, the American entertainment giant that turned around the O2 arena, claim the Hammers' bid is not economically viable.

Sarah McGuigan, the senior executive director of AEG Europe, said their scheme for football and other public events would attract three million visitors to the Olympic Park every year.

McGuigan said: "Crucially, our plans will stand the test of time and require no public subsidy.

"We would bring this excitement to the Olympic Park and help ensure it becomes a vibrant and sustainable place to live and visit, not just for a year or two, but for the long term.

"We chose to work with THFC as we believe that, as a partnership, we can have a stadium tailored to reflect its customer's needs that will be filled week in, week out. We know the importance of getting this decision right has huge implications not just for the stadium site, but for the long-term success and viability of the Olympic park as a whole."

West Ham's vice-chairman Karren Brady, speaking at a House of Commons reception where the support from the MPs was revealed, said their proposal to retain the running track inside the existing structure would avoid the waste of £500million public money.

Brady said the West Ham plan would mean London had kept their promise to the Olympic movement.

She said: "It would be a truly multi-purpose, multi-event stadium that would stand as a true home for sport in this country. On 6 July 2005, a promise was made in the Queen's name. We believe in that promise and we believe in legacy.

"It's important for the UK's credibility as a sporting nation - especially in the wake of the 2018 FIFA World Cup disappointment - to keep that promise. Pulling down the stadium would waste half-a-billion pounds in taxpayers' money."

Both clubs have been asked to provide more information to the Olympic Park Legacy Company by February 3, although they have yet to fix a date for the board meeting to decide which bid should be recommended to the Government and the London Mayor's office.

According to the BBC poll, 72% of Londoners support West Ham's bid and 13% support Tottenham's.

Meanwhile, the poll also showed that a significant majority of Londoners fear that ticket prices for the 2012 Olympics will be too high to allow them to attend.

Some 65% of those questioned said they were concerned that the price of tickets for some events would be too high for them to afford, with 20% disagreeing.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in