| Olympic Stadium now first choice for Tottenham • Club may ditch plans to rebuild White Hart Lane• Running track would be removed from east London siteThe prospect of Tottenham Hotspur abandoning plans to rebuild White Hart Lane and moving instead to the Olympic Stadium moved a significant step closer yesterday, when the club's corporate partners revealed plans to ditch the running track after the 2012 Games and spoke openly about outflanking West Ham's rival bid.AEG, the US sports and entertainment company that turned the Millennium Dome from national embarrassment to a huge success story as the O2 Arena, was bullish about its chances of securing the stadium and claimed its partnership with Spurs was the only one that could fulfil the Stratford stadium's commercial potential.The Olympic Stadium option has previously been talked of as a "back-up plan" for Spurs, but it is understood that the idea is now under serious consideration as an alternative to rebuilding White Hart Lane.Tim Leiweke, the president of AEG, said: "We've been pretty selective on the projects we get involved in here and when we do we haven't had many stumbles."AEG Europe's chief executive, David Campbell, added that Tottenham's fan base made it a more viable option than West Ham. "They have got 35,000 people on a paid-for waiting list. They can fill 60,000 seats. Can West Ham? I don't know, but I don't feel as confident as I do about Tottenham."Spurs are increasingly pursuing a twin-track approach to enlarging their stadium and boosting their revenues despite last week gaining planning permission to rebuild White Hart Lane, amid fears that extra demands from Transport for London, Haringey council and English Heritage will increase the final bill. According to the latest estimates, additions to the final cost of building a 56,250 stadium adjacent to the club's current home have taken it to more than £400m. At the same time, Spurs have been forced to reduce the number of residential units plans to build to help fund the scheme from 500 to 200.AEG's proposal to remove the running track will re-open a bitter debate about the Olympic Stadium's legacy. The London organising committee chairman Lord Coe has been adamant that it must remain given the legacy promises made to the International Olympic Committee, and West Ham's joint bid with Newham council proposes to retain it.But AEG said yesterday that it has studied the terms of the Olympic Park Legacy Company's criteria carefully and is convinced it would consider proposals that do not include a running track."Seb [Coe] and I go back a long way," Leiweke told the Guardian. "We chose to support the London bid and picked a fight with the mayor of New York in doing so. Seb knows we're great for the legacy and invested in other sports here."We will also continue to respect the reason they brought the Olympics here in the first place. But to sacrifice the environment of the anchor tenant for one event a year or every five years, we've got to take a step back and ask whether we're not better off putting our resources in bringing back other types of Olympic sport."The argument over the future of the stadium goes back to shortly after the bid was won in 2005. The previous Olympics minister Tessa Jowell resolved to keep it as a 25,000 seat athletics venue, reduced from its 80,000 Games-time capacity.But the debate was re-opened when the wisdom of reducing the capacity was questioned and the Olympic Park Legacy Company took on responsibility for the post-Games use of the venues. It is estimated that it would cost at least £150m to convert the Olympic Stadium, which is being built without merchandising and hospitality facilities as part of the minimalist design. There will also have to be comprehensive changes to the floodlights and roof, which at present only covers a third of the stadium.As last Thursday's deadline passed for expressions of interest in the Olympic Stadium, Spurs were granted planning permission by the local government to build a new stadium adjacent to White Hart Lane."We're not crazy. We wouldn't do things that we thought wouldn't be worthwhile in the end," said Campbell. "We don't back losers so I don't think we will be backing a loser." He said the proven track record of the O2 Arena would help convince the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) that it was the right choice."We went into a big white elephant and made it work for the government and work for us," said Campbell. "We hope we can do the same here. We can make it commercially viable."Leiweke's enthusiasm is driven by his belief London is "the greatest city on the face of the earth" and he predicted the Olympics would give the city a 20-year golden period when "the economy will thrive based on every business in the world saying they want to be part of London". West Ham still believe they are favourites to move into the east London stadium after the 2012 Olympics, in partnership with Newham council.Its plans, which retain the athletics track and have a strong community element, have been welcomed by Coe and UK Athletics.The OPLC is scheduled to come up with a final shortlist by November, before anointing a preferred bidder in December and reaching a "settled position" next March.Tottenham HotspurOlympic games 2012West Ham UnitedOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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