London Latest -- Olympic Stadium Bidding; Politician Wants Free Student Tix

Bidding Underway for London Olympic Stadium

Formal bidding for parties interested in taking over London’s Olympic Stadium after the 2012 games opens Wednesday. Interested parties have a six week window to make their bid to lease the stadium from the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

London’s bid for the games included plans to scale back the 80,000 capacity to create a 25,000 capacity athletics stadium. But after doubts emerged about UK Athletics ability to meet its annual running costs, OPLC chair Margaret Ford last year opened up a tender process where other organizations could pitch for a lease to run the stadium.

An expression of interest process held earlier this year is understood to have attracted around 150 interested parties.

According to the OPLC the process generated three main findings: That interested parties backed a multi-use stadium containing athletics and possible commercial, health or educational uses in the stadium’s undercroft; that its Games-time capacity of 80,000 seats be reduced to between 25,000 seats and 60,000 seats; and that parties sought a long lease.

"Securing the most appropriate solution is crucial to our long-term aspirations for the area," says Ford, who hopes to have selected an anchor tenant by the end of the OPLC’s financial year.

"We have generated a great deal of interest by working with the market to understand how they would use this iconic venue.

"I am delighted that organizations with a serious interest all want a mixed usage - this is in-line with our promise to meet the bid commitments, and our vision for the stadium to be a focal point for sport and community use."

When asked who the 150 parties interested in taking on the Olympic Stadium or what their plans and motivations might be, the OPLC refused to be drawn on speculation.

Publicly the two strongest pitches seem to be from American sports giant AEG and EPL club West Ham.

Mayoral Candidate Wants Free Tickets for Schoolchildren

Oona King, who is bidding to be chosen as Labour’s candidate to face Boris Johnson in the 2012 London Mayoral elections, wants schoolchildren to be given free tickets to the 100m finals and other blue ribbon Olympics events.

In launching her Olympics policy document today,the former MP said the Greater London Authority should buy blocks of tickets and reserve them for children from all 32 boroughs in the capital.

"I want to make sure that children from every school in London get ring side seats to the games including the big events like the sprint finals," she said.

"There’s a real risk that these events will be reserved for sponsors and the sporting hierarchy and would be a betrayal of the spirit of the games. Boris Johnson needs to turn vague pledges into concrete action to make sure our children get the VIP treatment they deserve."

She said buying tickets for London 2012 was the only way to ensure their allocation to London children.

Johnson has pledged to offer about 100,000 pairs of tickets to school children but this dependson whether City Hall gets the 50,000 free tickets it believes it is entitled to because of London taxpayers' yearly contribution to helping pay for the $14.5 billion costofthe Games.

Johnson is reportedly prepared to dip into City Hall reserves to pay for the other 50,000 tickets if he can't get them through a commercial backer.

LOCOG will announce details of the pricing and allocation of the eight million tickets for the 2012 Olympics in October. Tickets go on sale in spring next year. Already 1.4 million people have signed up to register their details on www.tickets.london2012.com.

King is running against former London mayor Ken Livingstone to represent Labour in mayoral elections that would come just a couple of months before the London 2012 Games. Labour Party and trades union members will choose the Labour candidate in a vote next month.

King also waded into the debate on the legacy of the Olympic Park site, voicing concerns about the long-term viability of the Aquatics Centre and Media Centre.

"Finding a bidder for the stadium is the easy part. Boris Johnson has so far failed to find a tenant for the Media Centre, meaning that a badly needed opportunity for job creation is falling by the wayside," she said.

"The prospects for the Aquatics Centre are uncertain too. We don’t need white elephants but a viable long-term legacy for site".

Written by James Corbettand Mark Bisson