Olympic Choice..........

I'm sure you all know about what's going on with the Olympic Stadium at the moment, but for those who don't, here is a quick recap.

The Olympic Stadium in Stratford, East London, is currently the subject of debate between 2 London Football clubs who have bided to take over the stadium once the 2012 Olympics are complete. During the Bidding process for the 2012 Olympics a "promise" was made to ensure there would be an Athletics legacy after the 2012 Olympics, and this is where the problem is.

West Ham United, an East London Premier League Football club (Currently trying to avoid relegation from the premier league) have made a bid to take over the stadium backed by Live Nation (The world’s Largest Concert Promoter), Newham Council, The University of East London & Essex County Cricket Club. They plan to keep the running track around the main pitch meaning the stadium could still be used for Athletics events & this would also mean that the "promise" made would be kept. However, it is said that such a move would mean that Football fans would be sitting further away from the pitch therefore giving them a (apparently) worse view of the game. With the backing they have it would look as though the local community would benefit from them taking over the stadium.

On the other hand:

Tottenham Hotspurs, A North London Premier League Football Club (currently trying to Win the Premier League title or at least a Champions league Place) have also made a bid. Their bid is backed by Entertainment Giants AEG (They run the O2 Arena which is doing fantastically well). They plan to knock down the stadium entirely, erect a purpose built Football Stadium in its place & redevelop the Crystal Palace Athletics Centre. The way they see it, developing the Crystal Palace site would keep the "Promise" which was made to keep an athletics legacy in London as this site would be exclusively for Athletics rather than a mix of sports. This means that it would be available at any time of year for athletics events as opposed to only being available if there isn't a football or cricket match on.....


Personally, I think that you should never break a promise. If a promise was made to keep the athletics track then any bid which suggests removing it should be thrown out instantly. I also think that West Ham United would be in a better position as they are already an East London club & would remain as such, whereas Tottenham would become a North London Club playing in East London So my vote (If it counted for anything) would go to West Ham United.

Where would yours go & why??

Haven't been following this story if I'm honest but based on the info here I Don't think either club should have an involvement

Take football out of it and you don't have the question of compromise over the athletic legacy of the Olympics. However I imagine that without the financial backing of professional football this stadium would soon become another Millennium Dome.

Also worth considering that this athletics legacy is merely a nice idea and serves, aside from being a noble and inspiring notion you need to think about what is best for the surrounding areas and in that case I'd go Spurs.

A promise means nothing in business and that's what this is, if there was a contract to maintain our hallowed Olympic running track then this would be a different story. Take the Spurs bid and you get a massive injection of investment in an existing athletics centre and a whole new load of jobs going to take down and rebuild the stadium.

Seems like a straightforward one to me but I have no emotional involvement in any of it