Doubts persist over 2012 Olympic stadium's legacy
05/10/2007 |
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Serious doubts have been raised about the legacy plans for London's Olympic Stadium, with questions about the commercial viability of the arena after it has been reduced to its long-term 25,000-seat capacity in 2013.
The Olympic Delivery Authority is due to publish its designs for the stadium this month, but an anchor tenant has yet to be secured despite a nine-month search and PMP, the sports and leisure consultancy, has yet to finalise a business model for the arena. Also unclear is who the ultimate owners of the facility will be and which public body will be responsible for covering any shortfall in revenue.
London has promised to deliver a multisport stadium with athletics at its core, alongside school and community facilities, but that objective can be delivered only if a financially viable sport subsidises the facility.
A major stumbling block to enticing an anchor tenant from rugby union or football is the lack of comprehensive roof cover in the current designs. During the Games, when the £500m stadium will have a capacity of 80,000, two-thirds of the seats will be covered by a roof but in legacy mode only the VIP seats will be covered.
The lack of a roof makes the facility far less attractive to winter sports, and rugby or football fans will not welcome a move to a stadium in which they are guaranteed to get wet.
A spokesman for the ODA said: "Five years out it is unrealistic to have all these issues resolved. However, there is lots of work going on and we are confident in how the planning is going."
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
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