Cautious Coe deflects brewing row over stadium legacy

By Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat

LONDON 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe insists the future of the Olympic Stadium does not depend on the outcome of England's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE: London's Olympic Stadium was included on a list of proposed 2018 World Cup venues today, raising question marks about its future capacity (Getty Images)

The £500m 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium is one of four venues in the capital named on today's shortlist of 21 potential grounds, in 15 cities, for the 2018 World Cup.

The initial intention for the stadium was to reduce the capacity to approximately 25,000 with its primary purpose to be track and field - a proposal backed by Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, who is wary of the £176 million it could cost to maintain at Olympics capacity until 2018.

However, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, along with Shadow Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson, wants to see the stadium maintained at its full size and utilised for potentially lucrative events, such as the 2015 Rugby World Cup or even Twenty20 cricket.

In order to be considered for the 2018 bid, a stadium must have a capacity of 40,000 ensuring the Olympic Stadium would either remain at its current size, or be reduced to somewhere in the region of 50,000.

However, Coe remains adamant no decision will be made until the Olympic Park Legacy Company, headed by Baroness Ford, have conducted their review. 

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Coe, speaking after the IOC co-ordination commission completed their fifth visit to London.

"Firstly there is a bid to be won. But the beauty of the [Olympic] Stadium is the flexibility of its design.

"Since we last met with the IOC we have the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which will scrutinise all of the judgements that need to be made.

"The role of the Olympic Park Legacy Company is to look into legacy. And at the moment they are exactly where they should be."

The issue of legacy within the Olympic Park has become an issue of some friction in recent months, with debates raging over its future name, as well as the future of the stadium.

While Locog intend to rename it the Elizabeth Park after the Games, BOA chief executive Andy Hunt has urged organisers to insert the word ‘Olympic' for legacy purposes.

But after delivering a glowing report following a two-day visit, co-ordination commission chairman Denis Oswald believes such problems need not be exaggerated.

"Legacy has always been very important for the IOC but it is getting even more important at every Games," said Oswald.

"It was very important on winning the Games for London and I'm sure they will deliver on their promises.

"There are many aspects of this that have already been introduced - the regeneration of east London for example.

"London have been looking into the legacy of the stadia three years before the Games but some [host cities] have not done so until after the Games."

Oswald was also keen to stress the importance of learning from the mistakes of recent Olympics, most notably Beijing 2008, where numerous empty seats at some events left the IOC considerably red-faced.

"We saw in Beijing that while some stadia were full, there were lots that were not," he added.

"We are looking at ways to improve this and one thing we have found is that the sessions were too long.

"Some sessions for some sports went on for hours and so spectators would leave before the end but in London we are considering having more sessions, which would last a shorter time."

Locog chief executive Paul Deighton added: "Having full stadia across all the sports remains among our top priorities and we are centring our ticketing strategy on achieving this."