Leiweke: Spurs & Aeg Will Not Retain Track

Speaking exclusively at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club Tim Leiweke, president & CEO of AEG, has hinted that the company would not retain the running track at the Olympic Stadium if it were successful with its joint bid with Tottenham Hotspur to occupy the venue.

‘The debate about ‘do you put a track in that stadium? For me…You make that stadium the best football stadium in the country for Tottenham, because if it is, it will be the best for the next 30 or 40 years,’ said Leiweke.

The Olympic Committee included in its bid that the stadium would be retained for athletics use and West Ham’s bid includes the running track, but Leiweke thinks that the long-term aspirations for the stadium should be looked at.

‘(To accept our bid is) The right thing to do’, he said: ‘It makes sense long term, it also means that those who are running the Olympic Games and the government need to take a step back and say ‘how do we make the right decision so that are legacies become long-term by making sure that the venues are structured in a way that they make economic sense for those who are going to step in and take over the risk?”??

Leiweke also says that the upcoming NBA regular season games to be held in the AEG owned O2 Arena are key to the NBA being successful internationally.

‘If you’re the NBA you have to have success in London. The regular season games are critical because leagues need to breakthrough with meaningful games.’

‘The other thing is that London is not only the world’s greatest marketplace but the world’s smartest marketplace and they understand the difference between key and real.’

Leiweke also added that paying large amounts of money to David Beckham to join the LA Galaxy has been worth it as it has boosted the MLS.

‘Of course its boosted the league. We’re sitting here in the home of football talking about the MLS, seven years ago you guys saw us as a feeder league.’

Click here to see what Leiweke had to say on his relationship with David Beckham, the globalisation of the Premier League and more on the joint Olympic Stadium bid with Spurs.