West Ham To Meet 2012 Over Stadium Move

New West Ham United owner Eggert Magnusson has confirmed that he will meet with
officials from London 2012 this week to discuss the club buying the new Olympic
Stadium after the Games has been staged.

Magnusson, who bought the FA Premier League club last week in a £85m
takeover, has expressed his desire to purchase the Olympic stadium and is
willing to consider the 2012 organising committee’s demands that the running
track remain in the arena so that it could stage both football and athletics
events.

Said Magnusson: ‘We bought West Ham where we are now – the Boleyn Ground –
but looking at the future this is where we want to go. I have already asked the
government for meetings regarding the stadium.

‘I am now ready to sit down with them and the Olympic authorities to see what
possibilities we have there. We know very well that we have to keep to the
athletics legacy after the Games but Stade de France is a great venue and shows
you can combine that very well.’

It seems that the major stumbling block to the talks will be the £100m
valuation that the London 2012 organising committee has placed on the new
Olympic Stadium.

Committee chairman Lord Coe stated earlier this month that no FA Premier
League club has come close to meeting the valuation in any preliminary talks.