(ATR) London mayor Boris Johnson says the decision to restart negotiations to secure an anchor football tenant in order to keep Olympic Stadium as a public asset is a "sensible solution for the taxpayer and the public purse".
"We are confident that the mixed-use solution will be suitable both for football and athletics," he told the London Assembly at Mayor's Question Time on Wednesday.
The Olympic Park Legacy Company ended negotiations Tuesday with West Ham football club to take over the 80,000-seat stadium after the Games, citing growing concerns over possible delays in its post-Olympics conversion caused by a legal dispute with rival club Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs' judicial review of the February decision to award the stadium to West Ham was scheduled for next Tuesday until the OPLC's decision to drop the plan. The $760 million stadium is to remain in public ownership and rented out to an anchor tenant following a new tender process.
"We will work with Newham to make sure we get good value from whatever football team it might be who comes forward to rent it. There are at least a couple who have shown interest," Johnson told Assembly members.
English Premier League club West Ham and League One club Leyton Orient, whose current ground is less than two kilometers away from Olympic Stadium, have already indicated they will apply to become tenants of the venue. The result may be a possible groundshare.
Under an intense grilling by London Assembly members about the Olympic Stadium, Johnson said: "We want to deliver not just a football legacy from the stadium but also an athletics legacy." It would be a "significant resource for London and Londoners".
Asked why the London mayor had not previously explored the option to ensure the stadium remained in public ownership after the Games, Johnson said: "In tough financial times, it is always sensible to look at whether you can privatie, it's not an irrational thing to do."
Saying that he was only appointed London mayor after the stadium's design specifications were approved, he insisted that building a stadium with taxpayers' money would inevitably lead to concerns over the use of state aid in any disposal of the venue to the private sector.
But Johnson admitted thatTottenham Hotspur's legal challenge to West Ham being awarded the stadium "threatened to become so protracted that there was a real question in our minds of whether it could open in 2014".
"We want it to be open as soon as possible [post-Games] for the benefit of the city," he added.
The London mayor suggested the Olympic Stadium had plenty of multipurpose potential, suggesting legacy planners could learn a few lessons from the conversion of the Millennium Dome into the O2 Arena. It has become one of the world's most successful sports and entertainment venues.
He said: "When you consider what's happened to the Millennium Dome and its development for entertainment events of all kinds, this [Olympic Stadium] could be a big money-spinner."
Shooting Venue On Track
The Olympic Delivery Authority said Wednesday that the London 2012 shooting venue was on schedule to be completed by the end of the year.
The temporary venue, located at the famous Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, is one of the last remaining new arenas to be built for the Games. It will stage shooting, Paralympic shooting and Paralympic archery across three indoor ranges and three open air ranges.
The ODA said all three indoor ranges were now structurally complete; they use around 1,200 tons of steel and are clad in plywood. Work will start shortly on building the open air ranges at the southwest London site.
Spectator seating areas for the 25-meter and combined ranges are also in place, with the finals enclosure on schedule to finish by November.
"Spectators going to see shooting and Paralympic archery events will get to experience the Games in a colorful and modern venue situated in a world-class location that will inspire them as much as the athletes competing next summer," said LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe.
Shooting test events take place at the venue in the spring.
More than 104,000 spectators are expected to fill the venue to watch Olympic competitions next summer.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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