West Ham upbeat about Olympic Stadium deal

LONDON — West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady is confident the English Premier League club will be given the first option to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 London Games.The football club are keen to leave their nearby east London home of Upton Park and move to the Olympic Stadium and have launched a joint bid for occupancy with the local Newham Council.Now West Ham have asked the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) for a six-month "lock-out" in which to hold exclusive talks on the deal.Brady, speaking two years before the start of the Games, told www.insidethegames.biz on Tuesday: "We'll hear by the end of the month whether we've got it (the lock-out deal)."I would never say I'm 100 percent but I expect to get it. It's a no-brainer and it's absolutely right for the club and community."West Ham's main rivals would appear to be American entertainment giant AEG, who already own London's O2 Arena - formerly the Millennium Dome.An OPLC spokeswoman said: "The market testing has captured genuine interest from a range of organisations in the sports, events, investment and education sectors."We are building on this momentum and working closely with interested parties to move towards a formal procurement process."Under current plans, the 80,000 seater Olympic Stadium, which will cost 537 million pounds (809 million dollars), is due to be reduced in size to a 25,000 capacity venue complete with an athletics track after the Games.But there are concerns an athletics stadium alone will not be economically viable, leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill for running costs years after the 2012 Olympics have ended. Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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