London Latest - UK Athletics Chief Labels Stadium Delay a "Stratford Farce"

(ATR) The chairman of UK Athletics says the delay over opening Olympic Stadium has turned into a "Stratford farce".

Ed Warner was speaking to reporters Wednesday at UK Sport. He spoke of his frustration with last week’s admission from Dennis Hone, CEO of the London Legacy Development Corporation, that the venue would not re-open until August 2015 at the earliest and possibly not before August 2016.

"It’s fast becoming a Stratford farce. When we sat in the stadium at the Paralympics and Olympics, we could all see it works as a multi-use stadium ... so let’s get on with it," said Warner.

"It’s been of real concern for me that the debate has expanded to fill the time. People have spent too much time listening to lawyers and filibustering a decision. I would urge those making the decision to please get on and do it."

Warner also acts as the chairman of the 2017 World Athletics Championships, which London won the right to host last November despite well-funded opposition from Doha and memories of the Pickets Lock fiasco a decade ago when the city had to hand the competition back to the IAAF.

However, the latest development means that the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro could open before the $800 million venue in London reopens – a specific concern for Warner.

"We had a program of events we had planned to start in the summer of 2014. If now it’s not going to be ready by 2015 or 2016, there’s every chance we will lose the legacy opportunity and that the ‘shop window moment’ will dribble through our fingers.

"So please could we have a decision ... in 2016 we don’t want a race with the Rio opening ceremony. So I would urge them to get on and do it and with 2015 as a backstop."

The favorites to take over as tenants of the stadium remain Premier League football club West Ham, and Warner praised their "phenomenal patience" over the saga.

Minister of Sport Hugh Robertson was alongside Warner at UK Sport and said that he wanted the stadium opened "as fast as possible. We all want to get people back in there as quickly as can possibly be achieved".

The briefing at UK Sport was to launch their Gold Event Series, which will aim to bring more than 70 of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK, including 36 world and European championships. The first such event is a track cycling World Cup, which takes place in Glasgow this week.

LOCOG Breaks Ticketing Record

Record ticket sales and strong domestic sponsorship deals put LOCOG on track to hit its $3.8 billion income target, says CEO Paul Deighton.

'Throughout this period we have made clear our aim for LOCOG to break even, and we remain confident that our revenues will meet our costs,' he told the London Assembly on Tuesday.

According to Deighton, those revenues include almost $1.2 billion from over 40 domestic sponsorships and a record of more than $1 billion in ticket sales, trouncing the $572 million generated by Sydney 2000.

The income recouped the core costs of staging the Games, though almost $14 billion from the British government was needed to build and secure the Games venues.

Double Duty for Olympic Stadium in 2017?

London will bid for the 2017 IPC Athletics World Championships, Mayor Boris Johnson announced Wednesday.

Olympic Stadium is already set to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships and would become the first venue to stage both in the same year if the campaign proves successful.

"Securing the championships would not only reinforce London’s reputation as the world’s leading sporting city, it would bring a vital multi-million pound boost to the capital’s economy, creating jobs and driving growth in east London," Johnson said in a statement.

Staging the championships would cost around $13.6 million, most of which the Mayor says would be recovered through sponsorships and ticketing.

No word yet from the International Paralympic Committee regarding other bids for 2017.

Reported by Christian Radnedge in London and Matthew Grayson in Atlanta

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